MEDIA MIRROR FURTHER DETERIORATION OF MEDIA FREEDOMS AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FEBRUARY 2013

Transcription

1 Monitoring of Media in Republic of Macedonia REPORT No MEDIA MIRROR FURTHER DETERIORATION OF MEDIA FREEDOMS AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION FEBRUARY 2013 Media Mirror Program is implemented with financial support from Foundation Open Sociey-Macedonia.

2 1. Introduction and Methodology The NGO Info-centre, with financial support from the Foundation Open Society Macedonia (FOSM), under the auspices of its "Media Mirror" programme, implements monitoring of media reporting on issues and topics related to media freedoms and freedom of expression. This report covers the period from January 1 to February 6, The monitoring included the following media: seven daily newspapers ("Utrinski vesnik, Dnevnik, Vest, Večer, "Nova Makedonija, Fokus and Den ), the central news programmes aired by seven television stations that broadcast nationally or over the satellite (24 Vesti TV, Kanal 5 TV, Sitel TV, Telma TV, MTV1, Alfa TV and AlsatM TV), and six internet news portals (Sky.mk, MKD.mk, Libertas.mk, Plusinfo.mk, Kurir.mk and A1on.mk). The monitoring was conducted daily, depending on the actual coverage of events and topics related to media freedoms and freedom of expression in the media. The monitoring applied contents analysis of published journalistic articles and broadcast stories and reports. 2. Key Findings The events that transpired in January and the first week of February of this year, related to the media scene in the Republic of Macedonia, as well as the analysis of the contents of media coverage of those events and developments, indicate a continued deterioration of media freedoms and freedom of expression in the country. Pressures, Threats and Harangues Directed at Critical Media and Journalists The types, scope and frequency of events during the short period of time covered by this analysis indicate that: The media and journalists critical of the Government are under constant pressure of the Government; the censorship is gaining in intensity while selfcensorship becomes an everyday occurrence and a regular practice. The critical media disappear from the scene. Editorial offices have been forced into sudden cancelations of programmes and to receive personnel reinforcements with journalists coming from progovernment media. The owners, editors and journalists are being sued by state functionaries and face exorbitant demands for compensations, while some journalists and editorial offices receive threats and are forced to apologize publicly or retract and revoke stories they published or aired. On the other hand, the pro-government media (they are a huge majority of TV stations and daily newspapers, and there are numerous pro-government internet portals and online newspapers, too) act as an instrument of the Government and are involved in a permanent attack campaign directed at their colleagues in the media critical of the Government. They publish discriminatory lists of alleged homosexual journalists, articles in which journalists are accused of being mercenary stooges, accuse journalists of working for SDSM. They go so far to accuse the "Soros's foundation and the journalists it pays" to be solely responsible for the disastrous situation in the area of media freedoms, noted also in the reports of the international organisation Reporters without Borders (RSF). It is worth noting that no representative of the Government commented on the findings presented in Reporters without Borders' report, while the prime minister Nikola Gruevski, responded to an inquiry on that matter posted by one Member of Parliament in the Assembly Session on MPs Questions and Inquiries, that he will give his response in writing. By the 2

3 time of the publication of this analysis, the public has not been informed if he gave his answer or what is the Government's position on RSF's Report. Pro-Government Media - Neglect Events and Manipulate Information In addition to the continuing attacks on the media and journalists critical of the Government, the analysis indicates that the pro-government media deviate from professional standards of journalism and completely disregard the right of the citizens to be informed and to get timely information on social and political processes and events, based on facts. The pro-government media offer little, if any, coverage on events and developments that don't work in Government's favour. The report presented by the Reporters without Borders, which noted dramatic drop in the rankings of the media freedom index for Macedonia, went completely ignored and unmentioned by most pro-government broadcasters and newspapers. Those that did publish something on RSF's report, offered very "dry" reports, never mentioning the reasons that led Macedonia to the very bottom of the global rankings in terms of media freedoms, a fact for which the Government is directly responsible. The manipulation of information didn't stop there. Almost one week after the official release of the Report, some pro-governmentt media launched a new campaign with claims totally opposed to the findings of the Report, transferring the blame solely on the Foundation Open Society Macedonia, and even questioned the reputation and the relevance of the Reporters without Borders. For example, the pro-government internet portal Kurir.mk carried a report accusing Reporters without Border of manipulation and attempt to mislead the public, citing a single Venezuela-based website as its source. Kurir.mk uses other unnamed sources - "international media" and "other media in the world". The manipulation of information and the double standard implemented by the progovernment media take other forms and shapes. Those media reserve selective approach to individual events, such as the poll published by "Vest" daily: "Which female TV journalist should interview Gruevski without her panties on?" They find the poll sexist and discriminating of women and their rights, forgetting completely to mention the list of "gay journalists" published by "Večer" daily at about the same time, which discriminates against homosexuals and their rights and constitutes a form of call to lynch through public labeling. That approach raises the dilemma, whether those media are truly concerned about human rights or, in fact, it is a selective approach that is (ab)used only when they need to protect the "face and achievements" of the Government, its representatives and supporters. The analysis of the contents published and aired by the media shows that the Macedonian Radio and Television, during this period and in the coverage of those subjects, didn't behave as a proper public service for the citizens, but as a pro-government medium. Instead of providing the citizens with professional and unbiased reporting on all important events and processes, MRT, in its central news programmes, offered almost no reports on the events that transpired during the period covered by the monitoring and refer directly to media freedoms and freedom of expression. Critical Portals Break the Information Blockade Only the internet-portals, and a handful of the traditional media that are critically inclined, attempt to break the information blockade of the Macedonian media space created by the Government and the pro-government media. The critical portals report on a variety of topics and events that are simply ignored and neglected by the pro-government media. In this stage of the monitoring, we didn t conduct an 3

