SKOPJE, 17.11.2017 – President of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia Naser Selmani, together with representatives of five other civil society organizations, met with OSCE Secretary General Thomas Greminger, who is on a two-day visit in Macedonia.
Ambassador Greminger informed the representatives of the civil society organizations about the purpose of his visit, which is to see how the country has overcome the political crisis and get acquainted with the Government’s reform agenda, and the OSCE is interested in supporting these efforts.
At the meeting, the President of AJM, Naser Selmani spoke about the safety of journalists and the process of amending the media laws. “There is a clear tendency in Macedonia for impunity for the violence against journalists because not even one attacker has been brought to justice,” said Selmani. He expressed disappointment that two weeks ago the police arrested two journalists for allegedly filming the judges on the release of the verdicts of the case “Divo Naselje” and in fact they were questioning them for recording the police in front of the court building. “It’s an absolutely unacceptable practice,” Selmani said, adding that police still treats journalists as dangerous people who should not be trusted. He committed to build an institutional mechanism for prevention and punishment of the violence against journalists, for which AJM is ready to cooperate with the institutions.
Regarding the changes in media laws, Selmani said that the debate instead to improve the text of the law, in contrary it is making it worse. For the AJM it is absolutely unacceptable that the government wants to regulate media content. “It is contrary to the best practices in European democracies,” stressed Selmani. He said the imposition of fines for the journalists reporting shows that the Government wants to play the role of editor-in-chief of the media. According to him, the Government so far has not shown a desire for a real debate with arguments about the financing model of the Macedonian Radio Television. If the government knows in advance that only 0.7 percent of the state budget should be allocated for MRTV, then what is the point of having a debate for this law, said Selmani.
PRISTINA, 17.11.2017 – Association of Journalists of Kosovo is concerned about the information that our colleague Refki Alija was threatened several times by director of emergency and security in Prizren municipality.
“Director of emergency and security in Prizren municipality, Bedrija Ejupagic verbally threatened me in the office for communities and returns in the presence of three other officials,” Alija told AJK.
Alija stated that Ejupagic threatened him and his family and insulted him and the job of journalist. “He got closer to me several times, raising his voice and told me I should be aware of him and his family”, Alija said.
The case has been reported to police. AJK asks quick investigation into the case and take necessary measures according to the law.
AJK asks from all officials to focus on increasing cooperation with journalists and not instead to be an obstacle to their job.
SKOPJE, 17.11.2017 – Yesterday evening the journalist Tomislav Kezharovski promoted the book entitled “Life in a Box”. In the book Kezharovski describes the whole process that he passed with the judicial authorities as well as for the prison itself.
“I hope this book will be the last of this kind, and only books for love and beautiful things will be written in future,” said Kezharovski and added: “In the book you will read why I was imprisoned, also I wrote about their abuses.”
-Tomislav Kezharovski became a symbol that we will always have in front of ourselves when we say – This should never happen again. Let’s not allow the freedom of journalists and the freedom of citizens to be endangered ever again. I was honored to attend the promotion of his book “Life in a Box”, wrote the prime minister Zoran Zaev on his official Facebook page after attending the promotion.
Journalist Tomislav Kezharovski was convicted and sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for allegedly disclosing the identity of a protected witness, who admitted to the court that he had given a false statement under the pressure of the police. He spent seven months in custody in the prison “Shutka” and 15 months in home detention. Kezharovski dedicated the book to his wife Marina and daughter Stefanija.
16.11.2018. – Iako se Vlada Srbije obavezala da štiti novinarsku profesiju potpisavši i preporuke Saveta Evrope, ona radi potpuno suprotno, kazao je generalni sekretar Evropske federacije novinara Rikardo Gutierez. On je rekao da, za razliku od Bosne, srpski političari čak aktivno rade protiv medijskih sloboda.
Obazirući se na situaciju u medijima na Balkanu, Gutierez je pomenuo i da bi želeo da vidi više “aktivizma” političkih lidera Evropske unije i Saveta Evrope po pitanju nedostatka podrške vlasti u Srbiji kada su medijske slobode u pitanju.
Ocenio je i da je Bosna, makar po tome koliko pažne pridaje temi medijskih sloboda, ispred Srbije.
Mislim da u Srbiji nedostatak podrške je više vidljiv. Dakle, tu nije samo nedostatak podrške, već političari aktivno rade protiv medijskih sloboda. Možda u Bosni ljudi samo ne posvećuju dovoljno pažnje toj temi, ali u Srbiji je tip akcije Vlade i političara protiv medijskih sloboda, što je zabrinjavajuće – rekao je Gutierez.
