NGOs Need to Impose themselves and Their Issues on the Media

25 October 2006

The Media Development Centre is the only specialized non-governmental organization in Macedonia working on issues of media legislation and policy.

In the past, MDC has been involved in the process of drafting and adoption of the Broadcasting Law, providing legal assistance to the media and was heavily involved in the ongoing reforms in the Macedonian Radio and Television. Recently, the organization has been under attack in �Forum�, Macedonian weekly news-magazine for its engagement in the MRT.

Roberto Belicanec

We talked to Roberto Belicanec, MDC Executive Director, about the situation in Macedonian civil sector, its relationship with the media and attacks on the organization.

Are you satisfied with the past activities and the achieved results?
Only in part. The fact is that all our activities, legislative and policy oriented, are highly dependent on the political situation and relations in Macedonia, so that all the political turbulence has great influence on our work.

Which are the main problems in the media sector in Macedonia, but also in the region?
I would say the inexistence of proper media market, followed by the high level of dependence on political parties and groups, the lack of professional standards of the personnel, the absence of ethics and values. Another big problem is the functional illiteracy of the audience, which renders it susceptible to all sorts of manipulation.

What kind of media would you like to see working in Macedonia?
They should be highly professional, digitalized, honest and presenting less prejudice and bias, regardless of the topic discussed.

What is going on in Macedonian Radio and Television? MDC itself carried one important reform project and was later attacked in regards with its engagement at the �public service broadcaster� by one local weekly? Do we need the public service at all?
We do need public broadcasting service. However, it doesn�t mean in any way or shape that MRTV is a public service. It has to go a long way for us to be able to say it is one. However, Teofil Pancic (commentator at the Belgrade-based �Vreme� weekly) said once �To the extent that we are Brits, we have our BBC�. At this moment, we have attempts to bring down the concept of public service as provided by the Broadcasting Law, which now needs to be implemented. These attacks you mentioned, can be interpreted along the old saying �what�s a little murder among friends?� Its essence was to disqualify MDC, but not its expertise or capacities, but rather on personal level. I still don�t understand what might have motivated them, and I don�t have any intention to investigate it further.
However, the articles printed in the media didn�t challenge a single solution for the transformation of MRT or legal provision that MDC proposed and offered. The question they bring up is, why it is MDC that did it? As a matter of fact, we are very much interested in the same issue, why there are no more organizations interested to get involved?

At this time, the civil sector or, if you wish, its formal appearance � the nongovernmental organizations or some of them are exposed to severe attacks in the media. Where do the mistrust and animosity come from?

We need a more detailed and systematic research to get proper answers to that question. In my opinion, it results from the combination of the suspicions towards civic self-organizing held by the general population, which still maintains the communist mentality, and the fact that political party officials move in and out of non-governmental organizations and abuse them for their own goals and aims. There is no liberal spirit in our society and it finds the concept of civil society as something strange. Combined with the functional illiteracy and the all-present conspiracy theory, you can hardly expect any other result. Last, but not the least, in Macedonia the people still find it more important for them to know what is going on in other people�s beds and valets, and not the public good.

Where should the relations between the media and NGOs go, having in mind that these two are components of the thing we call civic society?
They will have to cooperate. It would be difficult to make it work, however, having in mind that, in essence, it is relationship of power. Unless the civil sector is strong and powerful enough to impose itself to the media, they will ignore it.