4 in-depth analysis of the quality of the presented information, but we should be free to note the effort made by those media to ensure the realisation of the right of the citizens to be timely informed about all important events and processes in the society. Monitoring of the Civil Defamation Law The top events since the start of 2013 the lawsuits filed by state officials against media and journalists, the demands for apologies and retraction of certain media reports, the statements by journalists and editors that the fear from lawsuits and lack of trust in the courts strengthens not only censorship, but also self-censorship bring up the dilemma in the public whether the new Law on Civil Liability for Defamation will bring more freedom of expression or will further strengthen censorship and self-censorship to total humiliation of the journalists? In view of all that, there is an urgent need for constant in-depth monitoring of the implementation of the Law, at all levels and including all involved actors. 3. Events (January February 2013) Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression During this period, we registered a series of events directly related to freedom of media and freedom of expression: During the Christmas Holidays, Alfa TV got a new owner, something that explained the substantial changes of its programming concept, editorial policies, as well as the personnel changes. Almost overnight, the political debate shows Win-Win" and "One word at a time ("Zbor po zbor ) were cancelled. Several journalists know for their strict professional standards and critical observation of Government's policies and social and political processes in general, were taken off air. The media reported that they will be replaced by young, inexperienced journalists transferred from pro-government media - Sitel TV, Večer, Dnevnik, MRT. The "Fokus daily, a strong critic of the Government, was sued in the first half of January 2013 by the director of the Administration for Security and Counter-Intelligence (UBK) Sašo Mijalkov. Mijalkov claimed 27,000 compensation for damages to his honour and reputation caused, he claimed, by several reports published by the daily. The first report that brought about the lawsuit, titled "I left because of Sašo Mijalkov's Pressure was published on January 3. The second article, titled "The Embassy in the Czech Republic Receives Bomb Threats, MFA Doesn't Lift a Finger", was published on the next day. The two stories covered the claims by Igor Ilievski, former Macedonian ambassador to the Czech Republic, that he was forced to leave his post because of the pressure of the director of UBK. Mijalkov also sued ambassador Ilievski. On the same day, Ilievski announced he intended to counter with his own lawsuit against Mijalkov, demanding compensation of damages of 2.7 million. On January 30, the Reporters without Borders released its latest World Press Freedom Index for Macedonia was ranked in 116 th place of the total of 176 countries, a drop of 22 positions compared to the previous year and astounding 83 positions over the last three years. According to Reporters without Borders, the reasons for the deterioration of media freedom in Macedonia lied in: judicial harassment based on often inappropriate 1 4

5 legislation, the lack of access to public data, physical and psychological violence against those who work in news and information, official and private advertising markets used as a tool, the grey economy s hold over vital parts of the media. Following the dangerous examples of Hungary and Italy, the Macedonian parliament is preparing to legalize censorship, continually blowing hot and cold towards a profession that is often out on its own, states the report of the international organization. Sonja Kramarska, the Editor-in-Chief of Utrinski vesnik daily, on demand by the President of the Assembly of Macedonia Trajko Veljanoski, apologized publicly, on January 31, 2013, with a front-page article, for the headline and the lead of the article that covered the public statement issued by the Societas Civilis Institute for Democracy (IDSCS): Pollsters Knock on Veljanoski's Door" and "The polling agency the conducted a poll commissioned by the Parliament voices accusations about manipulation with the poll's results". According to Veljanoski, the lead contained defamatory and seriously misleading information which caused damages to the honour and the reputation of the Assembly and to his own honour and reputation as President of the Assembly. Veljanoski demanded an apology from Kramarska and threatened her with a lawsuit if she didn't meet his demand. IDSCS s press release, issued on January 29, 2013, referred to the public opinion poll commissioned by the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia, funded by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) 2, which received great attention in the public with its claims that "more than 70 percent of the polled citizens support the possibility to remove the MPs from the parliament if they don t respect the regulations and act disorderly in the Parliament" (January 29, 2013, Plusinfo.mk). In its press release, IDSCS noted that before the start of the traditional poll, two questions were added on request of the Parliament, for this the funder gave consent ("If MPs don't respect the house rules of the Assembly, should they be removed from the premises?" and Whether the house rules should be observed in spite of the tense relations?"), which presented a problem both in terms of the methodology and the contents, and which were to be used only for internal purposes of the Assembly, while their public release should have been subject to additional agreement. After the Assembly dishonoured the standing gentlemen s agreement, IDSCS reacted in a statement for the public. The public apology by Sonja Kramarska, Editor-in-Chief of "Utrinski vesnik" caused a flood of protest, especially among the journalists. The members of the Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Professionals, in reaction to the constant pressure coming from the Government and the increasingly frequent recent demands for public apologies, took action and on February 4, 2013, presented written, sarcastically intoned and warning apologies to the prime minister Gruevski and the president of the Parliament Trajko Veljanoski. The Trade Union offered, on its website, a template form of public apology asking "to be forgiven for not pursuing their jobs according to the needs and best interests of the politicians". The form leaves it to each individual journalist to choose what exactly he or she needs to apologize about in advance. It was the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE, not the prime minister or the speaker of the Parliament, that responded to this ironic 2 =89&lang=mk 5

