Macedonia, permissions for foreign journalists
16/02/2012 20:10
The Washington Agreement Must Be Reactivated! 06/01 19:04
Top Channel was the center of debates in the Macedonian Parliament. The government’s draft-law for the activity of the foreign media in
Macedonia has incited harsh debates in Parliament. The opposition MPs
accused the government of trying to take under control the
correspondents of the foreign media.
These accusations were rejected by the majority MPs, who said that the law grants full freedom to the foreign journalists. The new government draft-law provides that all foreign correspondents need to take an annual permission from the Foreign Minister for staying in Macedonia. This law also removes the right to the foreign correspondents to make questionnaires with the citizens.
“With this you are censuring the media by not allowing them to take the citizens’ opinion, for not allowing Top Channel on the streets of Skopje, for asking the citizens’ opinion. You must know that this censures the media that have interest for the well being of the Albanian population in Macedonia”, declared Izet Zeqiri, from the RDK.
Suzana Saliu, from the BDI, which is in the ruling coalition, rejected the claims of the Albanian opposition parties by saying that the entrance and the distribution of the foreign press is free, and this excludes any kind of censure.
“Do not misinform the public opinion that this or that Albanian television will be banned. Who can ban Top Channel, that is the most viewed TV in Macedonia, also by our Macedonian fellow citizens”.
Zijadin Sela, from the PDSH, underlined that there’s no need for a foreign journalist who lives in Macedonia to go each year and ask permission from the Macedonian state to keep staying in the country.
“Why should a journalist ask a government official each year to grant him the right to continue its job? It is very easy for someone not granting permission to the correspondent of Top Channel”, he declared.
Speaking about the importance of the foreign media in the country, the Macedonian MP of the LSDM, Jani Makraduli, declared that the government is stopping Top Channel and other media to inform independently for the poor Albanian areas in Macedonia.
The behavior of the current government towards the media has been criticized in the international reports. Last year in Macedonia was closed the private TV A1, one of the most viewed in the country, and some newspapers with a more oppositional approach.
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