Skopje, 05.10.2016 – Media monitoring in the period from 12 until 21 September 2016 showed that the selection of topics had mainly been dictated by social developments of interest to the citizens, concluded the Ad-hoc Committee for Observing Media Coverage.
The election-related media monitoring in the second ten-day period noted certain improvements, as well as some deviations from the rules.
The news editions of the media were mainly neutral, while the media tried to provide the stances of several different sources in order to present diverse views to the public. During this period, the media tried to separate the journalistic genre of ‘report’ from that of ‘commentary/review’, so that the public could clearly distinguish between ‘an information on an event’ and ‘a commentary about/review of a certain event or topic’.
The Ad-hoc Committee for Observing Media Coverage urges the media to avoid the phenomenon of equating the state with the party and be careful about the qualitative balance. It encourages the media to maintain the approximate quality and quantity balance in reporting and reminds them to observe the professional journalistic standards.
At the same time, the Ad-hoc Committee points to the First Programming Service of the Public Broadcasting Company of MAKEDONSKA RADIOTELEVIZIJA Skopje (Macedonian Radio and Television) – MakedonskaTelevizija – First Programming Service (MRT1), to observe the standards and principles stipulated by Article 111 of the Law on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services, and to the Trade Broadcasting Company “TelevizijaMakpetrol” (TELMA), to observe the provisions of Article 61 of the Law on Audio and Audiovisual Media Services.
Ad-hoc Committee for Observing Media Coverage