6 action of the journalists. The party put an equality sign between journalists and politicians and told the members of the press that they should run in elections. On January 31, 2013, the tabloid Vest ran a public opinion poll "Which female TV journalist should interview Gruevski without her panties on?". The poll proposed ten female journalists and TV show hosts, and the readers were invited to vote for their favourites. The poll was inspired by the recent affair involving the prime minister of Serbia Ivica Dačić who was interviewed, without prior warning, by a model who stood in for a TV show-host, with no underwear on. The interview was made for the purposes of the tabloid show "Candid Camera - Mission Impossible". The poll ended quickly, according to "Vest s editorial office, due to strong pressure from many sides. The daily s editor-in-chief Goran Mihajlovski said that The pressure comes from outside. With our judiciary and the existing legislation, in the current constellation of relations in society, we decided that we should protect the editorial office. The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) demanded from the daily to name the persons that intervened, while the owner of the daily, the Media Print Macedonia (MPM) company, announced that it didn t influence the editorial policies of its publications. Although Vest didn t mention the Government, a press release was immediately issued by the Government denying any involvement in an attempt to pressure the daily, demanding from "Vest": "If the editorial office of Vest has information that an individual working in a government institution pressured it to retract the story, we insist that they publicly name that person, and if such a person exist of which we are not aware he or she will be held responsible and sanctioned accordingly. Ivona Talevska, the Editor-in-Chief of the pro-government Večer daily was one of the ten journalists proposed in "Vest's" poll. She demanded from Vest to remove her name from the poll and threatened the daily with a lawsuit. Immediately after the publication of Vest s poll, Večer ran its own story with a list of alleged homosexual journalists, illustrated with photographs of three journalists, including Goran Mihajlovski, editor-inchief of "Vest" daily, and Aco Kabranov, the editor-in-chief of the Libertas.mk portal. Večer noted that it was an open list that the readers could amend with the names of journalists they knew were homosexuals, and even invited the readers to report their experiences with those journalists. AJM reacted to the publication of the list and to the Vest's poll. The Association condemned the Attempts to discredit journalists on basis of their sex or sexual orientation. Immediately after that, Miško Ivanov from "Vest" filed an irrevocable resignation from his seat on the AJM Managing Board, with explanation that he "couldn't stand as silent witness to the bland and vague press releases issued by AJM. Večer's list also provoked reactions by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the LGBT Centre, and the Coalition for Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities. They condemned the daily s continuous discriminatory and homophobic campaign, demanded action from the Commission for Prevention of Discrimination, and called on the "Government and the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia to finally recognize the need to include the sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds for hate crimes in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Macedonia, which would be the first step towards the achievement of the principle of respect for diversity, a fundamental principle of a democratic state". 6

7 The Den daily, which was critical of the Government, folded at the end of January The reasons for the decision to close the medium are likely financial by nature. 4. Analysis of Media Coverage Alfa Television The news portals critical of the Government and Fokus daily dedicated the most extensive coverage to the changes of ownership, editorial policy, programming schedule and personnel that took place at Alfa TV. In the first days of the new year, before the Orthodox Christmas, the portals carried reports that Kole Čašule will be appointed a new editor-inchief of the broadcaster, and offered detailed reports on cancellation of programmes, taking journalists critical of the Government off air, and transfers of young and inexperienced journalists from pro-government media to Alfa TV. The portals named those changes the Blitzkrieg. Fokus printed a report which tied the changes at Alfa TV to the decision of the Appellate Court to annul the lower court decision to declare the privatisation of "Fershped" company (the founder and until recently owner of the broadcaster) void. The daily reported that the judges that adopted the ruling were promoted to higher positions and concluded: The judgment confirmed the speculations that Šterjo Nakov traded "Alfa" for the chance to keep ownership of "Fershped", and the takeover by the new owners was completed after they received the judgment of the Appellate Court. (January 9, 2013, Fokus ) "Fokus also printed a commentary on the situation in journalistic profession, the closing of media outlets and divisions among journalists: While persons prepared to go where only silence rules and break the barriers of dictatorship disappear from our TV screens on daily basis, while the Government prepares lists who will work where and who will lose his or her existence, while the rest of us keep silent and critical thought is dying out, there is an urgent need for all those who agree that "Journalism, among other things, means to publish something that the Government may disagree with, while the rest is pure marketing!" to unite". We should count our ranks before they bury our profession alltogether". (January 8, 2013, Fokus ) The pro-government media offered little, if any, coverage of the ongoing changes at Alfa TV. The Nova Makedonija daily carried an editorial peace dismissing the possibility for the ruling structures to have any say in the changes in the broadcaster: I understand, to some extent, the new owners of Alfa TV. If its ratings are as low as AGB Nielsen s figures indicate, they have every right to change the programming schedule, cancel shows and replace journalists, and continues: "What is the actual influence of Alfa TV on the public opinion? If VMRO-DPMNE leads SDSM in the polls at a 2 to 1 ratio, why would anyone in Government need such a purge? Moreover, it is a purge of journalists and media professionals whose party affiliation is beyond any doubt, having in mind the offices and positions they held during the reign of SDSM It would be a form of pure political sadism on the behalf of the ruling VMRO-DPMNE and the businessmen close to it to destroy the legitimate critical thought of journalists who are clearly affiliated to SDSM and other opposition parties, a fact they never tried to hide and, in fact, were proud of. Does the new owner of Alfa TV that they can sue him for discrimination on basis of party affiliation? Who will pay the price for that? The Government? (January 11, 2013, Nova Makedonija ) 7

