In the course of 2022, RESIS and the partners of the platform Safejournalists.Net will be working on the second research study for the Western Balkans Journalists' Safety Index (WB-JSI). In 2021 RESIS developed the methodology and coordinated a pilot study that for the first time measured and compared the safety of journalists in seven Western Balkan countries. The study on North Macedonia can be found here.

The WB-JSI is a research-grounded tool designed to measure and monitor the changes in the respective social and political environments of the WB countries, that have direct or indirect impact on the safety of journalists and media actors while practicing their profession. Based on the research evidence, nine experts in each country assess the situation and assign scores to each of the 19 indicators within the following dimensions:
1) Legal and organisational environment – the existence and implementation of legal safeguards relevant for the safety of journalists.
2) Due Prevention – the existence and implementation of a range of preventative measures that have direct effects on journalists’ protection and safety.
3) Due Process – the behaviour of state institutions and public officials towards journalists and the efficiency of the criminal and civil justice system concerning the investigations of threats and acts of violence against journalists.
4) Actual Safety – incidents and instances of various forms of threats and acts of violence against journalists and media.
The project is supported by the European Commission and Civil Rights Defenders.

In the period from October 2019 to March 2020, with the support of the Civica Mobilitas Program, RESIS completed the first phase of the action research which involved over 50 civil society organizations at the local level working with various vulnerable groups: children and minors, people with sensory and other impairment, people with rare diseases, members of the LGBT community, socially disadvantaged groups, addicts and other vulnerable groups. During the research process, the CSOs themselves critically assessed the media content and the situation in the media sphere and engaged in the RESIS action for the establishment of a Network of Audience Councils, through which they will influence the media policies in a coordinated manner. The second phase of this research, which is conducted until December 2020, consists of a consultation process with civil society organizations on the draft Strategy for networking and communication. In the third phase, which will start in 2021, workshops with civil society organizations will be conducted and the Network of Audience Councils will be formally established.

Starting from September 2020, in cooperation with the Center for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom from Florence (CMPF https://cmpf.eui.eu/), the RESIS team will make the second assessment of the situation with media pluralism in the country. The Media Pluralism Monitor in the Digital Age (MPM 2020/2) is a comprehensive scientific research project that aims to assess the viability of media ecosystems and the threats to media freedom and pluralism in European countries. This is the fourth consecutive assessment of the situation with media pluralism in European countries, and in North Macedonia such a study was conducted for the first time in 2017. Starting from September 2020, in cooperation with the Center for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom from Florence (CMPF https://cmpf.eui.eu/), RESIS has conducted the second assessment of the situation with media pluralism in the country. The Media Pluralism Monitor in the Digital Age (MPM 2020/2) is a comprehensive scientific research project that aims to assess the viability of media ecosystems and the risks to media freedom and pluralism in European countries. This is the fourth consecutive assessment of the situation with media pluralism in European countries, and in North Macedonia such a study was conducted for the first time in 2017. The study assessed the situation in four main areas: Basic protection, Market pluralism, Political independence and Social inclusion. The project is coordinated by the Center for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom in Florence, and funded by the European Union.

RESIS also investigates the changes that take place in the social environment under the influence of the rapid development of new technologies. The focus of this research study, conducted in 2020, was the online media which offer information, education and entertainment to the domestic audience and which thus have an increasing impact on the formation of public opinion, but also on the economic operation of traditional media. The research study compares the data on the audience of online and traditional media, on the one hand, and the advertising revenues of these two media sectors, on the other hand. The results show that online media are increasingly attracting advertisers, but that television is still an influential source of information, education and entertainment. The research was conducted for the needs of the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services.

In 2019, RESIS developed the methodology and interpreted the data from the second mapping of the individual levels of media literacy in the country. The survey was conducted for the needs of the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services, and supported by the OSCE Mission in Skopje. The findings of the research study were presented to the members of the Media Literacy Network in November 2019 and served as a basis for designing a campaign to raise the level of critical awareness of the population towards various media contents.

For the fifth year in a row, RESIS researchers are coordinating the regional study conducted by the journalists' associations in the region, joined within the Western Balkans’ Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety. Journalists' associations, under the mentorship of RESIS’ researchers, collect data each year, analyze law enforcement and monitor developments regarding media freedom and safety of journalists in their countries. Based on the collected data, they undertake a range of advocacy activities in order to change the political, legal and institutional environment in which the media and journalists operate. The collected data, information and research findings helped the journalists' associations to strengthen their arguments and attitudes in their advocacy activities and to become key actors in the efforts to improve the situation with media freedoms and journalists’ safety in the region. The project is financially supported by the European Commission. Based on the reports of the journalists' associations, in 2018 RESIS’ researchers drafted a comparative analysis of the level of media freedom and safety of journalists in the Western Balkans countries.