National television stations Telma, Channel 5, Sitel, Alsat-M and Alpha today formed the Macedonian Media Association (MMA), which will be a part of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia.
Television stations, as well as the journalists employed in them, can become members of this Association. Ivan Mirchevski, General Director of Channel 5, was appointed President and Atanas Kirovski, editor-in-chief of Telma, was appointed Vice President. According to the announcements, Rules of Procedure of the Association, which functioned as a group until now, will be ready in 15 days.
– It is the association which primarily aims to sublimate our commitments and problems detected in the system, in the laws – said Mirchevski at a press-conference.
According to Kirovski, the Association shouldn’t be seen as an association of journalists.
– It is not a matter of association of journalists, but an association of private media – said Kirovski, commenting on the relationship with AJM and MAN.
According to Minister Ivanovski, the cooperation with the television stations will continue at the level of the Association as well.
News organizations say that they don’t see the Association as a competition because journalists will be its members as well.
– Each of our members can also be a member of other organizations. Television stations protect the rights and interests of themselves as companies with their own capital and interests, and MAN takes care for the professional rights and interests of individuals and individual journalists – said Slagjana Dimishkova.
Naser Selmani, president of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia, said that the association of the national television stations is a good thing. He pointed out that there was a need of such an organization and therefore AJM experienced difficulties in the cooperation with these media.
– We are ready to cooperate with the Association and we hope that, apart from the business interests of media owners, it would also advocate for media freedom and respect of professional standards and ethics – said Selmani.
