The Decadence of Media in Macedonia: a Farce Slowly Turning into Tragedy

In the past period in Macedonia there was a decline in the ratings of almost all segments of a functional democracy. Consequently the country made a decline in the area of free speech and media liberties. The best example can be found in Press freedom index measured by Reporters Without Borders where Macedonia made a new regress and positioning itself in the 124th place; the lowest in the wider European region.

And as for domestic analysis, the Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers made a study where it summarized the bulkiest problems in the Macedonian journalism. This document is called “The White Book” published in 2014 where bad personal examples of low professional standards and wrecked workers rights are presented. This analysis can be found on the official web site of the Union.

Let us start from the beginning.  

In this small country of two million people, there are up to 200 media and they all compete in the small and disordered market. In such a small environment media cannot financially survive unless they are strictly in line with the interest of the biggest advertisers: the Government or big business. Media that are more critical to dominant politics do not get governmental advertising and because they cannot sustain on the market they tend to vanish. For things to become worst the media that is strong enough to survive and stable enough not to be in line with the governmental practices can be put on the unofficial “Black list” or if influential enough can be closed by the Government for whatever reason – the example of A1 Television. For the reader, A1 was the first private and most popular television station in Macedonia. At some point A1 turned against the ruling party after which the media mogul Velija Ramkovski was put into jail for tax fraud and the television was completely closed.

This takes us to the ownership of the media, another problem of great importance. There is a huge discrepancy between the formal and the actual ownership. This problem lies in the week implementation of the legal provision of media transparency which creates the phenomenon of “Hidden ownership”. That is why; we often find: cousins, spouses, sons, daughters and other relatives or close friends as nominal owners. Most of the time, these owners are affiliated with the political parties and accumulate power to influence public opinion. Then for advertising, they ‘sell’ the public to the centers of power. And since the media depends on establishing a private discourse between them and the government, it is more than obvious that the Government is the one running the show.

The socio-economic pressure for creating obedient workers is probably the most used tool for control.  For decades, the unemployment rate in Macedonia is set on more than 30%. This is one of the biggest problems that we face; a problem that guides the work of our institutions, the mood in our society, the common concept of freedom and creation of norms in our culture. Nonetheless, it is estimated that there are around 1.500 to 2.000 journalists in Macedonia. According to the “White book” in recent years 900 working places were closed because of the harsh measures of the government. And since the owners are free to use the excuse of the ‘financial crisis’, they also fell free to reduce wages. In the past there was even an example where journalists were forced to signing an updated resignation letter which can be activated when the owner seems suitable. This puts the journalist in a situation where he can be easily replaced; and the replacement is always with a propagandist who has no education or no professional training. So you either stay and obey, or you raise your voice and face severe existential reality. 

As for workers rights, the situation is also difficult. Many journalists and media workers work as a precariat, without agreement and without any kind of social insurance; they have no paid vacation and work in overtime hours with no possibility for sick leave. Journalists also have problems with the collective agreements. There is absence of deliberative negotiation between employees and employers; the minimal wage in the media sector is not regulated, and in certain media there is a direct ban for organizing labor unions. Basically, since Macedonia has become haven for the current capitalistic elite, the institutions keep quiet when basic rights guaranteed by Labour law are abused.

Nonetheless, it somehow became a practice in Macedonia for journalists to be sewed by politicians. In the last case, the editor of the weekly oppositional magazine “Fokus” Jadranka Kostova and the journalists Vlado Apostolov had to pay 9.000 Euros fine for publishing a story that involves Sasho Mijalkov, the chief of the secret police and first cousin of the prime-minister Nikola Gruevski. With the new law the penalties became more expensive; now if sewed, the medium has to pay a fine of 15.000 Euros, the editor 10.000 and the journalist 2.000 Euros. That is more than enough for the medium to stop working and close.  

Another event that received considerable attention of the international community was the case of Tomislav Kezarovski. This example was a violation of fundamental human rights to free expression since Kezarvoski was sentenced for 4 and 1/2 years in jail for revealing the identity of a murder witness.  The prosecution claimed that Kezarovski interfered in the investigation, when in reality he just revealed a public secret about the work of the courts and the Ministry of police. After a pressure from the domestic and international community, Kezarovski was sent to serve his sentence from home.

And because of these reasons, there are numerous examples of journalists and editors forced on censorship and auto-censorship. The White book contains examples of personal experiences analyzed trough a survey. On the question: Have you ever experienced censorship (?), from 300 journalists 196 said that they have directly experienced it; and on the question: Do you practice auto censorship (?), from 300 journalists, 158 said that they do. Considerable number; it might sound as a paradox, but these small numbers show the general undemocratic mentality forced by the political atmosphere.

Even so, if we want to summarize we should probably say that the Macedonian plutocracy has accumulated so much power over the public domain that people hear only their statements; leaving the massage of the less powerful, isolated and with no reach. The minority that still tries to oppose this undemocratic path is left to discuss their ideas in some dark corners, alternative media or NGO conferences where the voice stays very limited. Macedonia in the period that follows has a lot of challenges to face in order to preserve even the small democratic gains on which we are suppose to build our future societal relation. The situation is getting tens with great possibility for this farce to become a tragedy. For now the only thing we can do is to speak with the voice of reason, however, we have no media.