The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) was invited to meet important stakeholders on media including the leadership of the host, the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM)  on 8-9 May 2018 in Skopje. The meetings were part of a project on building capacity of  the AJM. The EFJ also met Tamara Chausidis, the President of the Trade Union Of Macedonian Journalists And Media Workers (SSNM) and some photo journalists  to coordinate common work and discuss some major challenges photo journalists face in Macedonia. On 9 May, Renate Schroeder, EFJ Director together with Dragan Sekulovski, Director of the AJM met with Robert Popovski,…

A delegation of the Western Balkans’ Regional Platform project for advocating media freedom and journalists’ safety visited Brussels on March 21st and 22nd and held meetings and consultations with the members of the European Parliament and representatives of the European Commission from the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement negotiations (DG NEAR). Representatives of journalists’ associations and a trade union from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia presented the journalists’ safety and the media situation in their countries. They emphasised joint problems their members and other journalists face, including poor working conditions, fear for personal safety due to work,…

Report on the April 2017 Joint International Mission In a joint mission, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), and the Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT) observed the situation of journalists and media workers in the Republic of Macedonia. The on-site research in Macedonia in April 2017 was motivated by the deterioration of the safety of journalists through the increasing number in verbal and physical attacks. This report indicates that through complex set of mechanism the previous government, as well as authorities, gave their…

“How to improve the precarious state of journalism in South East Europe and Turkey” was the topic of a press conference held by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on 14th November 2017 at the Press Club Brussels. The press conference took place in the framework of the EFJ project, Building Trust in Media in South East Europe and Turkey – a project supported financially by UNESCO and the European Union. Andris Kesteris, principal advisor at DG for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (NEAR) at the European Commission and Tarja Turtia, UNESCO Programme Specialist, attended the event to hear representatives of…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is joining the call of the Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety in condemning the attacks and pressures on journalists, which happened in the last few days in Slavonski Brod (Croatia), Skopje (Macedonia) and Partes (Kosovo) : On Wednesday, August 23, journalists Visnja Ruzojcic from HRT and Aleksandra Primorac from the portal SBplus were physically attacked in Slavonski Brod. According to the reports of the SBplus portal, the journalists Primorac and Ruzojcic reported on the shooting, which happened during the previous night and in which one citizen was seriously injured.…

During a press conference today in Skopje (Macedonia), the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) and Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT) called on the Macedonian authorities to investigate the attacks against 10 journalists and media workers, during last night’s storming of the Macedonian parliament building by nationalist demonstrators. At least two journalists were injured in the attack, according to reports from the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (ZNM). Dimitar Tanurov, a reporter for the independent online news agency Meta, was taking pictures inside the parliament. He…

Following ECPMF-EFJ-SEEMO-OBCT fact-finding mission to Macedonia, on 25th-28th April 2017, the four organisations issued this statement today, regarding rising violence against journalists in Macedonia: We hereby express our deep concerns about the yesterday‘s violent attacks against journalists in the parliament of the Republic of Macedonia. From the beginning of 2016 until yesterday at least 21 attacks against journalists in Macedonia have been registered by the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (ZNM), out of a total of several dozens within the last years. All this clearly demonstrates a rising trend in violence against journalists. The state of media freedom in the…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the largest organisation of journalists in Europe representing over 320,000 journalists in 71 journalists’ organisations across 43 countries, has received today (24/03/2017) an alarming letter from the WB Regional platform for advocating media freedom and journalists’ safety expressing “deepest concerns at the unprecedented attacks on journalists in the Republic of Macedonia”. Based on the fact reported by the Regional platform mentioning at least 19 new attacks against journalists since the beginning of 2016, the EFJ is calling Macedonian authorities to take concrete actions to prevent further attacks against journalists and media workers active in the country and…

Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety wants to express its solidarity and support to journalists and media workers in Macedonia faced with constant pressures, including physical attacks and death threats. We are especially concerned by the fact that coordinated attacks involve public officers and representatives of state institutions. In last four years in Macedonia there were 44 attacks against journalists, 19 of them last year. “The European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg confirmed violations of freedom of expression in Macedonia, but local institutions did not punish any of attackers against journalists”, says Naser Selmani, president of…

UPDATE (14.03.2017): Another attack against journalists happened on March 11 in Skopje. TV 24 crew was at first verbally abused and then one of their journalists Hristijan Banevski was hit in the head with a stick, during the protest “For a Unified Macedonia”. UPDATE (06.03.2017): Two more attacks against journalists took place in Macedonia after the TV crew was beaten during the protest. On March 1 Branko Trickovski was verbally abused by two young men near his home. The retired journalist is famous for his criticism of VMRO-DPMNE party. One of the attackers shouted at Trickovski and called him a traitor,…

EFJ affiliates in Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia are sending solidarity messages and support with journalists on strike in Macedonia. Please find below the letter sent to SSNM, the Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers of Macedonia : Trade unions of journalists of Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia express full solidarity and support to SSNM (the Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers of Macedonia) and to journalists of Utrinski vesnik, Dnevnik and Vest – three daily papers of the company Media print Macedonia (MPM) – who are in strike since 17 February 2017 due to unpaid salaries, obligatory contributions…

Association of Journalists of Macedonia (ZNM, EFJ-IFJ affiliate) welcomed the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case Selmani and others against the Republic of Macedonia related to the events of December 24, 2012 when journalists were forcibly expelled from the gallery of the Macedonian Parliament where they were reporting on a parliamentary debate about approval of the State budget for 2013. During the debate a group of opposition MPs had started creating a disturbance in the parliamentary chamber, and had been ejected by security officers. The applicants, accredited journalists, had refused to leave the gallery, a…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) issued a call for solidarity for journalists planning a strike over unpaid wages at two daily newspapers in Macedonia. The journalists working for Utrinski and Dnevnik published by Media Print Macedonia (MPM) are to strike with the support of SSNM (Trade Union of Macedonian journalists and media workers, EFJ-IFJ affiliate) after the company failed to pay their wages for 2 months, although the level of their salaries is very low. “ Every work deserves a compensation. It is totally unacceptable that workers who delivered the job are left without salary for more…

The European Federation of Journalists backs Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) in condemning verbal abuses by the authorities against journalists. Such actions are damaging for the freedom of expression and are limiting the public access to the information. One of the major political parties in Macedonia VMRO-DPMNE accused Fondation Open Society Macedonia for corrupting the journalists and urged to “clean” the “media of Soros”. AJM calls these claims “a pure spin of the government” and finds it very dangerous to call for violence against journalists, as such comments might have negative consequences in the future. The full announcement by…

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has called today in Skopje for the immediate release of detained Macedonian freelance journalist Zoran Bozinovski. Zoran Bozinovski has been spending five months in detention in Skopje, after his extradiction from Serbia where he had spent another 18 months detained. The prosecutor’s office in Skopje needed four months to deliver the formal indictment for alleged espionnage, blackmail and criminal association. The EFJ member organisations in the country, the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) and the Trade Union of Macedonian Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM), consider that the case against Bozinovski is not based…