Аppeals are being rejected with the explanation that “ the portal does not have passive legitimation” in the Primary Court Skopje 2 Skopje for cases of defamation and insult of which the one side is a journalist that works in the on-line media. According to this , judges practically do not admit the portals as a media. Where for another courts , as for example in Ohrid and Bitola, there is not a doubt whether the portals are media or not, so they act on lawsuits. The case law of this court as to on-line media is concerned has the same standards and principles as the other media, say former judges in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, Margarita Cana Nikolovska and Mirjana Lazarova- Trajkovska.
Milena Atanoska Manasieva- Platform for investigative journalism and analysis
The courts have different practice as to whether online media are means for public informatiоn or not when deciding in cases of defamation and insult. Some parts of the courts approve the portals as a media, some not.
The difference in recognition or non-recognition may result in a defamation and insult claim. Decriminalization of defamation and insult did not solve the problem, but created a new one. These legal nebulousness also use journalists themselves and portals owners to try to avoid responsibility for defamation and insult.
The Platform for investigative journalism and analysis has come to at least eight verdicts pointing out that in the last two years, lawsuits in the Primary Court Skopje 2 Skopje for cases of defamation and insult in which the one side is a journalist working in online medium, are being rejected with the explanation that the portal do not have” passive identity card”. The judges practically do not recognize portals as media. With this new trend, a large number of media are delegitimized in Macedonia.
According to data of AJM( Association of Journalists of Macedonia), defamation and insult lawsuits to the journalists and media have been reduced after the defamation and insult are decriminalized. Last year there were 39 cases, in 2016 there were 40, which is much less than 2012 when 330 lawsuits were registered. It is commented that generally the trend is that there are less cases of defamation and insult against the journalists, thus defamation and insult are less used as an instrument for pressure against the journalists and the media. It is pointed out that half of the cases which are there in the moment are journalist against journalist, which show that it has to be worked on solidarity among the colleagues.
One of the judgments for defamation where the court rejected a defamation lawsuit because it found that web portal is not a medium is the judgment” P5-53/15” of the Primary Court 2 in Skopje. Owner of online medium that published text with topic” Is this ambassadorial paramour couple?” The plaintiff asked for 10.000 euros recompense, but the Court rejected the lawsuit because of two reasons- the first that it could not be proved if the accused is the author of the text and, secondly is that the web portal “is not medium with clear editorial structure” in fact. In the explanation of the verdict reads:
THE PORTAL, IE THE INTERNET WEB PAGE AS AN ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION WAS MEDIUM ACCORDING TO ARTICLE 2 PARAGRAPH 1 AND ARTICLE 3 FROM THE MEDIA LAW(OFFICIAL GAZETTE NO. 184/13) UNTIL THE ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THE AMENDMENTS FROM 23 JANUARY, 2014, WHEN THE SAME ELECTRONIC PUBLICATIONS WERE DELETED AS SUCH. WITH REFERENCE TO THAT THE PORTAL IS NOT A MEDIUM AND IT HAS NEITHER EDITORIAL POLICY NOR EDITOR-IN-CHIEF. THIS MEANS THAT REGARDLESS OF THE PORTAL M.S IS APPOINTED AS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, AT THE TIME OF PUBLICATION OF THE TEXT IN QUESTION, HE COULD NOT HAVE THIS CAPACITY IN ACCORDANCE TO LAW ON AMENDMENTS TO THE LAW OF THE MEDIA, AND FOR THIS REASONS THE DEFENDANT CAN NOT BE PASSIVELY LEGITIMIZED IN THIS PROCEDURE NOR IN THE CAPACITY OF THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE PORTAL.
This new case law has been confirmed by several lawyers as well as by the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM).
“THE DISMISSAL OF THE LAWSUITS BY THE SKOPJE CIVIL COURT ARISES FROM THE AMENDMENTS OF MEDIA LAW OF 2014, WHERE ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION HAVE BEEN DELETED AND THEY ARE NOT MEANS OF PUBLIC INFORMATION, SUCH AS TRADITIONAL MEDIA AS PRESS, TELEVISION, RADIO,” SAYS THE LAWYER IVAN BRESHKOVSKI.