U javnim nastupima, dodaje, srpski političari čak podstiču i mržnju protiv medija i novinara.
Po mom mišljenju najveći problem u Srbiji je to što Vlada ne radi baš ništa da zaštiti novinare. Naprotiv, rekao bih, videli smo mnoge političare u Srbiji kako zapravo krive medije i novinare, podstičući mržnju protiv njih. To je po meni pravi problem u Srbiji, totalni nedostatak podrške od strane političara – dodao je.
Intervju sa Gutierezom radila je mreža Blakanpres koju čine Južne vesti,Prometej iz BiH i Nova TV iz Makedonije.
Opširnije o tome kako Generalni sekretar Evropske federacije novinara ocenjuje situaciju u medijima na Balkanu pogledate u intervjuu.
This project is financed by the European Union through the small grants program “Protecting Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in the Western Balkans”, implemented by the Croatian Journalists Association, as part of the regional project “Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety”, implemented through a partnership of six regional journalist associations – Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, Association of Bosnia-Herzegovina Journalists, Croatian Journalists’ Association, Association of Journalists of Kosovo, Association of Journalists of Macedonia and the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro.
BELGRADE, 16.11.2017. – Serbia’s independent investigative journalists share their experiences of the routine intimidation people in the media face in their work.
“You are always paying attention to who is behind you, who is sitting next to you at the café, what car you are going on work in and then back home … every day,” says Draga Peco, a journalist at Serbia’s Crime and Corruption Reporting Network, KRIK.
“In some ways, I was not surprised when it happened, as investigative journalists are aware of how dangerous this job is,” Peco said, adding that since the incident, she has been on the alert every day
They say it ignores the routine harassment of journalists, does not respond to interview requests, spurns FOIA requests as well and often attacks and pressurizes the media.After Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic recently criticised the country’s media for its alleged lack of balance, investigative journalists say the fault is not theirs but the government’s.
During her visit to Brussels, the Prime Minister on October 10 told MEPs, who noted worries about the state of media freedom in Serbia, that she did not think there was no investigative journalism in the country.
“But there is no objective journalism because there are very few objective journalists,” Brnabic said, Beta news agency reported. Four days later, Brnabic told a press conference she did not see any lack of media freedom in Serbia.
Lack of safety comes as no surprise:
A day after Peco’s home was broken into, the Serbian Interior Minister, Nebojsa Stefanovic, said police were investigating the case and pointed out that “several groups of robbers” operated in the area where journalist lives.
Peco said she no longer felt safe, as the intruders into her home remained unknown and un-apprehended. Because of that, she suspects someone had intended to intimidate her.
The Association of Journalists of Serbia, UNS, said on August 10 that it had registered 38 cases in which journalists and media workers had reported attacks and pressures since the year began.
According to the European Federation of Journalists, EFJ, on October 13, some 17 such cases remain unresolved.
To make matters worse, the pro-government press actively targeted Peco’s colleagues from KRIK, and other investigative organisations, such as the Center for Investigative Reporting of Serbia, CINS, and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, calling them “foreign mercenaries”.
The libellous attack came after KRIK published a report alleging that Vulin bought an apartment in Belgrade under suspicious circumstances with money he had borrowed from his wife’s aunt in Canada.
PM‘s failure to understand what ‘objectivity’ means:
Jahic called Brnabic’s statement in Brussels “malicious and insulting to all journalists in Serbia who have not yet become microphone-holders for the ruling party”.“Obedience and the absence of any criticism of the current government, and earlier of the past government, are limitless in the case of a huge number of media [outlets],” Jahic told BIRN.
He and his CINS colleagues this year received numerous international and domestic prizes, including the European Press Prize, the Anthony Lewis Prize, the EU Award for Investigative Journalism and more.
Jahic’s investigative colleague, KRIK editor Dojcinovic, said Brnabic clearly did not understand what “objective journalism” meant.
“She repeated their common stance [of the authorities], not knowing that objective journalism is when journalist ask all sides [for their opinions],” Dojcinovic told BIRN.
KRIK forms part of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, OCCRP, which has won several prestigious Serbian and international awards, such as the Data Journalism Award.
Jelena Veljkovic, from BIRN, who received an award this year from Serbia’s Independent Association of Journalists, NUNS, agreed that the government’s own treatment of journalists hindered them from doing their job properly.
