This website is an integral part of a recently launched project focusing on media accountability in South-East European countries. The main objectives of this project, supported by the European Commission, consist in developing self-regulation tools and mechanisms, and in increasing the awareness of self-regulation among media professionals and organizations in the region. The project also aims at speeding up the alignment with established international standards.

The new website provides a comprehensive insight into self-regulation and its main elements, and presents media legislation and regulation at the European level, with special focus on the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The website explains the objectives and expected results of the media accountability project and lists its partners and professional networks working in the field of media accountability and self-regulation on regional, European and international level. It features four thematic sections:

• Media Legislation and Regulation gives a brief overview and direct links to the relevant regulation at the European level.
  
  
• Codes of Ethics offers examples from the project countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244), Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. This section provides links to the most comprehensive databases of codes of ethics around the world, such as EthicNet and Media Accountability Systems (M*A*S). Various practical cases dealing with ethical and professional standards are also featured here.
  
  
• Press Council gives answers to the following questions: What is a press council? How to establish and run it? What is its structure? How to finance and promote it? This section also features existing press councils and relevant professional networks in South-East Europe.
  
  
• Media Ombudsman presents a brief overview of the media ombudsman institution and provides access to success stories and to different types of media ombudsmen in Europe.

The Resources section of the website includes the following materials related to media accountability and self-regulation:

• news;
  
• events organized by different European and international organizations and networks;
  
• publications (list of titles, accompanied by short descriptions and links to downloads);
  
• organizations working in the field worldwide (with short presentations and links); and
  
• websites where one can find more relevant information on the subject.

This new website is a great tool, which gathers all the existing information related to the subject, available on the Internet, in one place and gives easy access to it. You can visit the website at this address:

www.unesco.org/webworld/en/media-accountability-europe.