Gordana Cvetanoska, journalist and owner of Radio Pela from Prilep, in a conversation with CIVIL Media stated that journalists themselves need to fight for their rights and freedoms, while the media should be financially independent.

CIVIL Media: What does freedom of expression and media freedom mean to you?

Cvetanoska: For me personally as a journalist, freedom of expression and media freedom, at least in this 21-st century, is something that a person should not have to fight for as a fundamental human right. However, here in Macedonia the situation is different. I am not talking about this moment in 2018, but rather about the past 26 years. Why? Because the main problem of media freedom is the manner of financing. I say this both from the position of a founder of the youngest media in the region, Radio Pela, and from the position of a journalist. That is the main obstacle for why there is not enough freedom of expression and media freedom. The financing of the media has to be once and for all solved in Macedonia.

CIVIL Media: Have you faced pressures from business or political centers of power and how did you deal with them?

Cvetanoska: There have and there always will be pressures. And how one deals with these pressures also depends on the journalist himself. When it comes to the owner of the media then it depends on whether that person knows how to “use” that pressure or not. A journalist always has the opportunity to avoid that pressure, because of his personal determination, but he will always fall as a burden on someone else’s back, to one of his colleagues. There will always be pressures, but it depends on the personal professionalism of the journalist on how he will deal with them. That is another problem that is very little talked about. We need to fight together and oppose the pressures. I do not know how this will succeed, but here we also have the Association of Journalists of Macedonia, which should take care of realizing our rights.

CIVIL Media: What is needed in order to preserve and defend media freedom?

Cvetanoska: A better organization at the local and national level is needed, both from journalists and from media owners. We need to fight for the rights we are entitled to. Above all, freedom of expression and the opportunity for criticism…We need to put pressure on the state for it to systematically put things in place.

Biljana Jordanovska

Camera: Dehran Muratov

 This project is financed by the European Union through the small grants program “Protecting Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression in the Western Balkans”, implemented by the Croatian Journalists Association, as part of the regional project “Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety”, implemented through a partnership of six regional journalist associations – Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, Association of Bosnia-Herzegovina Journalists, Croatian Journalists’ Association, Association of Journalists of Kosovo, Association of Journalists of Macedonia and the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro.