Media Coverage of the Macedonian Environment 

Monitoring period: July 2001 

By the Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research 

Coordinated by Mirjana Najcevska, PhD. Production team: Marija Stankovska, Sasko Todorovski, and Blerim Koljali 

The Macedonian media, during July, were completely preoccupied with the ongoing dialogue between the major two ethnic Macedonian and two ethnic Albanian political parties under the auspices of the President Boris Trajkovski, and with the "participation" of the international "troika" (unit of three) - Francois Leotard, James Pardew and Max van der Stoel. 

This undisturbed devotion to the political events was refreshed with further polarization of the Mass media in Macedonian and in Albanian language. The previously begun transformation of "Fakti" into a war bulletin was encircled with the problems of a few of its journalists with the Police that appeared at the very beginning of the month, maybe associating to the "American connections" - on 4th of July. Thus, the list of incidents and complaints of police torture and brutality is - a long one. On the other hand, the Mass media in Macedonian "discovered" it was high time to respond to the "Albanian formula": crying children - complaining women - tired elderly people and diligently interviewed all the ethnic Macedonians that were expelled from their villages by the terrorists. Thus, the list of incidents and complaints of terrorist torture and brutality is - a long one. And the vicious circle is closed. 

All of the Mass media, to varying degree, neglected what is of utmost importance during the summer months - the massive ecological catastrophes that Macedonia has been suffering for years. "Fakti" and "Lobby" practically entirely disregarded these issues. The Mass media in Macedonian language did try something, but without "political adding" - obviously it was not "the headline material". Previously, during May and June, there was a hot issue about the most polluted town in Macedonia - Veles. For years, Veles has been burdened with "dirty" industries and the experts alerted of some very serious outcomes - fall of the average life duration, decline of intelligence among children, lung diseases etc. 

Yet, it was only the recent decision of the Chief State Environmental Inspector on closing one of the factories in Veles that that pitted him against the Environmental Minister at the time that attracted the journalists' attention. They reported properly, cross-checking the two approaches, consulting experts, interviewing citizens; and following the "story" to its end that included the fall of the Environmental Minister. 

Without such a political "fuel" - disorientation, including the encyclopedic confusion - mixing ecology with environmental programs and activities. The issues like fires swallowing enormous areas of forests managed only to reach the fourth page of "Dnevnik" or even worse - eighth page of "Vecher" and ninth of "Utrinski". A very hot and dry summer, after a winter without snows and the lowest level of water-accumulations in recent decades, drastic decline of the harvest because of it; all of this is still not enough for our journalists. It is "fascinating" to see a small article or short report on a case such as the draining a whole accumulation on the river "Crna reka" in Pelagonija valley in order to collect almost a ton of fish from the residual mud. 

Ten days previously, on a nearby location in this Pelagonija valley there was a fire in which 1.5 ha of cornfield were burnt. The journalist did not check with any expert how these two eco-catastrophes could affect this, rather crucial for the Macedonian agriculture, area. The two stories were not interconnected and we never found out what happened afterwards. 

It is also interesting to see two, completely "different", news on the very same page ("Dnevnik", July 2; pp.5). One is titled "The Dry Season Halved the Harvest" and immediately below it the second one titled "The Water Will Increase the Harvest Five Times". The first one, of course, is a typical lamentation over the estimated damages of the drought. The second one speaks of irrigation project of Macedonian and German experts in Gevgelija called "South Vardar Valley". On the basis of the appropriate watering of the soil, the experts envisaged that the agricultural product would be enlarged at least five times. Or maybe, placing these two news next to each other was a sort of a "No Comment", but very meaningful message for the readers? 

Then what kind of message is the one of "Vecher" that at the beginning of July when they found place for small news saying that the harvest in Pelagonija is postponed because of rains. At the end of the month, they published a small article saying that the harvest in Pelagonija is the lowest compared to the previous (4-5) years due to the "dry season"! Either a very little rain can prevent the harvest or they simply forgot what they published at the beginning of the month. Finally, 24 days is quite a time. 

The "pearl" of "Utrinski" is probably the article on the small, artificial lake near Skopje. A very comprehensive approach to the issue of this recreational lake of which the citizens of Skopje were rather proud until four years ago it developed some problems with the water. The journalist, rather in depth analyzed all the prospects of solving the bacteriologically inappropriate content of the water of the lake in which, for the moment, swimming is forbidden. The reason is - the water of the river "Treska" (which fills the lake) is polluted and poisoned to such a degree that chemical analysis does not allow usage of the lake. The article ends with an appeal for investors, because there are various projects and it is only a matter of money which one should be undertaken. Great! And besides that one sentence for the river Treska, nothing more concerning a river - polluted and contaminated - that runs through a quarter of Macedonia and used to be a paradise for the fishermen. In some parts - it still is. Forget it - let's take care of the lake! 

