Macedonia is at 95th place in the latest World Press Freedom Index by “Reporters without Borders” (RWB), thus jumping 14 places compared to the previous report, about 2018. With this, Macedonia fares better than the neighboring Bulgaria, which is an EU member and is at 111th place.
The Reports without Borders main objection for this year concerning Macedonia is the current situation of the public broadcasting service, MRT where the government still hasn’t implemented any reforms.
Even though there haven’t been any registered attacks on journalists during last year in Macedonia and the safety of its journalists is marking significant progress, still Reporters without Borders warns that the impunity culture is continuing its rule in this country.
The report is concerned about the amendment that allows the State Electoral Commission to monitor the coverage of the pre-election and election processes by electronic media.
“It is also regrettable that senior government officials have an engrained tendency to threaten and insult journalists. But progress has been made on journalists’ safety: the number of attacks on journalists in 2018 was just one third of the previous year’s figure. However, the culture of impunity is well-entrenched and only two of the 59 attacks reported in recent years have been investigated and solved. This falls far short of the level needed to discourage those responsible for these attacks”., RWB warns.
Regarding the legal regulations, the organization that protects the journalists warns that certain changes are necessary regarding defamation and the access to state information.
Otherwise, the 95th spot is Macedonia’s best result in the last 5 years.
In this year’s annual report, in the countries of former Yugoslavia plus Albania, the best ranking is that of Slovenia, on 34 place, Bosnia-Hercegovina is ranked 63rd, Croatia 64th, Greece 65th, Kosovo 75th, Albania 82nd, Serbia at 90th place (has fallen by 14 places), Montenegro at 104th and Bulgaria at 111th place.
