MoI and AJM present Protocol for the safety of journalists online
Skopje, 22 March 2023 (MIA) – Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski held a meeting Wednesday with the working group from the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM), led by AJM president Mladen Chadikovski, at which the drafted Protocol for online safety for journalists, with a focus on women journalists, was promoted.
As a result of the drafting of this Protocol, the Ministry of Interior has appointed a person to serve as a contact point for the threats sent to journalists and media workers in general. The protocol provides practical steps on how journalists should act when they are the target of threats on social media and the internet, through a proactive involvement of MoI in the protection of media workers. This is one of a series of activities jointly implemented by MoI and AJM aimed at improving the safety of journalists since the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation in 2017.
The meeting also focused on other aspects of the safety of journalists and media workers while doing their jobs, the need for free and unhindered reporting of events on the ground, and the efficiency in the protection of journalists with full implementation of the legal instruments available to the institutions.
The excellent cooperation between the Ministry and AJM was also stressed at the meeting.
“It is clear that we, as a Ministry, are committed to providing journalists with all the necessary conditions they need, and we have been demonstrating this since 2017, because the freedom of media is one of the pillars of democracy. This Protocol too, which was drafted by representatives from MoI, AJM and experts from the academic community, offers solutions that will contribute to every journalist, especially women journalists, feeling safe, but also knowing how to act in case of online threats. The freedom of journalists is a priority for us and we are continuing our cooperation with AJM with this goal in mind. We have carried out numerous trainings in the past, together with AJM and the OSCE Mission to Skopje we drafted the Guidebook on the safety of journalists while reporting during critical events, and today we can add the Protocol for the safety of journalists online to this list as well,” Minister Spasovski said.
AJM President Mladen Chadikovski said that the Protocol is a step forward in building a safe environment for the work of journalists.
“We believe that this is a positive step forward in terms of increasing the safety of journalists. Today, not only are we facing dangers to our own safety, but also the danger of online threats, which, unfortunately, are most often aimed at women journalists. In this way, we expect the attacks and the risk to decrease, and the impunity of the perpetrators to disappear. We hope that the recommendations of this Protocol will contribute to building a safe environment for journalists,” said Chadikovski. ad/nn/
