Skopje, 10.05.2015 – The Government of the Republic of Macedonia declared 10 and 11 May 2015 as national days of mourning following the death of several members of the Ministry of Interior’s security forces, killed in the police action that was aimed at discovering and overpowering a large armed terrorist group in the area near Kumanovo.
The Agency calls on the broadcasters to adjust their programmes accordingly during the national days of mourning. This means that the entertainment shows, amusement programmes and comedies planned to be broadcast during these two days should be rescheduled to other days of the week. This applies to advertisements as well. As for the other forms of commercial communication (teleshopping, sponsorship and product placement), there are no restrictions.
The radio programming services should broadcast music of the genres appropriate for national days of mourning and, in these two days, they are exempt from their legal obligation to ensure that at least 40 % (for the commercial and non-profit radios) and at least 50 % (for MRT’s radio services), respectively, of the broadcasted music be by Macedonian authors and authors belonging to the ethnic communities that do not constitute the majority in the Republic of Macedonia, and/or vocal and/or vocal-instrumental music in the Macedonian language or the languages of the non-majority communities.
The music that will be broadcasted by the televisions on 10 and 11 May 2015, should also belong to the music genres appropriate for days of mourning.