Macedonia Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
April 7, 2013
About the MSI
IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country’s media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and produced the first Europe & Eurasia MSI in 2001.
MSI Overview | Africa | Asia | Europe & Eurasia | Middle East & North Africa
Download the Complete Macedonia MSI Chapter (PDF): 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001
MSI Macedonia - 2013 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.54
Much of Macedonia’s political focus remains locked on its prospects for EU accession, although concern over the economy and low-level ethnic conflicts continue as well. The government managed to bring these conflicts, which began as skirmishes between Macedonian and Albanian youth on Skopje public transportation, under control. But Macedonia still suffers from an anemic economy, with perhaps the highest rate of unemployment in Europe. Macedonia also remains locked in a stalemate with Greece over the country’s name, another impediment to Macedonia’s EU accession.With Macedonia’s long downward trend in freedom of expression potentially harming its prospects for EU accession as well, the Macedonian government entered into an EU-supported dialogue with journalism advocates. As a result of the process, Macedonia adopted the decriminalization of defamation as a starting point to strengthen legal protections for speech. The media community harshly criticized the law for the locally-high damages cap, set at up to €27,000 combined for the journalist, editor and media outlet. However, the law’s passage immediately halted all court cases on defamation, over 300 at the time. The crucial implementation test now rests with the judiciary.
Several other events defined Macedonia’s media landscape in 2012. A2 television was stripped of its license with the explanation that it failed to adhere to the programming structure outlined therein. A2 had been the sole survivor after the A1 group was shuttered in 2011. The government’s tendency to assert dominance over the media landscape continues, upholding an almost half-decade trend. Another major event was the sale of the major newspaper firm MPM, previously owned by Westalgemaine Zeitung, to local tycoon Orce Kamcev, who is allegedly close to the government. Later, half of the company was resold to the opaque Serbian-owned Internet Group (tied to Comtrade, the company that also owns Telegraf.rs).
The Broadcasting Council moved to implement the legal restraints in the broadcast law, which bans elected and appointed officials and members of their families from owning media outlets. As result, the council directed two major television stations, Sitel and Channel 5, and one radio station, Channel 77, to change their owners. This ownership transformation changed little in terms of media coverage by these outlets; while the owners officially stepped down, proxy owners took over.
In this environment, Macedonia’s prospects for media sustainability remain stagnant, with negligible to modest changes in each of the five objectives. Macedonia’s generally lowly scores reflect a growing pessimism in the media community about the long-term trends towards state control, politicization, and economic deterioration.