8 Sašo Mijalkov Sues Fokus Almost all media outlets included in this monitoring programme covered the lawsuits that Sašo Mijalkov, the Director of the Administration for Security and Counter-Intelligence, filed against Fokus daily and ambassador Ilievski. It was one of the fiew topics on which all media, both pro-government or critical of the government, carried reports and presented the claims of the legal office that: "The defendant Jadranka Kostova, as editor-in-chief, and the legal entity FOKUS PRESS DOO publishing company, without checking the information, allowed for slanderous and libellous claims against our client Sašo Mijalkov to go to print". On the other hand, our analysis noted that, unlike Mijalkov's lawsuit, which got extensive coverage and prominent position in pro-government media, the counter-lawsuit filed by ambassador Ilievski against Mijalkov, was largely overlooked. The Fokus daily published the news about Mijalkov s lawsuit with a comment that the head of UBK tests the new Defamation Law. (January 12/13, 2013, Fokus ) The Report of Reporters without Borders With exception of Kurir.mk, all portals included in this monitoring carried reports on the contents of the report issued by the Reporters without Borders. While noting that Macedonia has been, deservedly, ranked in the dismal 116th position, they quoted parts of the Report which states, among other things, that: "Albania, Montenegro and especially Macedonia illustrate the sad picture of media in the Balkans: judicial harassment based on often inappropriate legislation, the lack of access to public data, physical and psychological violence against those who work in news and information All are obstacles to the right to report the news and people s right to know it. Following the dangerous examples of Hungary and Italy, the Macedonian parliament is preparing to legalize censorship, continually blowing hot and cold towards a profession that is often out on its own, states the latest report of Reporters without Borders (Plusinfo.mk, January 30, 2013). The portals also carried the reaction by AJM and the statement of the president of the Association Naser Selmani, who said: It is the highest time for Government institutions, political parties and the general public to face the fact that the freedom of media in Macedonia is under serious threat which can't be overcome without a true change of attitudes towards the work of media and journalists. We need a strong political will to liberate the space for the media to be able to achieve their mission of watchdog they have in all democratic societies and an open platform for debate on issues of interest to the public" (Sky.mk, January 20, 2013) Some portals expressed great interest in the information carried by the state's Macedonian Information Agency (MIA) information about the Report, which claimed that "the situation in the media fall within regular standards". Libertas.mk and A1on.mk portals noted that MIA focuses solely on the general remarks made by RSF on the global situation of media freedoms, dedicating a single paragraph to Macedonia, which simply notes the country s ranking and the drop of 22 places in the list. MIA, the portals concluded, didn't present RSF's explanation why Macedonia was ranked so low. At the same time, the portals reported that, asked by MP Izet Zekiri in the Parliament to comment the RSF's Report and the dramatic drop in the media freedom rankings, PM Gruevski refused to answer orally and announced a written response, and also carried the comment "twitted" by European Commissioner Štefan Füle: media freedoms remain a major challenge for our partner-countries, they have to improve and be respected, being one of the 8

