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THE ENORMOUS ROLE OF THE PRESS IN STRENGTHENING THE
NATIONAL SPIRIT OF MACEDONIANS
MITO HADZIVASILEV JASMIN ELECTED FOR
PRESIDENT
On February 17, 1945, in the hall of the
City People’s Board
in Skopje,
following the appeal of
the Action Board for establishing an Association of
professional journalists of People’s Republic of
Macedonia, the journalists from the newsrooms of “Nova
Makedonija”, “Trudbenik”, “Edinstvo”, Radio Skopje and
the correspondence office from Tanjug news agency have
met and have established the first association of
journalists in the Macedonian history.
The Founding Assembly was opened by the editor in chief
of Skopje newspaper “Edinstvo”, Dimitar Mitrev. The
representative of the Federation of Journalists’
Associations of Yugoslavia, Dojcilo Mitrovic, the
Association of Journalists of Croatia, Zdravko Pecar and
the Association of Journalists of Serbia, Slobodan
Ivanovic welcomed the participants at the Assembly
wishing them a successful work. On behalf of the
People’s Government of Macedonia, PhD Pavel Satev,
Minister of Justice, addressed the Assembly as well as
poet Venko Markovski, on behalf of the Macedonian
writers, composers and actors.
After the election of working presidency, Metodi Mito
Hadzivasilev, editor in chief of “Nova Makedonija”
submitted a report on the significance and tasks of the
Macedonian press and radio. After his speech on the
attempts of initiating the Macedonian press before the
National Liberation War, Hadzivasilev spoke of the
emergence of first newspapers and bulletins on the
territory of Macedonia in Macedonian language, right
after the capitulation of old Yugoslavia and of their
great role in increasing the combat readiness of the
Macedonian people. Specifically, those newspapers,
embryos of the free press, were great factors
contributing for disclosing the invaders, which
presented themselves as “liberators” at that time.
Major part of Hadzivasilev’s report was focused on the
role of press and radio in renewing the country
devastated by the war as well as in awakening and
strengthening the national spirit of Macedonians abroad.
The report was followed by a discussion, in which the
participants paid great attention to the problem of the
purity of Macedonian language and the language in
general, as an important factor for developing the
press. The situation in Macedonia implied that the press
should be also a textbook. The schools having classes in
Albanian and Turkish language, used the papers as their
main source for teaching. This was an obligation plus
for the journalists to master the pure Macedonian
language and to contribute for enriching the language
with words and expressions.
Welcoming the participants at the Founding Assembly, PhD
Pavel Satev, Minister of Justice in the Macedonian
Government spoke of the history of publishing and the
journalism in general. In his address, he spoke of the
role, work and achievements of the famous Macedonian
publisher and editor in chief of “Ilinden” newspaper,
Arsen Jovkov, born near Debar.
The Assembly paid special attention to the problem of
human resources in the Macedonian newsrooms. There were
only 300 graduated persons in Macedonia after the
liberation. The newly founded republic required human
resources in all fields. All Macedonian services and
institutions, even the newsrooms required
specialisation. The other services were able to get help
from the staff in the other republics, while in
journalism, because of the specific language, the main
technical assistance came from the media houses in
Belgrade and Zagreb.
The draft Rule Book of the Association was adopted with
minor changes and supplements.
After the discussion, Mito Hadzivasilev – Jasmin, editor
in chief of “Nova Makedonija,” was unanimously elected
for president of the Association of Journalists of
Macedonia. The elected vice presidents were: Asen
Todorov, editor of Tanjug correspondence office and PhD
Pietro Janura, editor in chief if “Flaka e vlazrimit
paper.” Dejan Aleksic, head of “Tanjug” correspondence
office was appointed for Secretary, while Toso Skartov,
member of “Nova Makedonija” newsroom was appointed for
cashier. The Assembly also elected Plenum, Supervising
Board and Court of Honour.
The Assembly unanimously elected the following honorary
members: Dimitar Vlahov, PhD Pavel Satev, Bane Andreev,
Alekso Murtaklov, Dimitar Pop Eftimov, Kiro Miljovski,
Veselinka Malinska and Ljiljana Calovska.
The Assembly sent telegrams to the President of Federal
Government, Marshal Tito, president of the Government of
People’s Republic of Macedonia, Lazar Kolisevski and the
Federation of Journalists of Yugoslavia based in
Belgrade.
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