This Policy document is based on findings from the research that explored the 2024 Parliamentary elections in North Macedonia from a social inclusion perspective, with a particular focus on persons with disabilities and ethnic communities. Persons with disabilities were considered within a socio-economic conceptual stream, as a multiply vulnerable group, socially and politically deprived due to their disabilities. Ethnic communities were analyzed within the ethnic identity stream, based on the assumption that ethnic identities provide the ground for social distance.
Social inclusion in the election process was observed on internet media portals as one of the key platforms for information dissemination, a space for political debate, and a sphere where issues of political and social importance are raised. Online media are significant intermediaries in public opinion shaping, serving as important channels for political communication and platforms for political advertising. During elections, this space should enable equal, open, and inclusive participation for various actors, presenting their opinions while also providing a discursive forum for all whose public and political participation has been challenged for any reason.
A mixed-method approach combined qualitative in-depth content analysis with semi-structured expert interviews. It provided comprehensive and in-depth insight into the intersection of social inclusion, online media work, and political structures, as reflected in political communication, promotion, and journalistic coverage regarding social inclusion/marginalization and ethnic cohesion/distancing during the campaign. The in-depth content analysis qualitatively examined 68 news items published across 21 portals. The sample was preselected as related to vulnerable groups in media analysis conducted by Metamorphosis Foundation, which monitored 30 internet portals and 2 news generators. Additionally, 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with prominent experts in social inclusion, political advertising, media, and political communications. Interviews explored the representation of marginalized groups, narratives constructed around them, and the intersection of social inclusion and paid political advertising during the elections.
This product is prepared within the Project “Money, Media, and Elections in North Macedonia” funded by the UK Government with the support of the British Embassy Skopje. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the position or the opinions of the UK Government
