For a total of 19 places, Macedonia advanced on the World Press Freedom Index in the latest report of the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Now, Macedonia is in 38th place out of 180 countries in the world according to this Index.
At the same time, Macedonia ranks highest among the countries in the region, with Montenegro ranked in the 39th place, Kosovo in 56th place, Bulgaria in 71st place, Serbia in 91st place, Albania in 96th place and Greece in 107th place.
“Although journalists do not work in a hostile environment, widespread misinformation and lack of professionalism contribute to society's declining trust in the media, which exposes independent outlets to threats and attacks. Furthermore, government officials tend to have poor and demeaning attitudes towards journalists”, RSF adds.
According to the more detailed evaluation report, Macedonia stands better in terms of legislative, political and social indicators.
During a blood donation campaign on the occasion of World Media Freedom Day, the president of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (ZNM) Mladen Chadikovski said that "today we enjoy more freedom of speech than ten years ago".
"And that's why Reporters Without Borders raises Macedonia to the high 38th position this year, but our freedom is still limited because the small market leaves little space for independent journalism, which makes part of the media rely on political or business interests. ZNM made a strong contribution to the improvement of the state's perceptions of freedom of expression, first of all by insisting on new legal solutions that improve the safety of journalists, but also through additional mobilization of the police, prosecutor's office and courts. But this is not enough and there is always room for further improvement of the situation, and that is why we are moving on”, Chadikovski said.
The World Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by RSF since 2002 based upon the organisation's own assessment of the countries' press freedom records in the previous year.