On the other hand, the environmental programs and activities are usually reported in an old-fashioned way - as a sort of "look-what-the-Government-is-doing-for-you". Therefore, reports on environmental actions usually deal with two aspects: a) our towns are dirty, meaning the "Cabinet" can not even collect the garbage in you municipality, and b) in connection with foresting certain areas, but also creating parks in the bigger towns. The latter is probably a result of the wide, colloquial understanding that the parks are the "lungs" of the towns. Nevertheless, even this common knowledge means very small news at the end of the newspapers. Sometimes when the journalists find that, for instance, aqueducts are economical and not ecological issues, the news on new water-pipe systems can reach even the fifth page ("Dnevnik") if it is about loans of the World Bank for this purpose. Otherwise, they "go" the most to page 11 ("Dnevnik") or 13 ("Vecher"). 

In spite of the fact that some of these newly built aqueducts are in villages, for instance, eight kilometers from Skopje, nobody wonders how is it possible that in the practically the capital of Macedonia, there are areas without aqueducts or disposal system? Or that there are areas without irrigation systems and waters for industry? Or that there are areas without proper firemen equipment? Or that the whole country has no system of agricultural policy based on ecological and environmental criteria? 

The answer is clear - ecology and improving the human environment is the issue of the future. Therefore, our children should be brought-up developing such an awareness (that does not include "us"). "Utrinski" were full of praise for the First Children Ecology Workshop established in a suburb of Skopje on July 15. The six months Project encompasses education and awareness raising of the participants through concrete and practical work. The emphasis is put on recycling of waste - paper, wood as well as plastics and metals. That is how these children will be formed into "... healthy persons that in the future will be a solid basis for a modern, ecological society...". Noble task - for someone else. We shall humbly suffer dry seasons, summer fires; also humbly watch our rivers be polluted or drained; but we shall loudly complain for ruined harvests and hard life - finally, it is certain that something or someone else is guilty for that. 

Macedonia longs to be a participating member of the World Community. That includes the area of ecology. Journalists always proudly inform us of what is going on at the international (ecological/environmental) arena. Yet, somehow it also depends on the financial aspect. The news on the transformation of the Macedonian debt to the "Paris Club" into 15 ecological projects reached the very (top) 13-th page in "Vecher". A bit less successful was the workshop of the REC (Regional Ecology Center) for SE Europe on "Improvement and Saving of Energy Consumption" - pp. 14 in "Vecher". The least successful was the announcement of the forthcoming UN Conference on Global Warming in Bon - pp. 19 in "Dnevnik". Or maybe it goes with the character of the activity: bilateral come first, then regional and only at the end - the multilateral ones. Finally, as a small country we should not expect too much of these global games with major players as USA, Japan etc. 

Unfortunately, the situation with the electronic Mass media is not different than with the printed ones. As to the character of the managing team of MkTV1 (more than close to one of the ruling political parties), they are more in favour of reporting with the positive, affirmative part of the "look-what-Government-is-doing-for-you" approach. On the other hand, A1 is trying occasionally to report on usually mixed issues of ecology and environmental actions giving an angle of "we-criticize-the-Cabinet-regardless-of-the-issue". Unfortunately, it is still an underdeveloped concept exercised practically only by their correspondent from Shtip (a town in Eastern Macedonia). 

Nevertheless, it was, for instance, rather impressive to hear that during these hot summer days more than 120.000 inhabitants of the most productive agricultural part of Eastern Macedonia were left without water supplies even for their personal needs, let alone their farming necessities. 

Let us, as a conclusion, say that politics and ecology in Macedonia seem to be a reflection of each other. Instead of moving forward, they sink in its traditional, historical forms. The politics is becoming more political voluntarism than ever - based on wishes and incompetence instead of facts and knowledge. The ecology goes back where it came from - some sort of science fiction destined for our children but not for us. Thus, the unique but cruel example of nature's revenge in Veles instead of being an exemplary case and motivating all of us, it became a cheap, political affair. The journalism in this area can not be commended on any grounds. Reporting is on the level of reactions to the ongoing events, no explanations or consultations with experts; whenever possible a sort of political "sound" is attached to even smallest news. Quite often, mistakes and confusions are present and very visible. If we compare it to the political one maybe we could wonder whether our journalists are only conveying the words of the politicians. The more skilful in covering up that fact - become "the journalists". 

Observed Mass media: Dailies: "Vecher", "Dnevnik" and "Utrinski vesnik" in Macedonian language and "Fakti" in Albanian language Weeklies: "Start" in Macedonian and "Lobby" in Albanian language TV Stations: MkTV 1 and A1 in Macedonian and MkTV 2 in Albanian

source: http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?balkans_humanrights.html 
published by: Roland Brunner rbr@medienhilfe.ch date of release: 16-08-2001

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