ZaMirNET Founds a Network of Independent Media

This article shares information about ZaMirZINE, an electronic newsmagazine created by ZaMirNET, a Croatian non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to the promotion of civil society and its values through information and communication technology (ICT) and development of new media initiatives. ZaMirZINE specialises in themes related to civil society and issues such as human rights, gender, ethnical and sexual minorities’ rights, environment, animal rights, ICTs, urban culture, etc. The newsmagazine also aims to bring together members of civil society and journalists, to increase understanding between the two sectors.

The ZaMirZINE web-portal publishes news on a daily basis, while more extensive articles, columns, analyses, reports and interviews are published weekly. The NGO Market section contains information for non-government organisations, such as news items and announcements on conference calls, donation proposals, job vacancies, and educational opportunities. According to the article ZaMirZINE is often quoted in various commercial and independent web portals and newspapers and have been translated into English, Slovenian and Macedonian.
All contents published on ZaMirZINE are licenced under Creative Commons - some rights reserved.



The author explains that it has been noted that the mainstream media tend to represent civil society organisations with a sensationalist and sometimes biased perspective, while NGO members lack the journalistic skills to systematically report the news about their sector in a professional way. To facilitate better co-operation among independent media that aim to empower and support civil society organisations, advocate advancement of human rights, and promote tolerance and empowerment of marginalised groups, ZaMirNET has also founded a network of independent electronic media of Croatia, establishing collaboration among independent websites run by different NGOs and grassroots organisations. The network is based on content sharing among websites that aims to provide the wider citizenry with civil society values and a good example of tolerance in public dialogue. According to the article, most journalists involved in this network are NGO activists that are thoroughly informed and deeply involved in issues they write about.