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Thursday, 21 November 2024
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MAK-NEWS 05/02/96 (M.I.C.)From: "M.I.C." <mic@ITL.MK>Macedonian Information Centre DirectoryCONTENTS[01] DIRECTOR OF MACEDONIAN TV DISMISSED[02] EDITORIAL BOARD: TO WITHDRAW THE RESIGNATION[03] MINISTER-SPOKESMAN GJUNER ISMAIL HANDS IN RESIGNATION[04] BOOK ON ETHNIC MIGRATION IN NORTHERN GREECE BANNED[05] VISAS AT OLD PRICES[06] FARMERS PLAN TO SUE GOVERNMENTMACEDONIAN PRESS REVIEW:[07] COMMENTARY BY SASHO ORDANOSKI - DISMISSED DIRECTOR OF MTV: "IN LIGHT OF THE RECONSTRUCTION OF GOVERNMENT"[08] COMMENTARY BY ZORAN IVANOV, FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT OF DISMISSAL OF MTV DIRECTORSKOPJE, FEBRUARY 5, 1996 (MIC)[01] DIRECTOR OF MACEDONIAN TV DISMISSEDThe General Director of the Macedonian Radio Television, Melpomeni Korneti, dismissed the director and editor in chief of the Macedonian Television, Sasho Ordanoski, yesterday. The decision was made, as Melpomeni Korneti states in her official announcement, as a result of the brutal disruption of the fixed program and editing policy of the Macedonian Radio Television - as a public radio-diffusion organization, the disrespect of the established production plan and program broadcasting, and the failure to uphold the principle of truthful and objective information.[02] EDITORIAL BOARD: TO WITHDRAW THE RESIGNATIONOn the occasion of the dismissal of the director and editor in chief of the MTV Saso Ordanoski, the editorial board has issued the following announcement:The changing of the director and editor in chief of the MTV Saso Ordanoski because of making a journalistic appearance, is contrary to the principles of freedom of press and contrary to the international standards and internal-political plural stances, oriented toward democratic and free press. [03] MINISTER-SPOKESMAN GJUNER ISMAIL HANDS IN RESIGNATIONThe minister without portfolio - spokesman in the Macedonian Government, Gjuner Ismail, submitted his resignation today. In the explanation, he says he is submitting his resignation "because of the 'shooting' of a journalist for expressing his opinion, which I am signing with both hands, as well as the instrumentalization of this shot." Here, minister Ismail implies the changing of the director and editor in chief of the Macedonian Television.Minister Ismail remarks that the political oligarchies have turned the media into a common market place, and the press into a space for installing unlimited power. Ismail protests against, as he put it "backing down in front of anyone who has self-installed some kind of pseudo-power of a Balkan type, for the sake of some higher interest." [04] BOOK ON ETHNIC MIGRATION IN NORTHERN GREECE BANNEDThe publishing house "Cambridge" is banning a new book because of fear of terrorism. This is the heading under which "Irving Standard" published a text by Gerenth Smith on Friday, which says that one of the most renowned University publishers is refusing to publish one of the most important anthropological studies, at the advice of the counter-intelligence department of the British Foreign Ministry, under the explanation that the book might cause a wave of terrorist attacks against employees in this institute in Greece. This scandal that has shocked the scientific public was caused by the study of the authoress Anastasia Karakasodu, who deals with ethnographic issues in villages in northern Greece. "Her sin is contained in the fact that her findings are contrary to the official Greek policy, in terms of the history of the Macedonians of Slav origin."The decision of the University publishing board not to print the book "Fields of Wheat - Mountains of Blood" has compelled the complete Anthropological staff to resign. Other academics feel this scandal could force other authors to publish their works with braver publishers in the U.S.A., which could very well endanger the sizable file of the "Cambridge" publishing house. [05] VISAS AT OLD PRICESThe old visa-passport regime was still in effect at the border points Bogorodica and Dojrani, on the Macedonian-Greek border this weekend. Neither side has issued any official announcements about the reduction of the visa prices, so Macedonian citizens still have to pay 5,000 drachmas to enter Greece, while it costs 900 denars to enter Macedonia.In expectation of the implementation of the signed protocol on the regulation of the visa-passport regime, we have unofficially learned that the visa taxes will be reduced 1,000 drachmas, which means that it will cost 160 denars to enter Greece. The price for children will be twice lower. Another new elements will be that upon entering Greece, the visa-application will also have require data on the parents, the spouse, while the female passengers will also have list their maiden name, in order to determine whether they originate from the Aegean part of Macedonia. [06] FARMERS PLAN TO SUE GOVERNMENTSome 10,000 individual farmers from Bitola plan to sue the Macedonian Government for paying them nine denars per kilogram wheat, instead of the guaranteed 10 denars, Makpress reports.The president of the Association of Individual Farmers Veljo Tantarov says that this, as well as the above six-month delay in the payment of the money, has inflicted losses to the farmers in excess of 23 million denars. He says that this problems has been discussed with representatives of the Goods Reserves Office, as well as officials from the Ministry of Economy, Forestry and Water Supply. MACEDONIAN PRESS REVIEW:[07] COMMENTARY BY SASHO ORDANOSKI - DISMISSED DIRECTOR OF MTV: "IN LIGHT OF THE RECONSTRUCTION OF GOVERNMENT"Judging by everything, the thorough reconstruction of the Macedonian Government, which has been announced for quite some time, will take place toward the middle of this coming week. It's a public secret that as of next week, the next Government will not have any members from the Liberal Party. For a while at least, this will be the end of a political marriage out of interest, if different types of marriage are even possible in politics. A marriage that started with adultery from the very beginning. Immediately after the elections, when at the proposal of a SDAM MP, Mr. Stojan Andov was elected Speaker of the Macedonian by all MPs from the Alliance for Macedonia, the