Macedonia has fallen to 45th place on the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index for 2026. Last year it was 42nd. Two years ago, 36th. A trend that is not accidental. A trend that says everything about how the media market actually works in this country.

The overall score dropped from 70.44 to 69.49. Our weakest category: the economic indicator. Here we sit at 61st with 47.40 points - the line between "problematic" and "difficult". According to the report, "independent media survive almost exclusively on foreign donations". Project funding. Basic activities, not development.

What does that mean in practice? It means a journalist in this country cannot live off their salary. That is the statistic. Every Macedonian journalist knows it. Marketing agencies have influence over editorial teams. The public broadcaster has neither editorial nor financial independence. All of it, point by point, in the report.

The government has introduced new legal rules letting national and local authorities advertise in private media. Sounds harmless. In practice it means: the ruling party has the money to buy more favourable coverage. Not directly - indirectly, through marketing budgets. The same old Balkan model, refurbished for 2026.

For comparison - Serbia is 104th out of 180. A bigger fall than ours, but the starting position was different. Half the world is now in a "difficult" or "very serious" situation. We are not alone. But that is no excuse - when the whole room is on fire, don't reply that the heat is only your problem.

Who is going to answer for this? Nobody. The minister for the information society will say they are "working to improve the media sector". An eight-year list of similar statements. And every year the index drops. The question worth asking is simple: whose interests does this kind of media landscape serve? Because the public interest is not one of them.