FYROM’s Journalists Slam ‘Intrusive’ Govt

in FYROM news / by Admin / on February 17, 2009 at 6:45 am /

FYROM’s Journalists Association strongly condemned the government for its intrusive requesting of names and data of journalists working in the local daily Dnevnik.

The newspaper on Friday reported that government officials requested a complete list of all political and economic journalists working in the paper, and their telephone numbers. They gave Dnevnik, one of the most prominent newspapers in the country, half an hour to respond, the daily said.

After several persistent calls to Dnevnik’s newsroom, the newspaper contacted government spokesman Sefket Duraku who explained that the data was needed for updating the government’s briefing list.

“I do not know the intention but I think this is scandalous” the head of the journalists’ association Robert Popovski said for the newspaper. “There is no law envisaging this”.

The government on Sunday in a written statement apologized to the newspaper and its readers for what it called “a big misunderstanding” , saying it was a “mistake of the government’s PR service”.

If Dnevnik give the data of their journalists without a proper request including a clear legal justification, they would be committing a crime themselves, the head of the National Agency for Data Protection, Marjana Marusic told the paper.

(Reporting by Sinisa-Jakov Marusic)

Source: BalkanInsight