SKOPJE, 24.08.2017 – The Association of Journalists of Macedonia welcomes the Government’s decision to cut permanently the government advertising in all the media outlets, which will end the corruptive relationship between the government and the media.
The abolition of the ads will release the media from the financial dependence of the government, which in the past became one of the largest advertisers in the media. With that, she turned the media into a propaganda machinery and prevented any public criticism.
We believe that without the government ads a normal media market will be established, which will provide bigger financial and professional freedom of the media. The future of the media should only depend from the improvement of the quality of the journalistic product, that will bring back the trust of the people and advertisers.
Regarding the announcement that in the future the entire communication with the citizens will go through the public broadcasting service, we emphasize that the Government should be transparent towards all media, and not only towards MRT. The government’s obligation is to make all public information available for everyone, and the MRT and private media will decide how the news will be presented. Editorial independence of the media should be respected.