Traffic Violators, Pointed Out as “Isolation Evaders”

By Мирослава Симоновска On Jun 27, 2020 0

Author: Miroslava Burns

On the portal “Lider” on 22 June at 12:15 pm, a text was published entitled “Publicly disclosed: These are the people who refuse to receive decrees for self-isolation.” The headline and the first introductory paragraph of the text – the subtitle, claim that the Ministry of Interior has published a list of those who refuse to accept self-isolation decrees.

However, this is disinformation. The Ministry of Interior has published a list of 35 people with last name and address, who in 2019 committed a violation related to traffic. Proof of this is the following excerpt from the article:

Pursuant to Article 385, paragraph 3 of the Law on Road Traffic Safety, the Department for Misdemeanors Skopje 5, the Commission for Deciding on Misdemeanors at the Ministry of Interior, makes a public announcement.

In the public announcement of the Ministry of Interior, next to each of the 35 names of the persons to whom decrees have been submitted, it is stated that these are for violations committed in 2019, when there was no coronavirus and, consequently there were no decrees for self-isolation.

Hence, Article 1 of the Code of Journalists has been violated in that the journalist should publish accurate and verified information and shall not conceal essential data and falsify documents and that the accuracy of the information should be verified as much as possible. The text itself published the call in which it is obvious that these are violations from 2019, and not decrees for isolation from June 2020.

Furthermore, elementary ignorance on which authority issues these decrees for isolation has been demonstrated. The Ministry of Interior could not publish a list of people who refuse to be in isolation, because those decrees are not issued by the police, but by the State Sanitary and Health Inspectorate. The publication of this list in the context of the coronavirus is completely indicative, given that the SSHI has already informed that 450 decrees have remained undeceived, and the list of the Ministry of Interior has only 35 names, so confusion could not occur, especially if such news comes from someone who is following this topic.

With the publication of this list in the context of the coronavirus, enormous personal damage has been done to the indicated persons, who may face misunderstandings and inconveniences. The public has also been misinformed.

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