MAK-NEWS 06/02/96 (M.I.C.)

From: "M.I.C." <[email protected]>

Macedonian Information Centre Directory

CONTENTS

SKOPJE, FEBRUARY 6, 1996 (MIC)

[01] SASHO ORDANOSKI: "I WILL APPEAL THE DECISION"

Following his dismissal, Ordanoski has been appointed as commentator in the documentary program, however, he said he would exercise his right to appeal the decision within 15 days, not excluding pressing charges as well. He also pointed out that he would ask for help from the international institutions fighting for the freedom of the press. Answering a number of questions regarding the political influence on his dismissal, Ordanoski underlined that "the MRTV is a public house. The general director is a member of a party." As for himself, Ordanoski said he was not a member of any party.

"My approach by the SDAM was in the function of an expert who they deemed capable of executing the function of director." Answering the question as to precisely which printed media he implied in his commentary, Ordanoski said "there were various speculations in the Macedonian public, especially the printed media, directly after the assassination attempt on President Gligorov. Immediately all the jokers surrounding the possible successor were pulled out, while the President was still fighting for his life. I have the right to mention the actual situation in a political analysis." In his opinion, the "electronic media in Macedonia are far ahead of the printed media in their freedom."

[02] PROGRAM BOARD IN SUPPORT OF KORNETI

[03] 604 ENTERPRISES PRIVATIZED SO FAR

These 604 fully privatized enterprises employ a total of 59,966 employees, while the estimated value of the capital in these enterprises totals 933 million DEM. Of this, a little bit over 302 million DEM of state-owned capital is for sale, and after the capital of above 45 million DEM is subtracted from this amount, on account of the Fund for Pension and Disability Insurance, state-owned capital to the amount of 357 million DEM is left. The value of the companies that are in the process of privatization totals 1.8 billion DEM.

MACEDONIAN PRESS REVIEW:

[04] MACEDONIAN RADIO TELEVISION: THE REASON WHY THE DIRECTOR AND EDITOR IN CHIEF OF THE MACEDONIAN TELEVISION HAS BEEN DISMISSED (CENTRAL NEWS FEBRUARY 5)

He shows exactly what should not be done with an information house that is of vital importance, a house such as the Macedonian Radio Television, which can not be treated as a banknote for shortchanging someone's narrow interests. The Macedonian Radio Television, as a public company founded by the Macedonian Parliament, has one sole aim, to be a public service for informing the citizens, and not to serve certain individuals or groups. For this reason, the Macedonian Radio Television can not be a service to the political parties, but, in the interest of the state, to provide precise, continued, timely and politically unprejudiced information. This newly-developed situation, not matter how disagreeable it may be for its employees, sheds new light, towards which the journalistic and organizational efforts in this house must be oriented.

The Saturday commentary of Mr. Ordanoski, the replaced director and editor in chief, portrays exactly what should not be done in the program and in journalism, and that is, to advocate unsubstantiated journalistic texts, with, more or less, propaganda contents and messages, in the form of political pamphlets, which face the viewers with the dilemma what's going on at the top that is so terrible and fateful.

The insulting words directed against the media in the country, especially the journalism at the Macedonian Radio Television, voiced by the minister-spokesman Gjuner Ismail, who, as it is stated, submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Crvenkovski strictly as a reaction to Sasho Ordanoski's dismissal, clearly show whose spokesman Sasho Ordanoski actually was. It is impossible to comprehend the Mr. Ismail's reaction in any other way, as if there are no journalists left in the MRTV worthy of their profession.

The editor in chief of the Information program of the Macedonian Television, Zoran Ivanov, also reacted to Ordanoski's dismissal yesterday, describing this act as censorship and a stab in the heart of free journalism. At today's meeting between a number of editors and commentators in the Macedonian Radio Television and the general director Melpomeni Korneti, which focused on the newly-developed situation, a number of examples were listed, showing that journalistic themes and proposals have often been subjected to censorship, precisely on the part of Mr. Sasho Ordanoski, who thereby contributed to dictated, strictly selective and one-sided information about more sensitive domestic events. Therefore, Sasho Ordanoski's dismissal can least be compared to an act of censorship and death to free journalism.

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