Wed - 08 May

The Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC) will officially launch its Multimedia Studio on 16 May at 18:00.

Located in the Buffer Zone at the CCMC premises on the Ledra Palace Hotel grounds, The Studio will be a place where civil society organisations can come to receive technical media skills trainings in audio/visual productions, create their own messages and produce their own media content that highlights their efforts in such diverse areas as health, environment, gender issues, diversity and peace and reconciliation.

Speaking at the Launch will be:
John M. Koenig, U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus
Georgios Markopouliotis, Head of the European Commission Representation in Cyprus
Christopher Louise, UNDP-ACT Programme Manager
Larry Fergeson, CCMC General Manager

The Studio Launch is part of the MultiCommMedia project supported by the United NationsDevelopment Programme (UNDP-ACT) Action for Cooperation and Trust in Cyprus and implemented by the Cyprus Community Media Centre.

Click here to view the Facebook Event.

CCMC EDITORIAL: WHY WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY IS IMPORTANT FOR CYPRUS

Fri - 03 May

UNESCO sees 3 May as an occasion around which initiatives can be encouraged and developed in support of press freedom. At CCMC we also believe that World Press Freedom Day offers an ideal starting point for journalists across the divide to start to build an understanding and common framework of action around shared principles and values. It is also an opportunity to sensitise all Cypriots about the need for the rights of journalists to be guaranteed, and to inform them that in Cyprus those rights will not be fully safeguarded until a just and lasting settlement is agreed, and a demilitarisation of the island takes place.

CCMC welcomes European Media!

Thu - 02 May

Since 2011 around 1000 media professionals have contributed to the MARS - Media Against Racism in Sports programme in order to consider diversity and non-discrimination topics in the daily media work. The new joint EU/CoE programme MEDIANE- Media in Europe for Diversity Inclusiveness - supports exchanges of media professionals to share media practices and develop tools and examples which include diversity as a general approach in their daily practices

Aaand....

The 1st MEDIANE European Encounter From media diversity coverage to media diversity inclusiveness will be hosted in Nicosia (Cyprus) from 10 to 12.06.13. Around 80 participants will contribute to the first European encounter and will jointly work on practical tools and practices for diversity inclusiveness in the areas of media production, journalism training and editorial management. More information on the Cyprus encounter and pre-register for this event can be found here.

For more information, please check out MEDIANE's first newsletter.

Media Buffer Zone Project

Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC) along with organisations based in Palestine (Near East Consulting), Bosnia Herzegovina (UG Zašto ne) and Egypt (Qabila Media Productions) were recently awarded an “Innovation Grant” for their novel idea entitled “Media Buffer Zone Project”. The opportunity came about from the group’s participation in "The Power of One" conference, hosted by the Cyprus-based “Peace It Together” network and supported by the United Nations Development Programme - Action for Cooperation and Trust and the Office of Middle East Programmes of USAID in October 2012.

The conference was an inter-regional learning exchange on the role of citizens and civil society in stimulating social change during periods of transition, and gathered over 200 people from 28 countries from Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. By convening in Nicosia, the conference reflected the position of Cyprus as a historical, cultural and geographical crossroads, as well as its potential to act as a facilitator of positive change. During the conference, participants voted “Media Buffer Zone Project” as the audience favourite.

The objective of the six-month project is to enable regional CSOs to produce and disseminate professional and innovative cost effective media messages either directly through media skills training and capacity building and/or indirectly through a network for media professionals and artists, to transfer knowledge to get CSOs to address the key issue of media across the Euro-Mediterranean region and to establish sustainable partnerships inter-regionally.

To achieve this objective the “Media Buffer Zone Project” will do the following:

1. Discern what media skills CSOs in Cyprus, the MENA region and Europe need through research and a needs awareness analysis.

2. Design a CSO specific media skills training programme based on the needs assessment

3. Conduct media skills trainings for national and regional CSO networks in Cyprus, the MENA region and Europe.

4. Connect CSOs in Cyprus, the MENA region and Europe through a virtual platform network with media professionals and artists who want to contribute to the advancement and productivity of regional CSOs by helping to produce and disseminate professional, innovative cost effective media messages.

CCMC about to launch multimedia studio!

Wed - 13 Mar

Have you heard the new Buzz in the Buffer Zone? A new multimedia studio for CCMC Members, the Peace it Together network and Cypriot Civil Society is close to completion! And to showcase all the great media content that will be produced in the new studio CCMC is developing a new website called “Buffer Buzz”.

Located in the Buffer Zone at CCMC, The Studio will serve as a place for civil society organisations to produce media content highlighting their reconciliation work and for media actors from different communities in Cyprus to create joint productions.

Check out the ways in which you can use The Studio:

Training - Increase your capacity to learn how to create your own media productions through hands-on training specifically tailored to work with high quality multimedia studio equipment
Broadcasting - After receiving training at CCMC you can reserve time at the studio to record your own shows
Activities - The studio can be utilised for joint communication activities of media actors and GC/TC civil society organisations
Collaboration - The studio can become a place where media from both communities can use work together on joint productions and exchange of information.

What’s next?: CCMC will be having a special launch event for The Studio and Buffer Buzz in coming weeks so look out for announcements! At the event you will be able to find out more information about how you can access The Studio, upcoming training dates, and information about the new web platform and how best it can be utilised by your organisation.

The CCMC Community Media Coordinators will be contacting you very soon to see how you can get involved. Stay tuned!

Celebrating International Women's Day 08 March 2013

Fri - 08 Mar

The Cyprus Community Media Centre - CCMC - is celebrating International Women's Day with a special edition of our newsletter, bringing you relevant news, resources and events. You'll also have the chance to watch some of our videos about the subject! Click here to read it.

Community radio in action!

Thu - 21 Feb

What better way to celebrate World Radio Day than visiting a grassroots volunteer-based activist radio station in Madrid! Some of the CCMC team were recently in Madrid as part of the m-Com Community Media Empowering program we are involved in Europe-wide. During our visit we also met with Agora Sol, a community radio station run on an entirely voluntary basis by a group of dedicated journalists and activists. The station represents a diversity of voices and opinions in a society, they feel, is in need of increased dialogue. The programmes represent a range of subjects, and many volunteers run different programmes, provided that the content demonstrates respect for human rights, cultural diversity, the environment, freedom of expression and opinion. All decisions at the station are made by consensus, and the radio station is solely funded by in-kind donations and contributions of the personal time of its board, presenters, and technicians. The key philosophy of the people behind Ágora Sol is that they firmly believe in citizens having access to media channels through which their voices can be directly heard. A true inspiration!

Recipients of Incentive Awards for Media Collaboration announced

Wed - 23 Jan

The Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC) just announced the winners of its Incentive Awards for Media Collaboration at a ceremony at the Home for Cooperation in Nicosia (22 January 2013). The Incentive Awards Sceheme, launched in September 2012 under the MultiCommMedia project, aims to promote professional collaboration between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot media. The recipients were NRG TV with Media Works for a project on Cyprus nightlife across the divide, and CyprusNews.eu with Baris Gazetesi for Voices & Echoes - an online news portal. Have a look at our gallery of photos from the signing ceremony - we can't wait to see the collaborations in action!