9 fundamental values of EU". The portals also reported that the central news programmes on MRT1 and Sitel TV didn t say a word about the Report. The analysis of the reports aired in the central news programmes of TV broadcasters found that pro-government stations MRT1, Sitel TV and Kanal 5 TV didn t report on the Press Freedom Index released by Reporters without Borders. Only Telma TV, 24Vesti TV and Alfa TV reported the contents of the international report. Alfa TV aired a simple report that presented the findings of the Index and the reaction of AJM, while Telma TV also aired a story on MP Zekiri s inquiry made to PM Gruevski and Zekiri's comments after he learned that the prime minister will respond in writing: "I have a serious objection to make as a prime minister you won t say a single word on the position of the Republic of Macedonia in terms of media freedoms. And, on top of that, you say you will respond in writing. That is unacceptable. You, as Prime Minister, should have offered a couple of words of response. Just see what the media say You should follow this, and I quote: The Parliament of Macedonia prepares to legalize censorship. The Government and the political parties treat the media as means of manipulation (January 30, 2013, Telma TV) 24Vesti TV, in addition to the contents of the Report and the reaction of AJM, presented the views of several media experts and the statement of the president of Journalists Trade Union Tamara Čausidis: "We face a serious tendency to kill journalism viewed from the point of its essential role as critic of social processes. The murder is committed in several ways through cancellation of licenses, threats with lawsuits, the easy of lay-offs and firing of journalists. (January 30, 2013, 24Vesti TV) The analysis of daily newspapers found that, one day after the release of the Report, the pro-government Večer didn t carry any information about its contents. The other newspapers covered by this analysis didn't overlook or ignore the Report. On January 31, 2013, Dnevnik daily carried a brief report on the Index and the reaction issued by AJM, but on information on the reasons why RSF ranked Macedonia in 116 th place and noted a dramatic deterioration of media freedoms. Utrinski vesnik, Nova Makedonija and Vest dailies also printed reports on the Index and AJM s reaction, but they did note the explanation offered by RSF for the worsened situation of the media in the country. Fokus daily, in addition to the news report, carried a short editorial comment which said: "I don t think the responsibility for this lies solely with Gruevski. I believe that the lion s share of responsibility lies with the journalists that act as collaborators to this Government and constantly distance themselves and make strong efforts to suppress any form of resistance by the journalists or the fight for freedom of expression. They should be ashamed and they should know that we shall witness about their betrayal of the honour of the profession!" Over the following days, the critically inclined portals and traditional media continued to report the repercussions and reactions related to the Report. Fokus daily carried an interview with Olivier Basile, Director of Reporters without Borders, who said, among other things, that the fear in Macedonia is greater than the fear existing in Cuba, that the Government covers full 75% of all advertisements in the media and that It can t be done by a country that intends to join the European Union. It all looks like a well-organized network with the sole aim to spread fear among journalists which will lead to self-censorship. And it works because journalists fear for their existence (February 2, 2013, Fokus ) The dailies also presented the views of several journalists, civic organisations that focus on the media, experts and analysts who noted that the report confirmed the "existence of monism" in Macedonia, that "quasi-journalism is being installed under 'Government patronage'" and that 9

10 only "when we hit rock bottom and hit it hard we will start making some changes". 3. Several portals carried the analysis titled "Reporters without media, in which the author emphasizes that the Reporters without Borders gave "a slap in the face to Barroso s administration" which, in the latest Progress Report on Macedonia noted a progress in the area of freedom of expression. On the reasons for the very negative ranking in the Press Freedom Index and the reasons why the Government and the European Union beg to differ, that analysis states: What EC omits is seen by others. What EC doesn t measure is measured by others. The drop noted over the past four years constitutes an accelerated trend without any chances for its reversal". 4 Media Harangue against FOSM and Reporters without Borders Almost a full week passed after the publication of RSF s Report for some pro-government media to stop fully ignoring it and publish reports and stories on that topic. Their goal, however, was not to inform, but to manipulation the public. Sitel TV and the Kurir.mk portal, for example, launched a media harangue and presented claims totally opposed to the findings of the Report, transferring the blame for the bad situation in the are of media freedom solely on the "Soros foundation and the journalists it finances, and even questioned the legitimacy of the Reporters without Borders. Sitel TV aired a report titled Soros s money constantly contaminate the media space (February 5, 2013, Sitel TV), a full frontal attack on FOSM, the media and journalists critical of the Government. While the media financed by SOROS attempt, working in favour of SDSM, to create a perception that the Government is the sole culprit behind the disastrous situation, we have journalists speaking at opposition rallies, pretend to be hosts of party promotion events and, on top of everything, hold seats in the Parliament. Sitel reported, on several occasions, that it was Soros s money that constantly contaminate the media space in the country, and we can offer many examples...". In the lead to the story, the anchor noted, claiming that AJM and the Journalists' Trade Union were controlled by SDSM, that: On the other hand, the Soros Foundation, led by his long-term official, provides money for two dozen websites, about a dozen media companies and 50 journalists sustained by Soros and SDSM to promote their policies". The attacks continues along those lines on the following day, on that occasion, with a rather confused lead and story "If you are not financed by Soros, you are not independent" February 5, 2013, Sitel TV). That story, in addition to attacks directed against FOSM, offered a concrete list of journalists and civic activists accused of not being independent, of "speaking at SDSM s protests and are surely funded by Soros, where independent and objective journalists get their pay-check for the work they have done". The media harangue reached the crescendo with the claim that "Reporters without Borders is a fraud" (February 6, 2013, Kurir.mk) and the attempt to present RSF as an organisation without any international credibility or reputation. The article questioned the organisation's finances, noting that George Soros was on the list of its private financiers, and the international media report that RSF is not an organisation for protection of journalism, but an organisation for protection of geopolitical interests. That political influence is evident in the fact that Reporters without Borders list Putin, Lukashenko and several other world 3 Fokus, February 2, The analysis was originally published by Okno.mk portal (see 10

