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2009 Assessment

Macedonia (FYROM): Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Macedonia (FYROM): Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Media
Indicators		Score
5	Are media and free speech protected?	100
6	Are citizens able to form print media entities?	75
7	Are citizens able to form broadcast (radio and TV) media entities?	63
8	Can citizens freely use the Internet?	100
9	Are the media able to report on corruption?	67
10	Are the media credible sources of information?	50
11	Are journalists safe when investigating corruption?	67

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

Are media and free speech protected?

5a: In law, freedom of the media is guaranteed.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, 1991, Article 16.

5b: In law, freedom of speech is guaranteed.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia, 1991, Article 16.

Are citizens able to form print media entities?

6a: In practice, the government does not create barriers to form a print media entity.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Violeta Gligoroska, Media Program Coordinator in FOSI-Macedonia, Sep. 07, 2009, Skopje. Interview with Slavko Mangovski, editor-in-chief of Makedonsko Sonce and Sonce TV, Aug. 14, 2009.

6b: In law, where a print media license is necessary, there is an appeals mechanism if a license is denied or revoked.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: There is no law regulating print media.

6c: In practice, where necessary, citizens can obtain a print media license within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments:

6d: In practice, where necessary, citizens can obtain a print media license at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

Comments:

Are citizens able to form broadcast (radio and TV) media entities?

7a: In practice, the government does not create barriers to form a broadcast (radio and TV) media entity.

Score:

100

Comments:

Peer Review Comments: The government is involved in the process of forming a media entity and that is why the biggest ones are formed by the people who are close to the government. This was also noted in the EU @5?>@B 2009 for Macedonia.

7b: In law, where a broadcast (radio and TV) media license is necessary, there is an appeals mechanism if a license is denied or revoked.

Score:

YES

Comments: Unsatisfied applicants may file an appeal with a court within 15 days following the rejection (the negative decision).

References: Law on Radio Broadcasting, 2005, Article 54.

7c: In practice, where necessary, citizens can obtain a broadcast (radio and TV) media license within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments: Licenses for new broadcast media are not being issued so the only available option for electronic media is to broadcast via satellite and then make an agreement with cable operators to rebroadcast their program. This was the case, for example, with Sonce TV. So it is not a question of time, but simply that the regulator does not issue new licenses.

7d: In practice, where necessary, citizens can obtain a broadcast (radio and TV) media license at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

Comments: The costs are reasonable, but the licensing is rare (see the anwer to question 7c).

Can citizens freely use the Internet?

8a: In practice, the government does not prevent citizens from accessing content published on-line.

Score:

100

Comments:

8b: In practice, the government does not censor citizens creating content on-line.

Score:

100

Comments:

Are the media able to report on corruption?

9a: In law, it is legal to report accurate news even if it damages the reputation of a public figure.

Score:

YES

Comments: Article 172 (4) states that a person reporting accurate news or having a justified reason for reporting news as accurate can not be pronounced guilty of slander.

References: Penal Code, 1999, Article 172 (4).

9b: In practice, the government or media owners/distribution groups do not encourage self-censorship of corruption-related stories.

Score:

100

Comments: The government makes attempts to restrict media coverage of corruption-related issues through unofficial means, such as restricting access by disfavored media outlets. While, for example, privileged media are even paid to cover foreign trips of the prime minister or the president, critically-oriented media is rarely easily given access to information necessary to research corruption scandals such as Swedmilk. In Macedonia, violent reprisals against media outlets are indeed rare.

Peer Review Comments: Most of the media in Macedonia, except one or two, are government-related so they encourage self-censorship. Most of the stories that are published are about corruption about the former government or businessmen related to that government.

Peer Review Comments: Self-censorship among journalists working in Macedonia is a big problem that is not addressed enough. The president of the Association of Journalists, Robert Popovski, in IREX MSI index for 2008, said that "self-censorship is ingrained" in the media. See: [ LINK ]

9c: In practice, there is no prior government restraint (pre-publication censoring) on publishing corruption-related stories.

Score:

100

Comments: There is broadcast media censoring sometimes. This mainly relates to the public broadcasting enterprise MTV 1, MTV 2, and MTV 3.

