The Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM) and the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) strongly condemn the attitude of Macedonian Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski and the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs in the Macedonian Government Fatmir Bytyqi towards their colleague from Alfa TV, Mateja Petrovski.
A seemingly simple question, which should receive a simple answer, by the Prime Minister Dimitar Kovachevski, was used by the Deputy Prime Minister Bytyqi for improper behavior towards a reporter who responded to the government’s invitation to follow the event.
In response to a journalist’s question addressed to Prime Minister Kovachevski regarding the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections, do they remain of the position that there will not be joint parliamentary and presidential elections and are they ready as a government if the elections fail for the entire country to be in the hands of the political party DUI, the vice prime minister Bytyqi left the press, and Prime Minister Kovachevski pointed out that the question was absolutely incorrect and “fascist”.
On that occasion, SSNM and AJM warn that this way of communication must stop because reporters’ questions are the professional task of reporters, and the answers are the responsibility of the elected officials who owe them to the citizens.