11 leaders on the list of, as they say, the worst people on the planet. That list is very similar to the list of enemies of the French or American governments. At the end, the article concludes: the picture of media freedoms in Macedonia, in the latest report issued by Reporters without Borders, is created by people close to Vladimir Milčin and the Open Society Foundation - Soros, having in mind the fact that, in line with the practice that applies to the other countries, the organization prepares its report with business goals in mind, and George Soros is one of its financiers. The ties of some journalists with the political goals of the opposition are illustrated by the fact that a group of journalists publicly stood behind the political campaign of SDSM and appear in the protests organized by the party. Kurir.mk bases its article on unnamed sources of information - "international media" and "other media in the world", the sole named source being a website from Venezuela. IDSCS Press Release The press release issued by the Institute for Democracy (IDSCS) was reported only in the central news programmes of Telma TV, 24Vesti TV and Alfa TV. In addition to the contents of the press-release, the broadcasters carried the statement by Marko Trošanovski from IDSCS that the questions in the poll related to the events of December 24, 2012, are questionable from the viewpoint of methodology and their contents "and refer to a political sensitive moment. It is not prudent to publish the findings of those questions... The questions discussed in public were misinterpreted by several actors (January 29, 2013, Alfa TV), and they also reported the reaction from the Office of the Speaker of the Parliament Trajko Veljanovski who said that "there was no abuse of the findings of the poll, whatsoever, but the question is whether we should have organized a briefing or a public presentation. We believe that, once the results were presented officially to the Parliament, they could and should have been presented to the public. The manner of presentation of those findings (a briefing of a public presentation) is of secondary importance. It is the findings that are of primary importance. The fact remains that the views of a given political party are in great discrepancy with the citizens perceptions of the events in the Parliament." (January 29, 2013, 24Vesti TV), Telma TV reported the reaction by opposition MP Jani Makraduli that VMRO-DPMNE uses opinion polls in Macedonia to manipulate the citizens and that the procedure: Demonstrates that there is no democracy in the Parliament. What we already said is that the Speaker of the Parliament and his Office manipulate the citizens of Macedonia and seek exit strategies to get away with the abuses of office and the criminal responsibility that evidently exists in this case, for violations of the Constitution, the Law and the Book of Procedures of the Parliament. (January 29, 2013, Telma TV). The pro-government Večer" daily didn t report the reaction of IDSCS. The reports published by Dnevnik and "Nova Makedonija put emphasis on the fact that: Misev 5 and Veljanovski have different interpretations of the poll" (January 30, 2013, "Dnevnik ), i.e. that it was A correspondence between the Parliament and Societas Civilis" (January 30, 2013, "Nova Makedonija"). Fokus, Den and Utrinski vesnik put emphasis, in their reports, on the fact that The Parliament abused the findings of the poll conducted by the Institute for Democracy" (January 30, 2013, "Den"). In the issue of that day, "Utrinski vesnik" carried a comment in which the author writes that "a new scandal was uncovered" and that questions 5 Vladimir Misev, Director of IDSCS 11

12 were planted to the public to justify the black Monday. At the same time, the commentator concludes: How can the president of the country Gjorge Ivanov implement, with people like these, an independent expert investigation into the events before, on December 24, and after the black Monday. Who will believe that such an investigation will be objective. Whoever does, give me a call. (January 30, 2013, Utrinski vesnik). Almost all critically inclined portals saw the contents of IDSCS's press release as a "scandal" and "abuse of poll's findings". Mkd.mk carried the reactions of both IDSCS and the Parliament, and in the report on the former, it noted that: The correspondence offers no mention that the two questions shouldn t be released publicly. (January 29, 2013, Mkd.mk) Apology by the Editor of "Utrinski vesnik" The portals (for example, Plusinfo.mk and A1on.mk) were the first to publish, on January 30, 2013, the information that Sonja Kramarska, the Editor-in-Chief of Utrinski vesnik daily, on demand by the President of the Assembly of Macedonia Trajko Veljanoski, apologized publicly, in the January 31 issue, with a front-page article, for the publication of the article titled Pollsters Knock on Veljanoski s Door with the lead "The polling agency that conducted a poll commissioned by the Parliament voices accusations of manipulation of results". The information was than carried by the other portals. According to Plusinfo.mk, Kramarska exposed the Speaker of the Parliament Trajko Veljanovski to ridicule with her pointedly self-belittling public apology, on the front-page of the daily, on request by the Speaker. At the same time, the portal reported that, according to unofficial reports, the persons that delivered the letter pressured Kramarska today to sign the receipt on the letter at any cost, which visibly disturbed her. She did muster the strength to write and publish the following apology: Therefore, I PUBLICLY APOLOGIZE to Mr. Trajko Veljanoski Also, I RETRACT THE CLAIM that the Agency voiced accusations for manipulation of the poll's results". The portal, just like the other portals critical of the government, reported that the apology caused a flood of reactions in the journalistic community and on the social networks and that it was "yet another proof of the scandalous pressures over Macedonian journalism today and direct confirmation of the findings of the report issued by Reporters without Borders, which noted another drop of media freedom in Macedonia in Kramarska s public apology was reported, in addition to the front-page of her own newspaper, by Fokus daily, while the other dailies neglected that information. Nova Makedonija offered just an editorial comment which stated that the apology was disgraceful and humiliating and that lamentably, the real reason is far more prosaic and of lucrative nature. Instead of her journalistic dignity and the potential lawsuit that would be brushed aside by even a semi-literate judge, the editor-in-chief of Utrinski vesnik offered a safety line to the disoriented speaker of the Parliament and decided that she should keep her own position, pressured that, should she not apologize to Veljanovski, she will have to leave her current position. Whose pressure? MPM will inform us in a public statement. (February 2, 2013, Nova Makedonija). Utrinski vesnik countered with an editorial of its own 6, which states: "I didn t see anything in Nova Makedonija, not a single word of condemnation from Žoro, or the plethora of free-thinking journalists, about Trajko Veljanoski s actions on December 24, and I am sick, an I believe the majority of the citizens share that sentiment, of journalists and editors who sermon us that we need brains and balls and courage to praise the Government and to criticize the opposition, to demonize the people 6 The commentary piece was written by Erol Rizaov, not by Kramarska 12