Peer Review Comments: The government can and does interfere with the work of state-owned media, especially when it comes to corruption-related stories.

Peer Review Comments: There are many cases in which the prime minister himself, or his closest associates, dictates how the lead story of the day should or shouldn't be published. This is the case among media outlets that are close to the ruling party in Macedonia, where the editors and the ministers' associates together arrange the agenda of the day.

Are the media credible sources of information?

10a: In law, print media companies are required to publicly disclose their ownership.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe; Miklós Haraszti, representative of Freedom of the Media, the State of Media Freedom in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Dec. 9, 2005.

Peer Review Comments: By Macedonian law, it is only prohibited that printed and electronic media have the same owner. But, it is an open secret that some people in Macedonia have multiple ownerships. The chairman of the Broadcasting Council, Zoran Stefanovski, last month said that the Council has taken actions to establish the ownership of certain media in Macedonia.

10b: In law, broadcast (radio and TV) media companies are required to publicly disclose their ownership.

Score:

YES

Comments: Article 49 states that during the process of application for a license, the applicant must disclose the ownership of the medium.

References: Law on Radio Broadcasting, 2005, Article 49.

10c: In practice, journalists and editors adhere to strict, professional practices in their reporting.

Score:

100

Comments: Many journalists, precisely those who are working in pro-governmental media, do not stick to professional practices in their reporting.

Peer Review Comments: Macedonia has reached the lowest level for professional reporting since all the media are related to certain business interests or are government-oriented.

10d: In practice, during the most recent election, political parties or independent candidates received fair media coverage.

Score:

100

Comments: No, not from the media; they are pro the currently ruling political party.

10e: In practice, political parties and candidates have equitable access to state-owned media outlets.

Score:

100

Comments:

Peer Review Comments: Reporting in state-owned media tends to favor political parties in power.

Peer Review Comments: On the presidential and local elections on March this year, there was a proceeding against the national MTV 2 for breaking the Article 8 of the Rules for Equal Access to media presentation during the election campaign. An editor from MTV 2 participated in the activities of one of the organizers of the election campaign, said the Broadcasting Council.

Peer Review Comments: Yes, but in reality the political parties in power, who control the state-owned media, get more coverage.

Are journalists safe when investigating corruption?

11a: In practice, in the past year, no journalists investigating corruption have been imprisoned.

Score:

YES

$Scoring Criteria :: YES: A YES score is earned if there were no journalists imprisoned related to work covering corruption during the study period. A YES score is positive. NO: A NO score is earned if any journalist was jailed because of his/her work covering corruption during the study period. The causal relationship between the official charges and the journalist\'s work may not be explicit, however the burden of proof here is low. If it seems likely that the journalist was imprisoned due to his or her work, then the indicator is scored as a NO. Corruption is defined broadly to include any abuses of power, not just the passing of bribes.$

Comments: No one was imprisoned.

11b: In practice, in the past year, no journalists investigating corruption have been physically harmed.

Score:

YES

Comments: There are such cases, but they were not publically announced.

Peer Review Comments: Naser Pajaziti, editor of the newspaper Shqip Media from Tetovo, Macedonia, in March this year announced on TV that he and three other journalists were harassed by the police unit Alfi. The event took place at the entrance to Kumanovo. The car in which they were riding was stopped and searched by Alfi. Pajaziti claimed that the officers were arrogant and degrading to them. In addition, the editor of the daily newspaper Spic, Branko Geroski, on a couple of occasions received deterrent SMS messages about a story he published.

11c: In practice, in the past year, no journalists investigating corruption have been killed.

Score:

YES

$Scoring Criteria :: YES: A YES score is earned if there were no documented cases of journalists being killed because of their work covering corruption-related issues during the study period. A YES score is positive. NO: A NO score is earned if there were any documented cases where a journalist was killed in relation to his or her work covering corruption-related issues in the study period. The relationship between a mysterious death and an individual\'s work may not be clear, however the burden of proof here is low. If it is a reasonable guess that a person was killed in relation to his or her work on corruption issues, then the indicator is scored as a NO. Corruption is defined broadly to include any abuses of power, not just the passing of bribes.$

Comments: