SKOPJE, 14.06.2018 – There is no real reform in the Macedonian media sphere without a serious reform of the Macedonian Radio Television. The departization of the governing bodies and the provision of a sustainable system of financing the public service are key to strengthening its independence and professionalism. These were some of the conclusions of the debate on “Challenges for Reforms in the Macedonian Radio Television” organized in Skopje by the Association of Journalists of Macedonia in cooperation with the Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities.

The president of AJM Naser Selmani said that the government and the opposition are working together against the implementation of the European Commission’s recommendations on public service reform. “The government is attacking the financial independence of MRT, and the opposition is trying to keep its party soldiers,” Selmani said, adding that the change in the model of MRT funding, which was supposed to be a temporary solution, halved the public service budget.

Selmani believes that the government with the negative assessment for the work of MRT has violated its autonomy because the public service is still being treated as a public company.

He claims that it is not government’s job to deal with the renewal of MRT’s music production, because otherwise it risks to interfere into its funding system. In addition, this interference confirmed that 0.7 per cent of the state budget is not sufficient for the public service to fulfill its mission, which is to inform, educate and entertain citizens.

Selmani said that blocking of the amendments to the Law on audio and audiovisual media from the opposition is pointless, because she has a decisive role in the selection of the new composition of the Programming Council. He said that VMRO-DPMNE is more concerned about protecting the director of MRT than providing stable public service funding. “They submitted about 70 amendments to the law, and none of them predicts an increase of funds for MRT,” Selmani added.

He urged the government and the opposition to jointly vote the Law for Audio and Audiovusual Media Services.

Ana Blazheva from the Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities spoke about the need for MRT to adopt self-regulatory acts that can strengthen its program independence.

The Director of MIA Dragan Antonovski, said that money is needed for MRT reform, but the solution should not be solely demanded by the government, but also by the will of the employees.

“The first and basic thing that must be done is departization, and the second is investing in it. But here it’s not only the state, but primarily the employees and those who will be employed,” Antonovski said. According to him, the solution for MRT should not be awaited from outside, but instead it should be sought from within.

The journalist Igor Stojanov presented the results of the analysis on the socio-economic situation of the journalists from Eastern Macedonia, according to which, for that entire region, MRT has only three correspondents. Stojanov said that the quality of information in the public service needs a developed correspondent network and correspondence centers in all cities.

BELA CRKVA, 14.06.2018. – The Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety which represents more than 8000 members, expresses deepest concern about the disappearance of a Serbian journalist Stefan Cvetkovic and greets immediate action from the Serbian authorities in their search for Cvetkovic.

On the night of June 13 -14 Stefan Cvetkovic was reported missing in the Vojvodina town of Bela Crkva. Local police confirmed that Cvetkovic’s car was found parked with the doors open and lights on. Media reported that the car engine was still running and that witnesses confirmed that Cvetkovic’s wristwatch was found with the bracelet broken next to it. His mobile phones are switched off.

Though Cvetkovic is known for writing about a range of topics, his investigation of the assassination of Oliver Ivanovic, local Serbian politician in Kosovo,put him under the new spotlight. Upon his return from Kosovo in May he was held by the Kosovo authorities for six hours because of the contacts he had made while researching. Cvetkovic was previously threatened because of his work, often by local officials. Once his phone was broken and on another occasion his car was damaged after local officials branded him a ‘legitimate target’ and a ‘foreign mercenary’.

“Stefan Cvetkovic reported a number of threats coming from different criminal and political circles in Serbia.” –  said Slavisa Lekic, president of the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia, “His disappearance must be a priority of the local police and the Ministry of Interior. We demand engaging all resources with hopes that Cvetkovic will be found unharmed.”

The Regional Platform joins IJAS in its demands from the competent authorities of the Republic of Serbia to continue with efficient investigation and use all measures to find Stefan Cvetkovic.

It also reminds that the Serbian officials must refrain from labeling journalists and legitimising violence against them.

In 2018 Serbia recorded 13 incidents against journalists, 2 were physical attacks and 11 verbal threats and intimidation.

Every attack on journalists is an attack on the public interest, democracy, and rights of all citizens.

Skopje – Belgrade – Podgorica – Pristina – Sarajevo – Zagreb, 14.06.2018

BH Journalists Association

Trade Union of Media of Montenegro

Croatian Journalists’ Association

Association of Journalists of Kosovo

Association of Journalists of Macedonia

Independent Journalists Association of Serbia

N1/Belgrade  14.06.2018

PRISTINA, 12.06.2018 – Journalist Valon Rashiti told AJK that he was attacked on Tuesday evening by a citizen while he was covering a story.

Around 7pm, journalist from television T7, Valon Rashiti was in the premises of University Clinical Centre of Kosovo covering a story about the injury of two persons that occurred in Pristina on Tuesday afternoon, and was attacked by family members of one of the victims and was hit in the head.

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo is very concerned about this case and it is in continuous contact with the journalist and recommended immediately to report the case at the closest police station. Rashiti reported the case to police on Tuesday late evening.

AJK calls on all respective institutions, police and prosecution to treat this case and bring attackers in front of justice.

We recall that this attack is a direct violation of media and journalists work that sole aim is to inform the public.

Since January 201, AJK registered 12 cases of threats and attacks against journalists, including the today’s case.

BELGRADE, 13.06.2018. – At a panel organized on 30th may, CINS interviewees spoke about the functioning of Tanjug news agency, manners in which media outlets close to authorities are financed, as well as the pressures faced by independent media newsrooms.

Yesterday, Center for investigative journalism of Serbia (CINS) organized a panel discussion at the EU info Center in Belgrade on the topic of media financing and pressures, i.e. benefits to certain media outlets in Serbia, entitled “Are there privileged media outlets?”

