Law on Information?

After a series of scandals uncovered by the local media, a story started spreading around Macedonia that the current authorities were again contemplating the adoption of the Law on Information which, judging by what some papers wrote, resembles much the notorious Serbian law.

AIM Skopje March 10, 2000

Will the current Macedonia authorities start disciplining the media which are not to their liking? For the time being the answer is uncertain, but some parts of the bill on public media which have been published by the press outside the state's control, and which should allegedly be soon presented to the assembly delegates, as well as frequent nervous reactions of the representatives of the ruling coalition regarding information published in the local media, are greatly worrying journalist here.

"Makedonija denes" (Macedonia Today) dedicated its front page to the new law in an article accompanied with the photo of a pair of handcuffed hands on a typewriter and a statement that the offered text represented both a "pressure on and repression of the truth", as well as that the adoption of the law in question would be the "infringement of the journalistic independence".

"Draft law on public information is ...an unnecessary attempt at regulating basic rights and freedoms in the field of public information which are guaranteed by the Constitution" read the Skopje "Dnevnik" (Daily). According to the Dnevnik's Editorial Office "This is only an attempt of the authorities at controlling information and the media, and not at codifying the flow of information".

The biweekly "Forum" thought that this was yet another proof that the road to hell was paved with good intentions: "Namely, although they tried to draft a law that would protect the freedom of the press in Macedonia to the maximum" what was offered is contrary to the desired objective - "the bill was written in the spirit of socialism, with the lack of elementary understanding for the relations between capital and business. The law represents an attempt at imposing on the journalistic profession something that will bring no good and its text is filled with loopholes which will leave broad manoeuvring space to some future ill-intended authorities (if we agree that the current are not such) to interpret it, for example, according to the Milosevic's concept of freedom". The weekly "Start" went even further in calling the draft a "Seselj's law on information" which, if adopted, would represent "the introduction of censorship and verbal commission through the front door".

Most journalists fear that the imposition of this law would create an atmosphere similar to that which prevailed in Croatia during Tudjman, while Serbia with its increasingly frequent physical assaults on journalists, is not far either.

For ten years now, ever since the adoption of the first Constitution of independent Macedonia, there was a dilemma whether a special law on information was needed. Article 16 of the Macedonian Constitution guarantees freedoms of belief, conscience, opinion and pubic expression. This Article of the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, public address, public information, freedom to establish institutions for public information. The same Article guarantees the right to reply and correction, prohibits censorship and grants journalists the right not to disclose their source of information. According to liberal interpretations of this Article, a special law on information is quite superfluous. All the more as the Law on Telecommunications and Radio Broadcasting regulates the procedure for obtaining concessions for the broadcasting of electronic media, and the laws which were taken from the former SFRY from the times of Ante Markovic, envisage rather liberal procedure for the establishment of printed media.

Criminal laws sanction responsibilities in this respect. Even some of those who participated in the drafting of the Constitution think that the existing regulations are quite sufficient and that, perhaps the only thing that should be additionally regulated is the establishment of new papers, which should present no problem.

The first Macedonian, so called expert Government, had its Information Ministry. After its fall in 1992, Branko Crvenkovski as Prime Minister designate, abolished this ministry and reduced it to a Government's secretariat for information, because it was thought that the state should not interfere in this field of activity.

During six years of rule of the Social-Democratic Alliance and its coalition partners, this ministry was considered a relic of the old system and unnecessary under conditions of political pluralism. In accordance with this, more liberal stand of that Government, the law on information was not considered necessary, but that only certain procedures regarding electronic media should be regulated. This was done relatively late and not in a transparent or fully democratic way, for that matter.

Namely, although for the most part the Law on Telecommunications and Radio Broadcasting follows the pattern of Western countries, according to that Law the Radio Broadcasting Council is just an advisory body to the Government, while the Government and Ministries in charge have all "discretionary powers". Today, after so much time, it can be said that Branko Crvenkovski's Government could allow itself to be so "democratic", simply because it had full control over the most influential media - during its rule there were practically no private dailies, while according to the mentioned law and procedure it prescribed for granting of concessions, private electronic media were placed under "velvet" control.

Ljubco Georgievski's Government thought that the ministry of information was indispensable and therefore re-established it. That practically meant that the old Government secretariat was reinstated as Ministry of Information but was not awarded any broader competences. The old-new ministry is not what the coalition "For Change" promised during its pre-election campaign. Soon after its establishment it started the procedure for the adoption of a more liberal law according to which the media would be not only spared every interference on the part of the authorities (eg. abolition of the existing advertising monopoly of the state TV and allocation of budget funds to papers without any criteria), but also introduced certain economic incentives (certain tax exemptions) and created conditions for profitable functioning of the media.

True, in the last couple of year journalists have given enough cause to politicians to claim that under conditions when prosecutors' offices were not working and courts were overloaded, the media could publish anything that crossed the minds of editors and journalists. Practically every day, all sorts of things are published or broadcast which, just a few days later, turn out to be nothing more than a hoax. Local journalists justify this publishing of rumours by the fact that they have been denied access to all sources of information. Consequently, a situation has been created in which, depending on their closeness to the political circles, the media are (ab)used by opposition manipulators who, being in a superior position and with a view to scoring political points usually resort to lies, half-truths and pure fabrications. In this connection, Saso Ordanovski, editor of "Forum" said: "Open invitation to political lynch with the aid of Macedonian journalism, by publishing fabrications or dirty lies - is something that democrtic journalism should openly oppose".

On the other hand, in that same period there were several instances of police arrests of journalists who were on assignment or of confiscation of their taped materials and preventing them from doing their job.

It seems that this time, the Macedonian media and journalists have been caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. It again, seems that it doesn't depend on them how they will get out.

AIM Skopje

ISO RUSI