Skopje, 5 September 2018 – In the past few days, a number of television and radio stations have been airing ads as part of the campaign “Imagine a Future Together” of the European Union, on the eve of the Referendum scheduled on 30 September 2018. The advertising spots are not clearly separated from the other media contents, are not marked as paid public propaganda and include minors as well.
We wish to remind that, in line with the Guidelines on Media Coverage during the Referendum, dated 17 August 2018, paid public propaganda should be:
- aired in the additional 9 minutes per real hour which are exclusively designated for the paid political propaganda for the referendum, and not within the regular time of 12 minutes dedicated for airing ads;
- clearly separated from the programmes and other advertising messages of the broadcasters, and should be visibly marked as paid political propaganda, and
- aired while clearly stating the entity that has commissioned the same throughout the entire broadcast.
Paid public propaganda must not include minors and must not be aired during, immediately before or after the shows that have children and/or youth as their primary target group. Also, it must not be aired during newscasts, special information shows, or during direct broadcasts of religious, sports, cultural, entertaining or other events.
The Agency expects all broadcasters to harmonize the airing of the ads of this campaign with the regulations, as soon as possible.