“However, we can’t stop doing our job just because someone refuses to communicate with us,” she added.
Officials ignore duty to respond to FOAs:
The office of Serbia’s Commissioner for Information of Public Importance said it had received 287 complaints from journalists since January, many about Freedom of Information Requests.
The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, Rodoljub Sabic, recalling the various awards Serbian journalists received this year, said the Prime Minister’s complaints were not objective.
He noted that journalists searching for facts and documents often have to turn for help to the Commissioner.
“In a large number of these cases, the Commissioner ordered the authorities to give them [journalists] information that is in the public interest and should be available,” Sabic told BIRN.
He added that, in many cases, the authorities refused to honour their obligations, so the Commissioner then asked the government to forcibly execute the Commissioner’s decision, which also often is not done.
“It is the government’s obligation under the law, but the government has not done it, so it is very irresponsible from the government to criticize journalists,” Sabic underlined.
He added that more than 60 times in the past year he had filed requests to the government to enforce the Commissioner’s decision but that the government had refused his requests.
Brnabic’s statement has meanwhile been criticised by journalists’ associations in Serbia, as well by the European Federation of Journalists, EFJ.
The EFJ said it intended to send an international mission to shed more light on the state of the media in Serbia.
On October 14, the head of the EFJ, Mogens Blicher Bjerregard, told RFE that Serbia was the worst violator of media freedoms in the Balkans and added that he would urge the EU in November to act more decisively on the matter.
FOA requests are a known way of getting documents and information from officials in Serbia, but all too often institutions ignore them, or do not send complete information.
Journalists can then file a complaint to the Commissioner’s Office, which then mediates between the journalist and the institution and has legal mechanisms to punish the institution, if need be.
“We received 357 complaints from journalists and the media in 2016, while in 2015 we had 268 complaints, which shows that in 2016 the number of these complaints rose by around 33 per cent,” the Commissioner’s Office told BIRN.
Jahic from CINS told BIRN that he and his colleagues send officials and ministries hundreds of FOAs, but that some institutions routinely ignore their legal obligation to respond.
“The problem is with public companies, such as [gas company] Srbijagas or [telecommunication company] Telekom, which obviously think they are above the law,” he said.
“Some ministries, such as the Ministry of Environmental Protection or the Ministry of the Interior, also often do not respond to requests,” he added.
According to research by Insajder, published in May, the “leaders” in terms of non-transparency in Serbia are the state-owned public enterprises, and above all Telekom, Srbijagas, the railways and Air Serbia, which appear to prefer paying penalties to revealing information.
Jahic noted the example of the Agency for Insurance and Financing of Exports, which he said had refused to give CINS the documentation it has sought since December 2015.
Jelena Veljkovic from BIRN Serbia, said that since September 1 alone, she had sent four FOAs, and then had to file a complaint to the Commissioner’s Office in each case.
“I’ve sought information from the First Basic Prosecution … which refused to provide us with documents. In the case of the Directorate of Common Affairs, we launched proceedings before an administrative court,” Veljkovic recalled.
Dojcinovic said KRIK journalists had noticed a trend towards greater closure on the part of institutions; lately they had experienced problems in getting documents that are undoubtedly public documents, which they had previously received.
“Most of our FOAs are being rejected, either because they [institutions] are trying to hide something, or because our FOAs are referring to trickier topics,” Dojcinovic explained.
Journalists his wall of silence:
FOAs are not the only problem issue for Serbian journalists. Many of them also said state officials ignore their requests for interviews, forcing investigative journalists to “chase” politicians at their every-day events and to ask questions there.
In one of these situations, after journalists from Istinomer website and KRIK tried to put questions to Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali, who had been avoiding journalists, they said he pushed one of them as she tried to grill him during a visit to the municipality of Rakovica in March.
The office of the Mayor denied the claims, although journalists later published a video of the incident.
KRIK editor Dojcinovic said journalists are well aware in advance that their requests for interviews usually will be ignored.
“It [the interview] happens in rare cases. Not only ministers [ignore us] but all those connected in any way to the public services,” he said.
“You can’t talk with the head of some local police station in some town about local topics, as he or she has to get permission from the top [the Interior Ministry],” Dojcinovc explained, adding that this had not been the case in the past.
“This is a new thing; I could have called and talk to them earlier,” he noted.
According to Jelena Veljkovic, one of the worst examples is the Interior Ministry.
“After we send a request for an interview, we call them and hear how our request is being ‘sent to whom it should be sent’ – and we never hear anything from them,” she noted.
