The media in Macedonia is dependent on political influences and are corrupted as well. This is the perception of the citizens that were questioned as part of the “Balcan barometer 2017” – a survey of public opinion in Southeastern Europe, that has been carried out by the Regional Council for Cooperation – an operative body of the countries in the region.
According to the survey, 72% of the citizens of Macedonia agree partially or completely that the media is dependent on political influences, 23% think that they aren’t and only 3% don’t know or wouldn’t want to answer.
In Macedonia, 42% of the subjects believe that the media is powerful enough to control the government and to make her transparent towards the citizens while 55% think that the media don’t have that power. On a regional level, 43 of the subjects believe in the power of the media towards the government while 51% believed otherwise.
When questioned to which degree is the media dependent i.e. they are prone to corruption, 73% of the subjects in Macedonia believe in such claim. When asked about the corruption and the media, the perception of the citizens is most positive in Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro – most of the subjects have stated that they believe that the media isn’t corrupted. The worst is the media in Bosnia and Hercegovina where 80% of the subjects claim they are corrupted.
The research that was published and presented in Brussels on Monday (9th of October 2017), was carried out on 8.000 subjects in Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, and Turkey.
