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Further Deterioration of Media Freedoms and Freedom of Expression

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Further Deterioration of Media Freedoms and Freedom of Expression Monitoring of Media in Republic of Macedonia REPORT No. 1 - 2013 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. 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, 2013. 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 self- censorship 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 pro- government 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 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 pro- government 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 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.
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