Macedonian report to be launched in Skopje
On Monday, 3 November 2008, OSI will launch the Republic of Macedonia chapter in the series Television across Europe: Follow-up Reports 2008.
Skopje, 31 October 2008
The report assesses the changes since 2005, when the original Television across Europe report was published. As well as analysing the profound difficulties facing the public service broadcaster, MRT, the report looks at broadcast regulation, the commercial sector, and editorial independence. Marius Dragomir, from the OSF’s Media Program, will present the overall conclusions of the 2008 study, covering nine European countries in all. Vesna Šopar, who authored the Macedonia report, will summarise the findings of her research.
The report’s recommendations will then be open for debate. These focus on implementing broadcast law, the efficiency of broadcast regulation since the national regulator was given greater powers, and the challenge of digitisation. Other recommendations aim at rescuing the finances of MRT and enforcing the regulations on media ownership. The goal will be to draw concrete conclusions and draw an immediate action plan to strengthen the independence of Macedonian broadcasting and the broadcast market.
The launch is organised with support from the Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia (FOSIM). Participants are expected to include the main stakeholders including lawmakers, government, regulators, broadcasters, and representatives of the EU in the Republic of Macedonia.
Read the report on Macedonia in English or Macedonian (Albanian translation forthcoming). Read the press release on the FOSIM website.
