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“Vest” appeals to the International Community: The Government wants to shut us down

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The Editorial collegiate of the daily newspaper “Vest” appealed to the international community regarding the latest developments with the newspaper with the contract ending of its Chief Editor Goran Mihajlovski.

The appeal predicted that amid the negotiations on the freedom of the media under the Przhino Agreement, editorial staff are faced with a political attempt to close down the newspaper “Vest”.

“In the middle of the negotiations for media freedom according to the Przino Agreement, we face a political attempt to shut down Vest Daily, the most popular daily newspaper in Macedonia that has the biggest circulation and highest credibility.
The Editorial Board of Vest Daily is shocked and deeply worried by the decision of the management of Media Print Macedonia (MPM) to replace the Editor in Chief Mr. Goran Mihajlovski. Mr. Mihajlovski’s contract ends on December 31, 2015 and apparently the management decided not to renew it.
Mr. Mihajlovski is a founder and a head of Vest Daily for 15 years, and together with the Editorial board team, build it into the biggest and most relevant print medium in the country. He is the author of the most read and most successful weekly column in the history of the Macedonian journalism.
We suspect that the timing for political takeover of Vest Daily is deliberately set to overlap the Christmas holidays in order to avoid the public attention and especially the attention of the representatives of the international comunity in Macedonia.
The Editorial Board headed by Mr. Mihajlovski fears that the replacement is an open attempt by the Government to crush Vest as yet another strong voice that managed to give priority to the public interest rather than party and governmental interests and to promote citizen activism.
So far, the Editorial Board of Vest suffered political pressure through the management of MPM for many published and unpublished stories and news, including a censored front page.
We fear that the replacement of Mr. Mihajlovski as Editor in chief would certainly be followed by the replacement of the Editorial Board and would abolish the newsroom policy guided by high standards of balanced professional journalism and protecting the public interest.
We believe that this would shut down the last traditional medium that not only gave voice to the public interest, raised hard-talk issues and broke taboos, but also promoted civil initiatives and managed to reach through all parts of the Macedonian polarized society. We believe that Macedonia very much needs a balanced traditional medium with broad reach both as a voice for citizen and public interest and as a corrective for good governance.”  reads the Appeal of the Editorial Board of “Vest”

Goran Mihajlovski, Editor in Chief of “Vest,” says he understands the fears of his colleagues because in the past years they have put up with a lot of strong political pressure, so it is normal for them to fear for their future.

“I understand the fears of the collegiate that my replacement will be used to silence “Vest” that my colleagues in recent years witnessed unprecedented political pressure from the government and from the management, which once led up to the withdrawal of the front cover of the newspaper. Sometimes these pressures were successfully amortized, but mostly I have shared with the my collogues, and sometimes the whole team of “Vest”. Some of the pressure we dealt with was very brutal, so normally colleagues fear for their future. Yes, it is true that my contract ends, but each contract may be extended, especially when “Vest” is popular and gets more popular , circulation is stable, and the readership of my column, “I want to say” is continuously growing”, Mihajlovski said.

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