Safety of journalists during critical events focus of OSCE Mission to Skopje, Internal Affairs Ministry and Journalists’ Association workshop with journalists and police officers

SKOPJE, 12 June 2018 – Improving the safety of journalists during critical events was the focus of an OSCE-supported workshop today in Skopje, which brought together some 20 journalists and police officers.

Organized jointly by the OSCE Mission to Skopje, the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Association of Journalists (AJM), this is the sixth in a series of workshops held in cities across the country. The aim is to identify, analyse and overcome the communication issues between police officers and journalists, to enhance their co-operation during critical events, and to increase the trust among them.

“One very important thing we learned during the workshops is that an open dialogue among police officers and journalists is possible and very useful to both groups and to the public they both serve,” said the Acting Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Jeff Goldstein. ”Journalists must be able to perform their work in a safe and enabling environment.”

The Internal Affairs Minister, Oliver Spasovski, said that there is no justification for attacks on journalists. “The position of the government is clear and we repeat this all the time: zero tolerance for any attempt to jeopardize the freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Any attack on journalists will be strongly condemned and sanctioned.”

The President of AJM, Naser Selmani, said: “We strongly believe that journalists are a very important element in the functioning of democratic processes in the country. Journalists have the right to work in an atmosphere without pressures and threats. The mission they have, to inform the citizens and to demand accountability from government, will not be successful if they work in a state of fear and insecurity.”

The workshops on improving the safety of journalists during critical events organized in Skopje, Tetovo, Ohrid, Kumanovo, Strumica and Shtip are part of an OSCE Mission to Skopje project which aims to improve media freedom and freedom of expression in the country.