The report scrutinizes four key risk areas: fundamental protection, market plurality, political independence, and social inclusiveness to reflect the general stagnation and deterioration in media freedom and pluralism in the Balkans in 2020. In the fundamental security, which encompasses protecting freedom of information, right to information, and journalistic standards, North Macedonia scores best out of all Balkan countries. In market plurality, focused on the transparency of media ownership, news media concentration, and owners’ influence over the editorial policies of the outlets, Montenegro was ranked best. Concerning political independence, measuring the editorial autonomy, state regulation, and resources allocated, and the independence of funding, all countries from the region, except Slovenia, were marked with medium risk. In the social inclusiveness, covering access to media by minorities and local and regional communities, women, media literacy, and protection against illegal or harmful speech, N. Macedonia scored best. Read more here.
Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom/ Balkan Insight