APNA - STATE AUTHORITIES INFLUENCE MEDIA SPACE
National.
The authorities of the countries in the region continue to exert their influence over the media space and impose restrictions to the freedom of informing.
This is the conclusion of the two-day meeting of the Association of Private News Agencies (APNA), which wrapped up Saturday in Skopje.
The participants of the meeting pointed out once again that by providing funding to the state-owned news agencies, the states from the region violate their own and the basic international norms on freedom of informing and market competitiveness.
In order to secure support in efforts to provide equal access to the market and to information outlets, APNA will notify the Council of Europe, European Commission, OSCE and the Stability Pact about these problems.
Out of all media operating in the informing space, the private news agencies are the ones which pay the highest taxes. On the basis of internationally adopted classification, the private news agencies from the region will urge for cutting their tax obligations to the level of the printed media.
The members of APNA agreed to step up their mutual cooperation and to open a shared webpage.
Skopje is a permanent seat of APNA, which includes 17 member-agencies.
At the meeting in Skopje, Risto Popovski, the manager of Makfax Agency, has been appointed as President of the Association. Pavol Mudri from the Slovakian Agency SITA and Zoran Sekulic from Belgrade-based FONET have been appointed as his deputies.
[MakFax]
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