The Council of judges in Macedonia stated that the biggest pressure on their work is currently coming from the media. The reactions are ironic, and media organizations have condemned the Council's statement.
Macedonian experts are asking for changes in the public broadcasting service, namely for new strategies to stop partisan influence on the public broadcasting MRTV.
During the ongoing political negotiations, several journalists’ organizations presented their proposals about how to successfully de-politicize the media. The problems of major concern for journalists relate to the functioning of the public broadcasting service (Macedonian Radio Television, MPT) and to government non-transparent advertisement in the media.
The Macedonian Journalist Association expressed its concerns about the decision of the authorities to freeze the bank accounts of “Telma tv”, in the framework of an investigation for embezzlement against corporate executives of the “Makpetrol” company, owner of the tv. According to the Association, this measure puts at risk the existence of the media, and threatens to leave many journalists jobless, thus impoverishing the already fragile media environment in Macedonia.
The Council for Media Ethics received more than 40 appeals from citizens, about various violations in the media, such as hate speech, unbalanced reporting, discrimination of various groups. The Council for Media Ethics is an independent body which monitors the work of media outlets.
24vesti reportage on the possible ways to professionalise the public broadcasting service. The story includes the opinions of the EU Ambassador in Macedonia, syndicate of the media professionals, and some of the political parties.
The representatives of the Macedonian institutions regulating the media sector debated about the ways to reform the public broadcasting service, Macedonian radio - television. MRT is criticized in international reports and by the domestic media organisations as biased and favor orientated towards the government.
In the latest report, Freedom House considers Macedonia as a country with "hybrid regime". The media independence is ranked with the lowest score ever, 5, and the organisation is alarming that freedom of the media in the country is deterioring.
The president of the Macedonian Journalist Association, Naser Selmani, is calling the government to take serious attitude towards the report of the European Commision about media freedom in Macedonia. Macedonia is heaviliy criticized in the report for the lack of media and journalism freedom and about the case of the jailed journalist Tomislav Kezarovski.
