Death threats and insults to journalists are unacceptable, AJM demands a reaction from the Ministry of Interior

The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) strongly condemns the narrative of public humiliation and hate speech that we have witnessed on social networks directed at journalist Borjan Jovanovski in the past few days.

On January 28, Jovanovski wrote a comment on his profile on the social network Twitter with content in the context of celebrating the birthday of the Macedonian national hero Goce Delchev, who is already in the focus of the public both here and in Bulgaria. Jovanovski’s comment, which was also shared on several online media, caused reactions on social networks that had offensive, disparaging content but also death threats.

This kind of hate can directly threaten the safety of journalists and other individuals, which means that in addition to the perpetrators, those who instigated the acts of hate are also criminally responsible.

AJM will report this case to the Department for Computer Crime and Digital Forensics at the Ministry of the Interior.

Freedom of expression must be promoted and nurtured as one of the fundamental human rights. However, at the same time, it is necessary to know that realizing these freedoms includes obligations and responsibility.