Record Low As Media Follows Bad Examples

Michael Hedges February 4, 2013 - Follow on Twitter

Ranking the attributes of any country’s media sector is acceptably subjective. There is the obvious, not so obvious and uncovered. As in physics, the act of observing changes things. Physics also reminds us that objects at rest tend to fall apart.

The Republic of Macedonia, properly the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, achieved the worst ranking in Reporters sans Frontiers (RSF) 2013 Press Freedom Index of Western Balkans countries and, indeed, continental Europe, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus notwithstanding. It has fallen to 116th from 94th in 2011 and 34th in 2009. RSF attributed recent deterioration in media freedom to “the arbitrary withdrawal of media licenses and deterioration in the environment for journalists.”

Neighboring Montenegro fell to 113th, Albania to 102nd and Bosnia/Herzegovina to 68th while Serbia’s ranking rose in one year to 63rd, Croatia 64th and Kosovo 85th. The 2013 RSF Press Freedom Index was released January 30th. As usual Finland, the Netherlands and Norway held the top three ranks and Turkmenistan, North Korea and Eritrea the bottom three.

As Macedonia’s Parliament Speaker Trakjo Veljanovski attempted to gavel the body into session (December 27) broadcast and newspaper reporters jeered and booed. Three days earlier reporters covering the critical 2013 budget session were forcibly ejected. The Macedonian state budget was finally approved after opposition MPs were ejected.

“This is also a picture of the relationship towards the public because the reporters are the eyes of the public,” said Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers president Tamara Chausidis, quoted by SETimes.com (January 2). “They are there to tell the citizens who don't have such privilege to be witnesses of events that affect them, what happened and how. The incident in the parliament is an example for suspending of the democracy and the media freedom in Macedonia.”

Macedonia’s media has also lurched from the absurd to the ridiculous. Daily newspaper Vecer asked readers to “out” suspected gay members of the news media, noted Balkan Insight (February 1). “We are calling on our readers to tell us the names of journalists and pass on their experiences,” said the Vecer editorial (January 31), naming a few “suspects” on their own.

A day earlier daily newspaper Vest asked readers to propose “female journalists or famous persons” to reprise the well-reported “Basic Instinct” stunt by Serbian television channel TV Pink (January 29) in which Prime Minister Ivica Dacic was uncomfortably “interviewed” by a model sans knickers posing as a journalist. Before the Vest poll was removed from its website, Vecer editor-in-chief Ivona Talevska topped the list. She’s suing. Of course, topping the list in Vecer of suspected gay journalists was Vest editor Goran Mihajlovski. Classy stuff, yes?

The media landscape in Macedonia, long tenuous, slipped into precipitous decline in 2011 when television channels A1 and A2 lost their licenses and four newspapers closed, bank accounts of owner Plus Produkcija frozen. The closures came as part of tax fraud investigation of Plus Produkcia principal Velija Ramkovski, who was sentenced to 13 years in jail for a variety of financial crimes last year.

“The country has entered an area of turbulence with no end in sight,” said RSF in 2011 commentary. “The media landscape is marked by the appearance and disappearance of newspapers in a manner totally unrelated to the needs of the market. At the same time, the fundamentals remain the same – journalists with no economic security and polarized media that are funded from unclear sources.”

IREX gave Macedonia’s media its lowest Media Sustainability Index (MSI) score in 2012 following the closure of the television channels and newspapers. “With the media landscape shifting in favor of the pro-governmental media, the plurality of viewpoints took a noticeable hit,” said the IREX report on Macedonia (March 2012). “The only plurality remaining is in the sheer number of media outlets.” The report also noted that WAZ Group exited Macedonia newspaper ownership in 2011.

The European Union officially accepted Macedonia’s member state candidacy in 2005. Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule has been unable to schedule formal negotiations because of objections from Bulgaria and Greece. Croatia will become the second new EU Member State from the former Yugoslavia in July.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Press/Media Freedom - Challenges and Concerns

Press and media freedom worldwide is facing challenges from many corners. As authoritarian leaders impose strict control over traditional and new media with impunity, media watchers have concerns for democracy. This ftm Knowledge file accounts the troubles of this difficult decade. 88 pages. PDF (December 2011)

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