The announcement of the Parliamentary and Presidential Elections 2024 marked the start of the active period for the Coordinating Body for Monitoring Compliance with the Code of Conduct in the Online Sphere during Electoral Processes and Referenda.
The Coordinating Body shall act upon complaints against any violations of the Code on the part of the political parties or their candidates, the independent candidates, broadcasters’ internet editions, online media, the fact checkers, influencers and other entities that may influence the public in favour of one’s electoral or referendum campaign.
All citizens and legal entities may send their complaints to the following e-mail address: koordinativnotelozaizbori@avmu.mk. The complaints may refer to the spread of disinformation (inaccurate, incomplete, false or malicious information), hate speech, discrimination on any grounds, non-compliance with the rules and standards of personal data protection, as well as other forms of unethical conduct on the Internet.
The Coordinating Body is composed of representatives of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia, the Macedonian Institute for Media, the Council for Media Ethics of Macedonia, the Institute of Communication Studies, the “Metamorphosis” Foundation and the Agency for Audio and Audiovisual Media Services.
To date, a total of three political parties (the Left, the European Democratic Party and Pensioners’ Party) and 14 media organizations (Koha TV, Tera TV, Due TV, Kochani LD TV, Spectra TV, Bleta Radio, Kochani Radio, Vati Radio, Sport1, 4News, Ekipa, Radovish News, Portalb and the 360 Degrees), have accessed the Code. The Coordinating Body invites all entities to which the Code refers to access it the soonest possible and wishes to remind that, apart from the complaints, it shall react publicly regarding issues of broad public interest as well, and regarding matters related to the media and to all participants in the online sphere during the electoral process.
Sashe Dimovski of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia was elected Coordinator of the Body, while Olivera Vojnovska of the Metamorphosis Foundation – as its Deputy Coordinator.