Media freedom, journalists' safety in Macedonia unimproved in 2018

Media freedom and journalists' safety in Macedonia has seen no major changes during 2018, the Association of Journalists in Macedonia declared during its annual report presentation on Tuesday.

Dragan Sekulovski, executive director of the Association, said that during 2018 the government has failed to improve media regulations after being announced for a long time, reports Xinhua.

"In 2018, not only there wasn't any improvement of the media legislation, but there were also some setbacks, like the changes passed on the electoral code and on the law on financing of political parties allowing parties to finance media political propaganda during an election campaign and ahead of a referendum, affecting negatively the freedom of the media," Sekulovski said.

In regard to the safety of the media, Sekulovski declared that the number of attacks on journalist dropped three-fold in 2018 and for the first time the attackers were sentenced by the court.

Unlike in 2017, when 18 attacks on journalist were reported, in 2018 only 6 were reported.

"In Macedonia, almost half of journalists earn less than the average national pay (nearly 400 euros). A bulk of journalists have no contracts for indefinite employment, 19 per cent, are temporarily hired and more than 55 per cent receive their salaries late," underlined Sekulovski.