Skopje, 11 November 2023 (MIA) - As a country committed to European Union membership and sharing the European values ​​of democracy, transparency and responsibility, it is necessary to respect and implement international standards supporting media freedom, President Stevo Pendarovski said commenting on latest developments in the court process involving Investigative Reporting Lab (IRL) journalists.

According to Pendarovski, there must be no labeling, discrediting and attempts to regulate journalists and media as seen in the past, because such processes have not led to democratic development.

Pendarovski underlines that the freedom of the media is directly related to the degree of democracy in a society and to the protection of public interest, adding that journalism is a free profession and as such it needs to be subject to the principle of self-regulation by media bodies and organizations.

The President points out that the public has the right to be timely and accurately informed about all important issues in a society that relate to the public interest. Citizens also have the right to expect judges to respect freedom of expression, the right of citizens to be informed about topics of public interest and to give priority to the public interest over individual interest, particularly when it comes to issues of concern to the great majority of society. In such a case, Pendarovski notes, it is in the public interest for the public to be informed about relevant facts of importance for those issues.

"Labeling, discrediting and attempts to regulate journalists and media were seen in the past, and we have witnessed that such processes did not lead to democratic development. As a country committed to EU membership and sharing the European values ​​of democracy, transparency and responsibility, it is necessary to respect and implement international standards supporting media freedom," said President Pendarovski.