The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) called on the Government to urgently, as soon as possible, provide money to settle the debt of the Macedonian “Radio-Television” (MRT) has towards the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which is approximately half a million euros.
Yesterday, at the session of the MRT Program Council, they came to the conclusion to ask the Government to settle MRT’s debt to the European Broadcasting Union.
This way, say the AJM, the danger of MRT being cut off from the European broadcasting family will be gone, which would be a huge step back in the European integration process, which additionally damages the image of the country.
“Not settleling the debt would mean that MRT will not be able to broadcast programs from any member of the EBU, no sports, matches, films, foreign shows, cartoons, or documentaries. Currently, according to information from EBU headquarters, MRT does not have access to the content that is broadcast through their services”, reads the statement by the AJM.
According to the AJM, the EBU’s reaction is a consequence of the long-term lacking of sufficient work of the public service, for which the responsible authorities should be held accountable.
“The exclusion of MRT from the EBU is the result of a non-functional model for financing the public service and bad management”, said the Association of Journalists of Macedonia.
The text was prepared within the framework of the project “Media Reform Observatory”, implemented by the “Foundation for Internet and Society – Metamorphosis”, “Agora” – Centre for Promoting Civil Values and the Platform for Investigative Journalism and Analysis (PINA), with financial support from the “Foundation Open Society – Macedonia.” The content of the text is the sole responsibility of the authors and in no way does it reflect the views of the “Open Society Foundation – Macedonia”.
