The Mediterranean Observatory of Communication (OMEC) is an interdisciplinary working group of researchers, communication professionals, and international cooperation professionals that works to foster the development of Mediterranean countries.

The Observatory is a non-profit initiative founded in 2004 by a group of information professionals linked to the University and to international cooperation. Specifically, the project emerged within the LAPREC research group of the Department of Journalism and Communication Sciences at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).

Our main objective is to promote dialogue, human development, and the exercise of human rights. To this end, OMEC is supported by organizations, institutions, and individuals from Algeria, Egypt, Spain, France, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey, whose overarching aim is to contribute to building a dialogic Mediterranean space focused on the advancement of human rights.

Objectives
  1. Foster the creation of networks and partnership relations among the different actors that make up the Mediterranean communication ecosystem—journalists, media outlets, the information and cultural industries, universities, and professional organizations—for exchanges, research, campaigns, and projects, as well as other joint activities, such as identifying specific experiences and case studies and analyzing their applicability to the Mediterranean space.
  2. Strengthen access to knowledge and cultural diversity in the fields of communication, the information society, and human development by encouraging the production and translation of academic, informational, fiction, and other types of content in Mediterranean languages, in both physical and digital formats online, in order to reduce the digital divide and contribute to the circulation and appropriation of Mediterranean cultural production among its inhabitants.
  3. Promote the integration of communication for development and social change into relevant faculties, as well as into regional development cooperation programs and projects, with a particular emphasis on participatory and capacity-building processes at the local level through interdisciplinary research, public policy proposals, and specialized training.
  4. Launch a system of indicators, information gathering and the production of periodic reports to enable analysis, evaluation, and the development of intervention proposals in the areas of the right to communication and cyberspace, public communication policies, media social responsibility, the transition to the information society, and the digital divide in the Mediterranean regional context.
  5. Influence public policies that create obstacles to access, participation, and appropriation for the most vulnerable groups, incorporating a gender perspective across all actions.
Main lines of work
  1. Building a Resource Center: Creation of a virtual portal offering information about the different agents in the Mediterranean communication ecosystem, with links and content in three main areas:
    • Communication in the Mediterranean.
    • Communication for international cooperation.
    • Communication for human rights and democratic governance.
    • Communication for peace and conflict resolution.
    • Gender and communication in the Mediterranean.
  2. Networking: Establishment of a network of communication training and research centers, guild and professional media organizations across the Mediterranean to:
    • Feed and maintain the portal.
    • Seminars and workshops on the role of the media, training centers, and communication professionals in Mediterranean building. 
    • Joint research and resource mobilization.
  3. Indicator system “Media and human-rights-based development”: Implement an indicator system, information gathering, and periodic reporting to enable monitoring, evaluation, and the development of intervention proposals in the areas of freedom of expression, public communication policies, media social responsibility, the transition to the information society, and the digital divide in the Mediterranean regional context.
  4. Knowledge dissemination: Translation and distribution of reference documents and research outputs, reports, and conferences on specific aspects of the Mediterranean communication ecosystem, communication for development and social change, and the rights to information, communication, and cyberspace within the framework of the network and partnership relations.
  5. Training: professional training through congresses, seminars, lectures, and workshops, and academic training, especially through the Erasmus Mundus Master Crossing the Mediterranean: towards Investment and Integration (MIM) delivered by: the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain), Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy), and Paul-Valéry University Montpellier (France).