Liberals responded by abstaining from voting for Crvenkovski's Government, proclaiming their own ministers, participating in that Government, as experts, and not party representatives. Hence, things got stuck even at the very start, over a basic political orientation, namely, how to be politically responsible in front of the voters which, in democratic societies, is articulated through party lists for participation in the Government, if the expert-oriented ministers in it are not backed by their parties. This open inter-party dispute, from the start of their joint rule, was followed by the well-known inter-party outwitting and attacks by both sides. However, it seems the culmination point was reached after the unsuccessful attempt on President Gligorov's life. It seems wrong assessments were made as to the health condition of the heavily injured President. And, some were quick to emphasize their ambitions and perspectives on the Macedonian political scene, which exceeded the boundaries of political decency. When, on the other hand, the prognoses as to the President's health became optimistic, they took to sudden panic-stricken political regrouping of their positions, which was especially illustrated by the overall party leadership, with all the SDAM MPs, who stood together in support of the intention of their president and prime minister, to thoroughly reconstruct the Government. The other coalition partners too, including the Liberals, came out in support of the announced reconstruction. Thus, it became clear that even without the Liberal Party, the future Government of the Social-Democrats, the Socialists and PDP, provided everything goes as planned, would still have a clear majority in Parliament. However, as the fog from the political fate of the existing Government is raised, attempts are being made to bring down other fogs on the announced reconstruction.First, efforts are being made to quickly involve President Gligorov in this inter-party dispute, for him to allegedly, salvage what can still be salvaged. In this sense, the President's political and moral responsibility is being attacked, while that same responsibility of those who are making the attacks is being forgotten, since these efforts are being made by the same political circles that made announcements and speculations about the President's possible successors, while he was fighting for his life. Such attempts seem to overlook the bare political facts, notably, that Macedonia is a country with a parliamentary, and not a presidential system in which the president is the President of all citizens, and not only party members. Furthermore, at the last elections, precisely President Gligorov won twice as many votes as the Alliance for Macedonia. Second, now they are drawing on the arguments that the Macedonian parties in the existing ruling coalition appeared at the elections as an Alliance, hence its dissolution in the Government reconstruction, which is being announced, would be lying directly to the voters. It is every person's right to interpret what the Alliance stood for in politics: the alliances are always a question of political pragmatism, and not dogmatism. Why don't these people leave their own well-intended dilemmas up to the citizens to confirm or refute at the next elections. Then it will be clear whether the citizens want the Government to answer for the efficiency and success of its actual ruling, and not who promised what at the elections. In effect, you know that the politicians promise all kinds of things at the elections. Finally, the Liberals, as a future qualified expert opposition in Parliament, will help realize, in a paradoxical way, what could not be done while they were in the Government. Prime Minister Crvenkovski does not have a politically responsible Government, and this way, he will receive it and that in front of the citizens. The Prime Minister, the old ministers in the Government and all the newly-elected ones, will find it necessary in the coming season of complicated economic and social challenges in Macedonia. [08] COMMENTARY BY ZORAN IVANOV, FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT OF DISMISSAL OF MTV DIRECTOR:From the moment when politics, multi-party politics too, got into the media, with a view to incorporating them as part of their daily-political instruments - from the moment when the influential top positions in the Macedonian Radio Television became its "market" in the distribution of the party positions as well - journalism entered the most difficult phase in its new battle for self-consciousness, justice, objectivity - for democracy.The manner of making a decision from the position of power such as this, regarding the changing of the director and editor in chief of the Macedonian Television, written and announced during the prime-time Sunday evening TV news - is without precedent. An act - political. The motives, very clear. A reaction of the political conflict between the parties in power - the Liberal Party (the general director of MRTV) and SDAM (representative - the director of MTV). Today, as before, the political power-struggle started and ended with the journalists and journalism. How far things will go, and how deep the personnel tissue of this information house will be cut, judging by tonight's act, will be known tomorrow, and henceforth - until the new blows. As I see it, the most important issue here is the dismissal, the direct motive, which, despite everything else, is an expressed journalistic opinion, made public in today's second evening news. An expressed journalistic opinion on the current political situation, a journalistic commentary by the, as of tonight, dismissed director, editor in chief of the MTV and journalist. From this aspect, I would like to believe that this move was much too hasty. If not, there can be only one valid interpretation: that journalistic freedom, the freedom of this profession, of public information, of journalistic analyses and observations, have been stabbed in the back. And, isn't our journalistic motto the following: there are no tabu topics, no tabus. Isn't it right that there is no censorship. You promised us freedom of opinion as part of the responsibilities of this profession. The press is free - long live censorship! (end) |
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