English
A press conference from SDSM today drew strong condemnation from media associations. The opposition party spokeswoman Bogdanka Kuzeska devoted the press conference to presenting media reporting charts, which she claims showed that the press did not devote enough attention to the claims from the party that Macedonia is on the verge of admitting failed asylum seekers from the United Kingdom.
SDSM leader Venko Filipce jumped on the story – first reported by several British media outlets who claimed that talks were held between London and Skopje on this issue – and hopes to make it a central point the public debate, despite immediate denials from the Macedonian Government and clarifications from the British Embassy in Macedonia. Filipce warned that this could mean higher crime and diseases being spread in Macedonia from the migrants the UK is allegedly going to deport to Macedonia, and called on the public to sign on to an online petition against this issue. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski responded by pointing out that VMRO-DPMNE has a strong track record on not allowing illegal migrants in Macedonia – including ending the 2015-2016 European migrant crisis when Macedonia closed the border to Greece, while SDSM and left wing groups affiliated to the party have typically promoted the idea of hosting migrants and building migrant camps. Mickoski said that, to assure the public amid fearmongering from Filipce, he will ask VMRO members of municipal councils to launch local initiatives that the municipalities declare that they will not host migrant camps.
Kuzeska today claimed that media outlets deliberately under-reported on Filipce’s allegations about the migrant threat. According to Kuzeska, the fact that the Interior Ministry proposed criminal charges against former Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski (SDSM) for allowing a vehicle testing garage to remain open even though it didn’t meet the required standards – which led to a major bus disaster – was a deliberate attempt to overshadow reporting on the “migrant threat”. She presented charts showing the number of media reports devoted to Filipce’s migrant claims and to the charges against Spasovski, and other current news in the past week. According to Kuzeska, the fact that there were more media articles about Spasovski than about the migrants means that the media outlets are coordinating with the Government to reduce their reporting on the alleged migrant threat. Kuzeska also accused media outlets of not reporting sufficiently about the incident in the office of Infomax, a Youtube based outlet once close to VMRO which is now loudly critical of the Government, where a viewer broke into the office during a livestream after arguing with the host in the Youtube comments.
Kuzeska’s press conference drew immediate strong criticism from journalism associations who told SDSM that the party has no right to interfere in the editorial policy of the media outlets, or to tell them how much attention they should devote to which topic. Even the ZNM association of journalists, which was historically seen as close to SDSM, warned that such “counting of news articles” that the SDSM party likes and dislikes, is not appropriate.
Political parties should refrain from public labelling and discreditation of the media. This approach can be limiting to the freedom of expression and can reduce public trust, which raises understandable concerns and should be condemned. In the specific case, instead of reviewing he media, it would be more appropriate if SDSM used the mechanisms of the self-regulatory media institutions, who can look into any suspicions of non-ethical or unprofessional reporting, ZNM said in a statement.
“While SDSM was in power, the Special Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against journalists and editors and over 40 journalists were under investigation for years. Your Government created “non-governmental” centers of control and censorship over the media, especially in the social media networks through your Vistinomer. Your current claim of “migrant invasions” is a bad manipulation. There is no relevant evidence that points to it, no document or report, except one individual statement. You are engaged in a criminal act – spreading of panic – for the purpose of political gains”, said the Macedonian Association of Journalists (MAN), whose members were particularly targetted during the SDSM reign.
Government spokeswoman Marija Miteva also condemned the SDSM pres conference. “This is an unacceptable attack on the freedom of the press, using charts and political qualifications. This is not legitimate political debate – in fact, this is a dangerous practice that reminds us of previous SDS attempts to put the media under control. Macedonia can’t go down that path. We are serious about creating an environment in which the media can work freely and without any pressure. Our Government established institutional mechanisms of protection of the journalists, we are forming a working group to prevent SLAPP suits and we are engaged in open dialogue with the unions and associations of journalists, while SDS is determined to publicly stigmatize media outlets”, Miteva said in a social media message.
Republika, being called out in the SDSM press conference, notes that SDSM continues to be obsessed with our reporting. “No matter if SDSM is in power or in opposition, they consistently object to Republika’s reporting. There is a long list of SDSM officials who see Republika as their main opponent, from Zoran Zaev and Petre Silegov, to Frosina Remenski and now Bogdanka Kuzeska. Today she labelled Republika and a number of other media outlets for not reporting in a way that SDSM finds favorable. Facts prove that SDSM LIES when they claim that Macedonia will admit migrants from the United Kingdom. We appreciate that Kuzeska’s team dutifully reads Republika’s articles and has prepared charts about our reporting. While they were in power, SDSM discredited our journalists and marked us for destruction. But we endured. We will also endure Bogdanka Kuzeska in her attempt to become editor in chief of Republika, the news site writes.
