Baltic Center for Media Excellence

Baltic Centre for Media Excellence is a hub for smart journalism in the Baltics, the countries of Eastern Partnership and beyond

Our mission

We promote professional growth, media intelligence and critical thinking and strive for positive change in journalism and communities it serves

What do we do

We deliver needs-based media training to editorial offices of independent nationwide and local media, gather intelligence on regional media trends and skills, as well as research media audiences with a focus on those most vulnerable to propaganda messages.

BCME members are legal entities related to media, media policy or education. A person or wishing to join the association submits an application to the Board by sending an e-mail message to info@baltic.media.

The Board reviews the application at the next meeting and the new member has been admitted if more than half of the Board has voted in favor. You can find more details about admission (as well as other topics related to organisation) in this page footer (BCME Statutes).

We work individually with Newsrooms, fine-tuning each workshop or consultancy to their particular requests and ambitions, but also bring them together for a conversation on pressing issues in today’s journalism, thereby contributing to building stronger journalistic community, a key element in societal resilience.
We work with media audiences, too, equipping them with user-friendly tools for critical and constructive media consumption and informed media production. Our experts and trainers are internationally renowned professionals whom we are proud to work with.

BCME Board

The executive institution of the BCME is the Board. Currently, the Board consists of seven members

Viktorija Cieminyte
LT, head of international relations, the Lithuanian Public Broadcaster LRT
Aiste Žilinskiene
LT, head of the Lithuanian Online Media Association
Nika Aleksejeva
LV, data literacy trainer, chair of the board of School of Data
Andres Jõesaar
EE, vice-rector for creative activities and cooperation, Tallinn University and head of Media Research at the Estonian Public Broadcaster ERR
Kristel Maran
EE, head of HR Development & Training at Estonian Public Broadcasting ERR
Maxim Ryabkov
GE, Deutsche Welle Akademie, regional coordinator for Europe, media development projects in Baltics, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Western Balkans
Anna Peipiņa
LV, Director of Journalism Study program, Riga Stradiņš University

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Gunta Sloga

LV, Executive Director

Gunta Sloga is an award-winning Latvian journalist and editor, who has won a wide recognition for her reporting and investigations for the flagship Latvian daily newspaper "Diena" and other media outlets. As a commissioning editor for the Latvian Public Television she oversaw development of high quality factual entertainment, original drama and other content and directly contributed to future strategies of the public broadcaster. Gunta Sloga has also been active in journalism non-profits aimed at strengthening quality journalism, and was in charge of the Media Programme at the Soros Foundation Latvia, which supported new media initiatives and professional dialogue. She has been a strong supporter of the freedom of speech and independent media in Latvia . Currently Gunta Sloga is the executive director of Baltic Centre for Media Excellence, a regional resource centre for journalists and a hub of media literacy initiatives.