MEDIA SUSTAINABILITY INDEX 2008 The Development of Sustainable Independent Media in Europe and Eurasia MEDIA SUSTAINABILITY INDEX 2008 The Development of Sustainable Independent Media in Europe and Eurasia www.irex.org/msi Copyright © 2008 by IREX IREX 2121 K Street, NW, Suite 700 Washington, DC 20037 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (202) 628-8188 Fax: (202) 628-8189 www.irex.org Project manager: Leon Morse IREX Project and Editorial Support: Blake Saville, Drusilla Menaker, Mark Whitehouse Copyeditors: Carolyn Feola de Rugamas, Carolyn.Ink; Kelly Kramer, WORDtoWORD Editorial Services Design and layout: OmniStudio Printer: Kirby Lithographic Company, Inc. Notice of Rights: Permission is granted to display, copy, and distribute the MSI in whole or in part, provided that: (a) the materials are used with the acknowledgement “The Media Sustainability Index (MSI) is a product of IREX with funding from USAID.”; (b) the MSI is used solely for personal, noncommercial, or informational use; and (c) no modifications of the MSI are made. Acknowledgement: This publication was made possible through support provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Cooperative Agreement No. DGS-A-00-99-00015-00. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the panelists and other project researchers and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or IREX. ISSN 1546-0878 ii USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency that provides economic, development, and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States. The agency works to support long-term and sustainable economic growth and advances US foreign policy objectives by supporting: • Economic growth, agriculture, and trade • Global health • Democracy, conflict prevention, and humanitarian assistance USAID provides assistance in four regions of the world: • Sub-Saharan Africa • Asia and the Near East • Latin America and the Caribbean • Europe and Eurasia With headquarters in Washington, DC, USAID’s strength is its field offices around the world. They work in close partnership with private voluntary organizations, indigenous organizations, universities, American businesses, international agencies, other governments, and other US government agencies. USAID has working relationships with more than 3,500 American companies and over 300 US-based private voluntary organizations. IREX IREX is an international nonprofit organization specializing in education, independent media, Internet development, and civil society programs. Through training, partnerships, education, research, and grant programs, IREX develops the capacity of individuals and institutions to contribute to their societies. Since its founding in 1968, IREX has supported over 20,000 students, scholars, policymakers, business leaders, journalists, and other professionals. Currently, IREX is implementing 40 programs in more than 50 countries with offices in 17 countries across Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East and North Africa, and the United States. IREX serves as a major resource for universities, governments, and the corporate sector in understanding international political, social, economic, and business developments. iii Macedonia’s overall MSI score is once again down from the previous year, indicating that the drop from 2005 to 2006/2007 was not incidental. All objectives save Objective 2 fell a limited but noticeable amount. As with last year, objectives 1 and 4, freedom of speech and business management, fared the worst; while objectives 3 and 5, plurality of news and supporting institutions, were the leading objectives. None, however, were far from the final average. MACEDONIA 64 MEDIA SUSTAINABILITY INDEX 2008 INTRODUCTION OVERALL SCORE: 2.28 MACEDONIA The practices of the Macedonian government and the police over the past two years have had a significant negative impact on the media. Macedonian journalists suffered unpunished violence in 2007: one journalist reporting from parliament was slapped by the personal security officer of one parliamentarian, and a Tcameraman of ALSAT TV was beaten up by police officers while attempting to film a police stop of another MP’s vehicle. As a result of the police violence, journalists boycotted governmental press conferences. Furthermore, police used the media to make spectacular arrests on camera. This practice was highly criticized by Macedonian human rights groups. They rightfully claimed that such actions breach the presumption of innocence, are intended to pressure the judiciary, and are, in essence, a modern version of mob justice through the media. The year was marked also by high governmental spending on advertising. Panelists alleged that the campaigns were used for pumping