In the electronic media in the period from October to December 2014 a total of 5,306,107 euros are invested, and in the daily and weekly newspapers 657 759 euros, according to the analysis of public money in the media made by the Association of Journalists of Macedonia.
In the analysis of AJM it is said that the municipal government has invested most funds in the newspapers “Nova Makedonija”, “Lajm” and “Koha”. The central government, however, at this period has mostly invested in the newspaper “Koha” and then in “Dnevnik” in second and “Vecer” in third place. The central government of the analyzed weekly newspapers in the period of October-December 2014 has invested the mostly in “Republika”. In the analyzed web portals it is noted that ads from public funds, in the analyzed period, are largely seen in “Kurir” and “Press 24”. As for the volume of broadcast advertising clips in the period October-December 2014, they are mainly observed in the public service (MTV 1 and 2 as well as the parliamentary channel) for a total of 15,492 broadcasts, which is far more than broadcast advertising in any other medium.
– Our view is that the government through governmental campaigns with public money corrupts the media to influence their editorial policy. With six million Euros spent in the electronic and printed media in just three months, the government became one of the biggest advertisers in the media. It represents a high risk of corruption and creates influence on the editorial policy, oh how certain issues in society are treated or are not treated. The findings of this analysis suggest that the government announced more campaigns in the media which by the way of reporting are inclined to the government, and less in those media that are critical of it – says the president of AJM:, Naser Selmani.
