The current government is a democratic one and will never practice censorship. We fight fake news with the truth and we’ve never come close to crossing the red line into censorship, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said in an interview with “Kapital”.
He underlined that fake news, i.e. misinformation, undermine democracy and threaten people’s safety.
Moreover, the PM noted that the government is fighting misinformation at daily level via its crisis communication system, which aims to prevent fake news from spreading further.
“In that regard we have ensured institutions’ active transparency to make real information available to the public and limit the window for spreading misinformation. Finding a model for dealing with this harmful phenomena is a global challenge for democratic societies, as measures can lead to intentional or unintentional censorship,” Zaev said.
During the interview, the Prime Minister stressed that the government supports self-regulation in the media, as the best way to protect the sector from outside influences.
“A good example of self-regulation in North Macedonia is the professional online media register, launched by the Association of Journalists and the Council of Media Ethics. The government recognized the importance and offered support for the process in its initial stages, and now uses the register to distinguish between professional and unprofessional media outlets,” Zaev said.