13 that a critical of the Government. It is cowardly and disgraceful to sing panegyrics to bad governance and to equalize the responsibility of the government and the opposition. (January 30, 2013, Utrinski vesnik). Telma TV and 24Vesti TV reported the extortion of the apology, while the other broadcasters kept silent about the event. Public Apologies Campaign The public apology by Sonja Kramarska, Editor-in-Chief of "Utrinski vesnik" caused a flood of protest, especially among the journalists. On an initiative of the Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Professionals, in reaction to the constant pressure coming from the Government and the increasingly frequent recent demands for public apologies, they took mass action to present written preemptive apologies to the Prime Minister Gruevski and the president of the Parliament Trajko Veljanoski. The ironic and warning protest action of the journalists was covered by the portals, "Fokus" and "Utrinski vesnik" dailies and Telma TV and 24Vesti TV among the broadcasters. The media carried the contents of the apology to the Speaker of the Parliament which states: In accordance with the legal provisions, I apologize : For the fact that he didn t manipulate the results of the poll on the alleged incident on December 24, 2012 in the Parliament of RM and I retract those claims. Both the incidents and the results; For not investigating who broke Dadar s toilet sit; For not listening to the Parliament s security which asked us politely to leave the VIP box; for the fact that the Parliament has no manicure services available to the MPs. The apology to the prime minister and the ministers of the Government, on the other hand, says: In accordance with the legal provisions, I apologize : For all unwarranted, unexpected and off-topic question that I may have asked or may yet ask in a topical pressconference; For the fact that I arrive on time to all press-conferences; for the fact that Macedonia dropped to the lowest levels of media freedoms and I pledge to invest all my efforts to see Macedonia pull out of any such lists that measure press freedom; and for all other polls that I reported or, may yet, in my ignorance, report in the future, in which Macedonia is not presented in a positive context; for any such past and future sin and trespass, willing or unwilling The media that covered the action of the Trade Union reported that it was the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE, not the prime minister or the speaker of the Parliament that responded to this ironic action of the journalists. Telma TV reported: "They (the members of the press), according to VMRO-DPMNE, are obsessed with the policies of Branko Crvenkovski. VMRO- DPMNE greets those who hold politics closer to the heart than the journalistic profession and asks them to gather enough signatures to form a political party, run in the elections to test their personal reputation and authority among the people, states the press-release issued by VMRO-DPMNE. (February 4, 2013, Telma TV). The media reported the reaction of the president of Journalists Trade Union Tamara Čausidis to the press-release issued by VMRO-DPMNE: I apologize for the fact that I don t understand the press-release which is unclear whether we should form a new party or if we are already a part of a party. In addition, we thought we addressed state institutions and we never assumed that a political party is competent to react on behalf of those institutions. There, that is another thing for which we offer our deepest apologies. Finally, we apologize for the impression that VMRO- DPMNE s statement was composed in anger while we believed that they could offer a better reaction..." (February 2, 2013, Fokus ) 13

