Media and media model as factor for media culture in the Republic of North Macedonia

The media and the media model are factors that influence the level of mass culture and media literacy in communities. One of the sub-segments of mass culture is media culture. The media culture reflects attitudes, expectations, and values of the citizens regarding the media and the consumption of media content. The focus of this paper will be given to several questions: 1. analysis of the setup of the media model in the Republic of North Macedonia and 2. evaluation and grading of the media in The Republic of North Macedonia. In this context, all relevant reports on the situation with the media in the Republic of North Macedonia by relevant international institutions for a certain period will be presented. The paper is based on official reports on the situation with the media and the results of conducted research. The research shows that the degree of mistrust among the citizens in the media is a result of the politicization and deep division in the media sector into “pro-governmental” and “opposition” media, which is a kind of reflection of the deep political polarization in the Macedonian society. Media and journalists are generally considered to have a dominantly active control-critical role i.e., journalistic research contributes towards discovering numerous scandals, corruption, and various forms of nepotism. For example, even 80.3 percent of respondents think that the media and journalists have the power and contribute to the detection of irregularities in the system (Bacovska Nedikj, Pacemski 2017). This percentage can be and should be interpreted by the media, journalists, and their associations as an opportunity that should be used for building confidence in the public towards journalists and the media. The public service has extremely low ratings and trust among the citizens. If we take into consideration that the majority of citizens are informed about the most important social topics by the news on television, then the data about the low rating of the program services of the Macedonian Television should be taken very seriously, because it indicates there is no influential public medium that will impartially inform the citizens about the official state policy.