Lingering political instability, pervasive official corruption, and interethnic tension kept Macedonia on edge in 2002. Sporadic clashes between the Macedonian government and ethnic Albanian rebels continued despite a peace accord signed in August 2001 to end the country’s short-lived civil war, which began in January 2001. As a result, independent journalism remains a tenuous and risky profession there.

ýccording to local media analysts, authorities influenced editorial policies by selectively placing government advertisements in publications that favor the regime. Meanwhile, biased, inaccurate, and inflammatory reporting by many journalists continued to erode public trust in the media.

In the first half of 2002, hard-line nationalist politicians, such as Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski, issued statements and leaked unverifiable terrorist threats—which journalists readily published—to legitimize the deployment of security forces in ethnic Albanian communities that are pushing for increased civil liberties.

÷hreats and violence against journalists escalated prior to the September 15 parliamentary elections. With the ruling Internal Macedonian Revolutionary OrganizationÐDemocratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) lagging in the polls, VMRO-DPMNE supporters castigated international organizations, local nongovernmental groups, and the media in an effort to boost their party’s popularity, claiming that these organizations are destabilizing and anti-Macedonian.

ýn September 5, Boskovski threatened to arrest newspaper editors for allegedly Òpreparing a scenario to destroy the reputation of the current government in the pre-election period.” The threat followed the publication of a report by the International Crisis Group,
a Brussels-based policy institute, highlighting “endemic” corruption in Macedonia. A week before the poll, rumors circulated in the capital, Skopje, that the police had prepared a list of journalists to arrest.

The ongoing threats and violence galvanized journalists, prompting the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (ZNM) to organize numerous protests. Several broadcast media outlets stopped work for five minutes on World Press Freedom Day, May 3, to protest government interference in the media. Journalists wore bulletproof vests and helmets at a May 20 rally to protest a recent incident where Boskovski, while testing a grenade launcher in front of an audience, injured a reporter from the Skopje daily Dnevnik, who was hit with shrapnel.

A week after the Social Democratic Union defeated the VMRO-DPMNE, three unidentified men brutally assaulted Radio Tumba editor-in-chief Zoran Bozinovski in the studio while he was hosting a live program, prompting some 500 journalists to protest outside the Interior Ministry on September 30. A month later, in an effort to improve ethical standards and professionalism in reporting, the ZNM announced that its Professional Standards Board would begin blacklisting journalists and editors who are on politicians’ payrolls.

That same night, unknown assailants fired on the BRO printing house, which publishes Global. The bullets damaged the building and delayed the publication of Global’s next edition, but no one was injured.

The three men fled the scene in an unlicensed white Volkswagen Golf. Bozinovski said the attack came in retaliation for the station’s reports on alleged corruption and criminal activity committed by local authorities who belong to the right-wing nationalist VMRO-DPMNE party.