The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) has called Meta.mk to react upon a published article about cutting budgetary assets for the year 2020 for the public broadcasting service, where it stresses that this decision by the Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MISA) is a dangerous precedent.
“With the planed budget for 2020, instead of 0.9% of the budget, MRTV will receive 0.8% and according to calculations, its budget will be around 14.5 million euros. According to the law, MRTV’s budget was to have a proportional growth i.e. this year it was supposed to reach up to 0.9% and next year it should be 1 % of the Republic of Macedonia’s budget” informs AJM’s press release.
AJM stress that with this decision the concept of MRT’s financial independence is violated and it is one of the two preconditions for free public services.
The Association demands that the solution for cutting assets for MRTV to be withdrawn.
Representatives of MISA gave a statement for Meta.mk last week and announced that the government has decided to allocate assets from the state budget to projects for improvement of citizens’ lives which is occurring in a situation where there is an absence of a strategic document with a plan for the improvement of the overall condition and the management of MRTV’s enormous debt.
Apart from the problem with the cutting assets from the state budget, the Association of Journalists remind of the unsolved problem with the election of MRTV’s new managing organs.
