The media from Preshevo are on the verge of survival because the mayor Shqiprim Arifi does not want to conduct a competition for the co-financing of media projects for three years. He addresses the citizens through Facebook or the Pristina media, and he says that he does not need the local media. IJAS condemns this treatment of Preshevo officials to the media and calls on the local officials to stop discriminating against the media and announce a competition for co-financing media projects in accordance with the law.
Five media from Preševo: Blic Preševo, Ministry of News, RTV Preševo, Preševa com and Medija index released an announcement last week stating that local media in Preševo are discriminated against and financially threatened.
“The media image, the economic position of the media and the economic standard of media workers in the municipality of Preshevo are more than catastrophic these days. The media is literally in financial despair, and we, the employees are seriously worried about our existence”, they stated in the announcement.
As they say, the president of the municipality Shqiprim Arifi said that he does not need local media, and he informs citizens through social media Facebook and Pristina media.
Citizens need local independent media in order to be accurately and timely informed about all happenings in the local community, not only about the activities of municipal officials. We believe that the president of the municipality of Preshevo Shqiprim Arifi is aware of that.
We would like to point out that the new Law on Public Information and Media foresees an obligation for local governments to allocate funds from the budget for media and announce a call for proposals for the co-financing of media projects.
That’s why we call on the president of the municipality of Preshevo Shqiprim Arifi to stop discriminating against the local media from Preshevo and start responding to their calls because it is in the interest of the public. Also, we call on the local government to announce a call for proposals for co-financing of media projects as soon as possible and fulfill the legal obligation.
Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia
November 1st, 2023
