The ZNM and SEMM associations of journalists called on the Government to withdraw its proposal to limit the media outlets who can report during the overnight curfew. Similarly to the now withdraw proposal to limit the number of questions during a press conference, the Government announced it will limit the “approved” news sites to those who are placed on a list prepared by ZNM and SEMM of sites that “follow professional standards”.
The list currently excludes some of the best read and most critical news sites in the country. Republika is not on the list, and neither are sites like Lider, Kurir, Infomax, Netpress and others, who have revealed major corruption and abuse scandals perpetrated by officials of the SDSM led Government. These news sites also face various financial, regulatory, judicial pressures, and as of recently even criminal charges for their reporting.
To their credit, ZNM and SEMM called on the Government not to use their “Promedia” list as green light to censor these outlets.
Given the measures to limit the movement of citizens between the hours of 21 in the evening and 6 in the morning, we believe that it is important that the institutions find a way to allow the press to be on the ground, informing the public about the curfew and on all other issues of public interest. Membership in the registry of professional news outlets is meant to be voluntary and to elevate professional standards. We believe that limiting news outlets who are not part of this registry from reporting during the curfew is not justified and we call on the Government to re-examine this move, ZNM and SEMM said in their press release.
A similar condemnation of the attempts of the SDSM led Government to censor media outlets who are not on this list was also sent out by the AVMU – Macedonia’s main media regulator.
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