The termination of advertisements will free the media from financial dependence on the Government, which in the past, were one of the biggest advertisers in the media, says the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM), after the Government’s decision to terminate government advertisements in the private media.
The AJM believes that this way “the corruption correlation between the government and the media will be stopped, because through advertising, the Government turned the media into a propaganda machine and prevented any kind of public criticism.”
Regarding the announcement that in the future, the entire communication with citizens will go through the public broadcasting service, AJM point out that “the Government should be transparent with all of the media, and not only with MRT”.
“It is the Government’s responsibility to make all public information available, and it depends on MRT and the private media on how it will be presented. The editorial independence of the media should be respected”, the AJM statement added.
