Zoran Bozinovski dismissed from AJM for Serious Ethical Violations and Gender-Based Harassment
The Board of Directors of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM), acting upon a proposal from the AJM Council of Honor, has decided to dismiss Zoran Bozinovski from AJM membership due to violations of several articles of the Code of Ethics for Journalists. The decision was made due to serious and repeated violations of the Code of Ethics – through a series of recent posts that incite gender-based harassment against female journalists and violate their reputation and privacy. In addition, these posts initiate malicious comments that incite and encourage others to spread hate speech and threats, thus creating a hostile environment and increasing the risk to the safety of female journalists.
The Council of Honor at the AJM, following the Statute and the Rules of Procedure, after reviewing five complaints submitted to the AJM by journalists Zhana Bozinovska, and on behalf of Miroslava Simonovska, then by Jovana Kostadinovska, Aneta Andonova, Saška Cvetkovska and Meri Popova, decided that Zoran Bozinovski grossly violated Article 10, Article 15 and Article 16 of the Code of Journalists. Based on this, the Council made a proposal for exclusion, which was accepted by the AJM Board of Directors.
Why was this decision made? AJM has an obligation to protect the professional standards and safety of its members. Normalizing harassment and public humiliation – especially when directed at women – directly undermines freedom of expression, violates trust in the media and discourages female journalists from being vocal and present in the public sphere.
What are the consequences if this is not addressed appropriately? Ignoring such phenomena leads to increased impunity, escalation of online and offline attacks, self-censorship and systematic suppression of women’s voices in the media, which is harmful to the public interest and democratic discourse. AJM recalls that according to the amendments to the Criminal Code of 2023, endangering the safety of media workers is a criminal offense, for which there is already case law.
We point out that each member of AJM signs a statement upon joining that he will respect the provisions of the Code of Ethics. According to Article 20 of the Statute, a member against whom complaints have been filed and accepted for serious violations of the Code may be excluded from the association, and thus lose the benefits of membership – legal aid and representation, the right to obtain and use a journalist’s ID card (national and international, in accordance with the rules), participation in AJM bodies and programs, access to training, networks and other member services.
AJM, as the oldest professional organization of journalists in the country with a 79-year tradition, remains on the side of professional journalism and all journalists who do their work with integrity and responsibility in the interest of the public.
02.10.2025, Skopje