money from the budget to the media in order to make them dependably favorable toward the government. Politically, 2007 was marked by two events: NATO membership (an invitation to membership is expected in 2008) and the name dispute with neighboring Greece. These two issues were interconnected: Greece made substantial diplomatic efforts to use the NATO aspirations of Macedonia to force the country to change its name. Diplomatic activities around this issue were increasingly more hectic as the end of the year approached. There is a downward trend in media sustainability, and members of the Macedonian media are not enjoying their previous freedoms. Again this year, the overall MSI score for Macedonia is slightly lower than the previous year, indicating that the drop from 2005 to 2006/2007 was not incidental. All objectives save Objective 2 fell a limited but noticeable amount. As with last year, objectives 1 and 4, freedom of speech and business management, fared the worst; while objectives 3 and 5, plurality of news and supporting institutions, were the leading objectives. None, however, were far from the final average. MACEDONIA 65 MACEDONIA AT A GLANCE GENERAL MEDIA-SPECIFIC > Population: 2,055,915 (July 2007 est., CIA World Factbook) > Number of active print outlets, radio stations, television stations: Print: approximately 600 daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, and periodical > Capital city: Skopje editions; Radio: 68; Television stations: 53 (Agency for Information) > Ethnic groups (% of population): Macedonian 64.2%, Albanian 25.2%, > Newspaper circulation statistics: N/A Turkish 3.9%, Roma 2.7%, Serb 1.8%, other 2.2% (2002 census, CIA World Factbook) > Broadcast ratings: top three: A1 (22.5 %), Sitel (13.2 %), Kanal 5 (7.7 %) (Strategic Marketing and Media Research Institute, March 2007) > Religions (% of population): Macedonian Orthodox 64.7%, Muslim 33.3%, other Christian 0.37%, other 1.63% (2002 census, CIA World > News agencies: MIA (state-owned), Makfax (private), NetPres (private) Factbook) > Annual advertising revenue in media sector: N/A > Languages (% of population): Macedonian 66.5%, Albanian 25.1%, > Internet usage: 13% of households have access to the Internet; 27 % Turkish 3.5%, Roma 1.9%, Serbian 1.2%, other 1.8% (2002 census, CIA of population uses the Internet (Research done by SMMRI financed by World Factbook) USAID) > GNI (2006-Atlas): $6.237 billion (World Bank Development Indicators, 2007) > GNI per capita (2006-PPP): $7,610 (World Bank Development Indicators, 2007) > Literacy rate: 96.1% (male 98.2%, female 94.1%) (2002 census, CIA World Factbook) > President or top authority: President Branko Crvenkovski (since May 12, 2004) Unsustainable, Anti-Free Press (0-1): Country does not meet or only minimally meets objectives. Government and laws actively hinder free media development, professionalism is low, and media-industry activity is minimal. MEDIA SUSTAINABILITY INDEX: MACEDONIA Unsustainable Mixed System (1-2): Country minimally meets objectives, with segments of the legal system and government opposed to a free media system. Evident progress in free-press advocacy, increased professionalism, and new media businesses may be too recent to judge sustainability. Near Sustainability (2-3): Country has 2.83 NEAR progressed in meeting multiple objectives, 2.67 2.66 2.62 with legal norms, professionalism, and SUSTAINABILITY SUSTAINABLE 2.49 2.50 2.48 2.45 the business environment supportive of 2.42 2.38 2.29 2.27 2.25 independent media. Advances have survived 2.17 2.11 2.10 changes in government and have been 1.89 codified in law and practice. However, more 1.72 SUSTAINABILITY time may be needed to ensure that change is MIXED SYSTEM 1.55 UNSUSTAINABLE enduring and that increased professionalism 1.33 and the media business environment are sustainable. Sustainable (3-4): Country has media that UNSUSTAINABLE are considered generally professional, free, ANTI-FREE PRESS 2001 2005 2006-07 2008 2001 2005 2006-07 2008 2001 2005 2006-07 2008 2001 2005 2006-07 2008 2001 2005 2006-07 2008 and sustainable, or to be approaching these FREE PROFESSIONAL PLURALITY OF BUSINESS SUPPORTING SPEECH JOURNALISM NEWS SOURCES MANAGEMENT INSTITUTIONS objectives. Systems supporting independent media have survived multiple governments, OBJECTIVES economic fluctuations, and changes in public opinion or social conventions. 66 MEDIA SUSTAINABILITY INDEX 2008 OBJECTIVE 1: FREEDOM OF SPEECH because there is no guarantee of their access to the digital network; all of us know that the dice are marked; and we Macedonia Objective Score: 2.10 know which company will win. And the only institution that may raise that as an issue and oppose this—the Broadcasting Council—is giving its consent to