14 Some portals carried additional, individual apologies offered to the Government, published on journalists Facebook profiles and in other forums. Vest s Poll and Večer s List On January 31, 2013, the tabloid Vest ran a public opinion poll "Which female TV journalist should interview Gruevski without her panties on?". The poll proposed nine female journalists and TV show hosts, and the readers were invited to vote for their favourites. Soon after it was published, Vest retracted the poll. The daily s editor-in-chief Goran Mihajlovski said that The pressure comes from outside. With our judiciary and the existing legislation, in the current constellation of relations in society, we decided that we should protect the editorial office. (January 31, 2013, 24Vesti TV). The media carried the reaction of AJM which demanded from the daily to name the persons that intervened, while the owner of the daily, the Media Print Macedonia (MPM) company, announced that it didn t influence the editorial policies of its publications. Although Vest didn t mention the Government, a press release was immediately issued by the Government denying any involvement in an attempt to pressure the daily, demanding: "If the editorial office of Vest has information that an individual working in a government institution pressured it to retract the story, we insist that they publicly name that person, and if such a person exist of which we are not aware he or she will be held responsible and sanctioned accordingly. (January 31, 2013, Libertas.mk). In addition to "Vest" daily, which was directly involved in the event, it was covered and reported by almost all media included in the monitoring. The critical media, and especially the internet portals, in addition to the information on the developments related to the poll, which some of them found funny but not sexist, focused on the reasons for its retraction, who may have pushed for that retraction, and carried statements by several of the proposed women journalists who said that they had nothing against participation in such a poll. The pro-government media, on the other hand, were far more selective in terms of information they carried. Sitel TV focused on the view that the poll was discriminatory and directed against women, carrying statements by female politicians from the ruling coalition who strongly condemned the poll. Ivona Talevska, the Editor-in-Chief of the pro-government Večer daily was one of the nine journalists proposed in "Vest's" poll. According to Alfa TV, even before the poll was fully retracted, Talevska's name was pulled out after "she filed a lawsuit against the daily and personally demanded, over the phone, for her name to be removed from the list of women that the readers could vote for. (January 31, 2013, Alfa TV) Immediately after the publication of Vest s poll and Talevska's reaction, Večer ran its own story, not signed by the author, with a list of alleged homosexual journalists, illustrated with photographs of three journalists, including Goran Mihajlovski, editor-in-chief of "Vest" daily, and Aco Kabranov, the editor-in-chief of the Libertas.mk portal. Večer noted that it was an open list that the readers could amend with the names of journalists they knew were homosexuals, and even invited the readers to report their experiences with those journalists. For the majority of critical media, there was no dilemma whatsoever that this was a vengeance piece and condemned such discriminatory and homophobic actions of the daily. The Association of Journalists reacted this time, on both Vest s poll and Večer s article, and condemned the attempts to discredit journalists on the grounds of their gender and sexual orientation. AJM's reaction was reported by almost all media. Several critical media and journalists strongly attacked AJM's reaction. The Fokus daily printed an editorial titled "I Renounce Naser Selmani", in which the author renounced the "statement by the 14

15 Association of Journalists of Macedonia, which condemns equally the 'abuse' of 'Vest' and 'Večer' dailes to discredit journalists on the grounds of their gender and sexual orientation and concludes that with that, AJM takes the side of the thugs and terrorists in Macedonian media, undermines the solidarity among journalists and the good reputation of the profession." (February 2, 2013, Fokus ) The story aired by 24Vesti TV made a distinction between "Vest's" and "Večer's" articles, and a representative of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights noted that the former was certainly an exercise of bad taste but, in my opinion, doesn't carry the same connotations". (February 1, 2013, 24Vesti TV). Immediately after that, Miško Ivanov from "Vest" filed an irrevocable resignation from his seat on the AJM Managing Board, with explanation that he "couldn't stand as silent witness to the bland and vague press releases issued by AJM. Večer's list also provoked reactions by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the LGBT Centre, and the Coalition for Sexual and Health Rights of Marginalized Communities. They condemned the daily s continuous discriminatory and homophobic campaign, demanded action from the Commission for Prevention of Discrimination, and called on the "Government and the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia to finally recognize the need to include the sexual orientation and gender identity as grounds for hate crimes in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Macedonia, which would be the first step towards the achievement of the principle of respect for diversity, a fundamental principle of a democratic state". The pro-government media made almost no mention of the article published by "Večer". Some of them, for example Kanal 5 TV, made an exception for the reaction of AJM. The rest of the media, in addition to reports on the events and developments related to that article, published and aired a number of articles and stories with critical overviews of Macedonian journalism. Alfa TV aired a story with the headline Pants Down; Homosexuals Journalism Loses its Way Completely (January 31, 2013); "Fokus daily commented that the articles in Vest and Večer" were a "scandalous altercation (February 2, 2013); experts consulted by 24Vesti TV noted that the poll ran by Vest and "Večer's" front-page story were dangerous and insulting" (February 2, 2013). The portals also carried the reaction of Aco Kabranov, the editor-in-chief of Libertas.mk portal, himself on the homophobic list, who said that he didn t intend to sue and offered the following to the authors of the said list: I love my freedom and I honour and respect the freedom and lifestyle choices of everybody else. So, my dear gossip-mongers, we are differ and by a lot. I couldn t live like you do, parallel lives of false morality. I couldn't hide, fear that my secret may be discovered and so on. That burden you have to carry alone, I can t help you with that (February 1, 2013, Plusinfo.mk). Den Daily Folds With the exception of internet portals Plusinfo.mk, Libertas.mk, A1on.mk, Sky.mk and Mkd.mk, the traditional media didn't find the information that "Den" daily stopped publishing and folded on January 31, 2013, worth reporting. The few reports on the matter noted that the daily shut down its operation because of financial reasons and reported that the journalists intended to sue to get their late salaries and other claims from the publisher. Defamation Law During the period covered by this monitoring report, we didn t note journalistic reports and articles that focused exclusively on the new Law on Civil Liability for Defamation. Nonetheless, the increasingly numerous and frequent developments in the area of media 15