BIRN sent questions about the treatment of journalists in Serbia to the Prime Minister on September 19, but received no answer.
Jahic, from CINS, agreed that ignoring requests for interviews complicates journalists’ work, which he perceives as “deliberate obstruction”.
“The Interior Ministry has not agreed to talk to us for more than two years, while [National Bank head] Jorgovanka Tabakovic has refused to comment on our story that her doctorate was plagiarised,” he realled.
After CINS journalists in December said many parts of Tabakovic’s doctorate were a result of plagiarism, they obtained some information with the help of the Information Commissioner, but Tabakovic herself refused to comment.
CINS was not the only organisation she refused to comment to. The daily Danas also reported the same month that the National Bank head had ignored their questions.
Jahic added that some officials are scared to talk, and do not want to annoy the authorities.
“So, it’s the ministers that are destroying the objectivity of journalism because they don’t want to give [us] their side of the story,” Dojcinovic concluded.
BRUSSELS, 15.11.2017. – “How to improve the precarious state of journalism in South East Europe and Turkey” was the topic of a press conference held by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on 14th November 2017 at the Press Club Brussels. The press conference took place in the framework of the EFJ project, Building Trust in Media in South East Europe and Turkey – a project supported financially by UNESCO and the European Union.
Andris Kesteris, principal advisor at DG for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (NEAR) at the European Commission and Tarja Turtia, UNESCO Programme Specialist, attended the event to hear representatives of trade unions and professional associations from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey, speak about the conditions faced by journalists and media workers. The discussion was moderated by Aidan White, director of the Ethical Journalism Network, who opened the event by addressing the brutal realities faced by journalists in South East Europe and Turkey.
The testimonies began with Vlado Apostolov from SSNM (Macedonia), who argued that journalists cannot do their jobs to a high standard if they are not economically free. “In Macedonia, journalists earn under 200 euros per month, often paid late, and unions are taboo”, he added. Low wages and delayed payments were problems identified by representatives from all countries.
Conditions are similar in Serbia, Maja Vasic-Nikolic (NUNS) reported, where the biggest problem is self-censorship as editors are influenced by media owners. Dejan Gligorijevic (SINOS) explained that public service broadcasters (PSB) are one of the few media organisations who have collective agreements in Serbia and underlined the total absence of social dialogue in the private sector.
The lack of collective agreements were highlighted as a general problem for media workers in the whole region. “Labour rights are weak; for example, there is a lack of labour laws at the state level in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Rea Adilagic (BHN) stated. Labour inspectors do not investigate media employers, reported Marijana Camovic (SMCG) from Montenegro and Shkelqim Hysenaj (AGK) from Kosovo. Mr Hysenaj also acknowledged problems of safety, as “there have been 24 cases of physical attacks of journalists in Kosovo this year”, according to his association.
In Turkey, over 150 journalists are imprisoned and the “free” journalists face precarious working conditions with more than 10,000 journalists being unemployed, Mustafa Kuleli (TGS)explained. Here, “only 5% of journalists are unionised, as being in a union is risky”, he added. Mr Kuleli referred to three major challenges (political, economical, technological) affecting the future of journalists and the media industry.
Without support for increased labour rights and protections for freedom of expression, trust in media cannot be increased, argued Erisa Zykaj (APJA) from Albania.
So, what can be done to help? Rainer Reichert (DJV), co-chair of the EFJ Labour Rights Expert Group (LAREG) emphasised the need to exchange best practices between Western and South East Europe. Mr Reichert also suggested the need to make the situations known to the EU. It was acknowledged by representatives that pressure from the EU could help, as candidate countries would not get EU status without addressing media restrictions.
Moderator Aidan White (EJN) also addressed the need to tackle the public service broadcasting. Mr White suggested incentivising media rights and plurality by supporting good practices, and suggested a regional-wide campaign about the value of independent journalism.
The national reports from these 7 countries were also shared at the LAREG+ meeting. A variety of possible solutions to the poor working conditions faced by journalists were discussed, including transnational agreements for media companies and an expert networking group, as well as a database so that unions can see the strategies of unions in other countries.
The next actions planned by the EFJ in the #TrustinMediaSEEproject include a social media campaign to raise awareness about the precarious working conditions for journalists in the region, as well as a photo exhibition and two events in the region in the coming year 2018.
