Macedonian Journalists Prepare 'Uprising'

The initiators say that journalism in Macedonia in the last few years has hit the rock bottom since their country gained its independence in the early 1990es.

“Journalists have become targets, which politicians may smack if unsatisfied with the text or coverage they make public. Very often media owners are also part of this pressure,” one of the initiators, Tamara Causidis, told Balkan Insight.

The initiative comes after at the end of July a scandal broke out when eight fired journalists from the local Kanal 5 TV accused the government for ordering their sacking.

One of the fired, Vesna Kovacevska-Trpcevska in an open letter pinpointed Martin Protoger, the chief of cabinet of the PM Nikola Gruevski and the secretary general of the ruling VMRO DPMNE party as directly responsible.

She accused Protoger of constantly interfering in the work of the TV by ordering stories and censuring free speech.

The official reason that the TV used to explain the dismissals was alleged financial difficulties.

Protoger denied all the allegations against him by saying he had nothing to do with the editorial policy of that or any other media.

But the organizers of the protest say that this case is not the direct reason for their initiative. They say it is high time for change.

“This is an uprising for standards, for the professional solidarity, for improvement of the status of journalists in the Macedonian society”, Causidis said.

The organizers note that the existence of Journalist’s Association, ZNM has proven not enough to protect the professional standards in a state where journalists themselves have become servants of political and business interests instead of servants of the public interest

They say that among other things they will mull ways of forming their own worker’s union.

Causidis explains that their initiative started among colleagues from several different media and spread informally through the internet social group Facebook.

After a successful referendum on September 8, 1991 Macedonia declared independence from the former socialist Yugoslav federation, SFRY.  The organizers say they picked the date of their protest deliberately to symbolize their own struggle for independence.

Political pressure against journalists and problematic concentration of media ownership was repeatedly mentioned in reports on the country done by the watchdog organizations like Freedom House. EU officials have also noted the same problems.