Opening the first out of the three discussions, Anđela Milivojević, CINS journalist, presented a research of more than 3.2 million EUR which the state Export and Insurance Agency (AOFI) paid to company Pink International Company owned by Željko Mitrović in 2017. In four years, AOFI assisted the company with almost 10.5 million EUR.

Predrag Blagojević, Editor-in-chief of the portal Južne vesti said that the state controls media outlets not only by paying them subsidies, or through competition-based financing, but also by not instituting forced collection for excessively large debts.

“On the other side, those who do not owe anything are under constant control. In our case, tax inspectors have made a big out of their scope of competences”, Blagojević explains frequent visits of tax inspectors to this media outlet in the last five years, together with pressures on advertisers and family members.

Nemanja Nenadić from Transparency Serbia said that the Tax administration would have to say something about the suspicion that it does not treat all taxpayers in the same manner, and to explain whether their competences were overstepped in the case of Južne vesti .

In continuation of the panel discussion, Dina Đorđević, CINS journalist, presented a recently published research on the work of Tanjug news agency, which by the end of 2017 received 114.4 million dinars from state institutions. The validity of the Law on this news agency ceased back in the end of 2015, and it is not clear what are the grounds for the Agency’s functioning today.

Petar Jeremić, president of the Executive board of Association of journalists of Serbia and member of the Appeals commission by the Press Council believes that the law needs to be implemented and that the state must decide what will happen with Tanjug:

“The Government passed this unlucky decree on termination of operations of Tanjug, and Tanjug management is now led by what is written in the Decree, and unofficially explains that the decree means that they shall exist until they have completed all their administrative duties (…) However, they have meanwhile concluded new commercial contracts and created new obligations, and that can last forever”.

“We at UNS have never supported termination of operations and closing of Tanjug, but law needs to be observed. Tanjug must be terminated in the current legal form. We also supported finding of a new form and continuation of operating of Tanjug, but under equal and non-discriminatory conditions in comparison to the other two news agencies. In my opinion, these conditions (now) are deeply discriminatory”, added Jeremić.

Dragan Janjić, Editor-in-chief of BETA agency said that the number of contracts the agency concluded with authorities in the several last years has diminished, adding that he does not really believe that termination of Tanjug will really happen.

“When it comes to media, I think it is very important that everything is transparent, because influence to the public is exerted through media. Here we have a state which should make sure everything is transparent, but it actually stimulates an obvious non-transparency. There is an agency which is at the market with other agencies (…) putting the two remaining agencies operating at the market in an absolutely unequal position”, said Janjić.

Another CINS investigation indicated that in 2017 the agency pledged 205 works of art at the total value of exceeding seven million dinars so as to defer payment of its tax debt amounting to 5.7 million dinars and pay it in installments over the next five years.

The third part of yesterday’s panel was dedicated to the issue of allocation of budgetary funds to tabloid media. Thus, according to documents obtained by CINS journalists, the Informer and Srpski telegraf received funds at competitions for co-financing of media content of public interest in Belgrade and Vojvodina, even though they had been issued reprimands by the Press Council for violation of the Code of ethics of Serbian journalists. Since its establishment in March 2016 till the present day, Srpski telegraf has received 12.1 million dinars at 21 media competitions, while the Informer received 10.9 million dinars at 15 competitions since 2017.

Denis Kolundžija, Cenzolovka journalist, said that only in the course of 2018, the Informer and Srpski telegraf received about six million dinars at competitions in Vojvodina only, based on which it may be predicted which media outlets will receive money till the end of the year.

“Until this problem is solved, there will be no one to apply at these competitions”, said Kolundžija.

Representatives of competent institutions – Tax administration, AOFI, Tanjug director, representatives of the Public procurement administration, and Minister of culture – were invited to the event but did not attend.

All four investigative stories produced by CINS were published within the project within which CINS investigated ownership and financing of media using taxpayers’ money, as well as political and other pressures journalists in Serbia are faced with.

Read the entire report HERE.

This project is financed by the European Union through the small grant project “Protection of media freedom and freedom of expression in the Western Balkans” implemented by the Croatian Association of Journalists within the regional project Regional platform for advocacy of media freedoms and safety of journalists in the Western Balkans, six journalists’ associations from the region – Independent association of journalists of Serbia, (NUNS),Association of BH journalists, Croatian Association of journalists, Association of journalists of Kosovo, Association of journalists of Macedonia, and Media Trade union of Montenegro

BELGRADE, 11.06.2018. – Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) President Vladimir Radomirovic called the Organized Crime Prosecutor to take over the investigation into the murder of journalist Milan Pantic 17 years ago.

Pantic, a local correspondent for Belgrade daily newspaper Vecernje Novosti, was beaten to death in front of the building he lived in his home town of Jagodina on June 11, 2001.

Speaking at an annual commemoration of his death, Radomirovic said progress had been made in the investigation thanks to a commission formed to investigate the deaths of journalists. “The Commission published some findings and asked the prosecutor to react last year. This time the Commission said that the motive for the killing were Pantic’s reports on privatization. Milan Pantic was killed because of his work as a journalist and we need the Organized Crime Prosecutor to take over the investigation,” Radomirovic said at the annual commemoration of Pantic’s death, adding that the people behind the murder are high-ranking officials who can re-direct the investigation and can influence reality.

The commemoration included a presentation of Milan Pantic awards for courage in journalism which was given to the Radio TV Puls from the Kosovo town of Silovo for “professionally and reliably informing the public in extremelly hard conditions, often risking their own lives”.