BEOGRAD, 15.11.2017. – Premijerka Srbije Ana Brnabić potvrdila je danas da je predstavnicima Grupe za slobodu medija, koji su joj u utorak predali svoje zahteve rekla će im odgovoriti u roku od 10 dana ili dve nedelje.
Ona je poručila da ne može da garantuje da će odgovori biti pozitivni, ali da je važno da postoji dijalog.
Brnabić je novinarima u Palati Srbija rekla da je sa predstavnicima medija postignuta saglasnost “da u ovom ringu krećemo iz dva različita ćoška”, ali da ne bi trebalo da budu neprijatelji, nego da vode dijalog.
Atmosfera za rad medija, kako navode, nije dobra, ali ja kažem i da atmosfera nije dobra za ljude koji pokušavaju da vode državu, rekla je Brnabić. Ona je ponovila da je važno razgovarati i da će odgovori biti za 10 dana do dve nedelje.
BEOGRAD, 15.11.2017. – Sastanak premijerke Srbije Ana Brnabić s predstavnicima Grupe za slobodu medija, koju čine novinarska i medijska udruženja i organizacije civilnog društva, bio je dug i težak, ali je protekao u konstruktivnoj atmosferi, saopštila je Vlada Srbije.
Predstavnici Grupe za slobodu medija predali su premijerki Brnabić zahteve za poboljšanje medijske situacije, među kojima su formiranje nove radne gupe za izradu Medijske strategije, rasvetljavanje svih napada na novinare, kao i povlačenje država iz vlasništva u Politici, Večernjim novostima i Dnevniku i prestanak rada agencije Tanjug, ugašene Vladinom odlukom pre dve godine. Vlada Srbije saopštile je posle da je “sastanak, koji je bio dug i težak i, pored brojnih početnih neslaganja, protekao u konstruktivnoj atmosferi” i da su obe strane pokazale dobru volju da se nastavi započeti dijalog.
U zahtevu Grupe za slobodu medija se navodi da novinarska i medijska udruženja, novinari i novinarke, mediji, organizacije civilnog društva i građanke i građani okupljeni u neformalnoj Grupi za slobodu medija, od Vlade i Skupštine zahtevaju da predstavnici vlasti, prvenstveno najviši državni funkcioneri, prestanu sa javnim prozivkama i pokušajima diskreditovanja novinara i medija.
Oni traže da Vlada, ministarstva, njeni članovi i predstavnici drugih državnih institucija, kada dostavljaju pozive za javne događaje, odgovaraju na pitanja novinara i zahteve medija za intervjue i izjave, na jednak način, bez selekcije i diskriminacije, tretiraju sve medije koji poštuju Kodeks novinara Srbije. Brnabić je rekla da je primarni zadatak Vlade rad na započetim reformama, kao i vođenje konstruktivnog dijaloga po svim pitanjima koji su od društvenog značaja, kao što su medijske slobode.
Premijerka je obećala da će u narednih desetak dana odgovoriti na zahteve Grupe za slobodu medija, ne prejudicirajući kakvi će odgovori biti, navodi se u saopštenju i dodaje da će se posle današnjeg prvog radnog sastanak nastaviti započeti razgovori sa predstavnicima Grupe za slobodu medija.
U saopštenju se navodi da je dogovoren i poseban sastanak Grupe s ministrom kulture i informisanja Vladanom Vukosavljevićem, koji je pored ministra za državnu upravu i lokalnu samoupravu Brankom Ružićem prisustvovao sastanku.
U ime Grupe za slobodu medija, u razgovoru su učestvovali Slaviša Lekić (NUNS), Nedim Sejdinović (NDNV), Zoran Sekulić (Asocijacija medija), Maja Stojanović (Građanske inicijative), Ilir Gaši (Slavko Ćuruvija fondacija) i Vukašin Obradović (Vranjske).
SKOPJE, 15.11.2017 – The Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski yesterday met with the OSCE media freedom representative Harlem Desir, stressing that the media are among the most important pillars of every democratic society and therefore all necessary measures will be taken for journalists to feel safe and free to do their job.
Minister Spasovski said that cooperation of MOI with the associations of journalists and the partnership with journalists and their associations is important in order to solve eventual problems in the future. He underlines the commitment of the Ministry of Interior to clean up all cases of attacks on journalists that happened in the past.
Spasovski informed Desir about the reforms in the Ministry of Interior and the measures that are taken to fully restore the confidence of the citizens in the police. The two interlocutors agreed to intensify the cooperation between the Ministry of the Interior and OSCE, was said in the statement of the Ministry of Interior.
