"How can you wait for a viper instead of the most valuable part of history": administrator Goran Markovski lashes out at MRT

Goran Markovski, administrator of the Facebook page "Gjorgji Kolozov", published a sharp public critique of Macedonian Radio-Television (MRT), accusing the public broadcaster of long-term neglect of its audiovisual archive and of showing no real interest in digitising or re‑airing those materials.

Markovski warns that priceless programme reels are gathering dust while the same titles repeat on air

In a lengthy Facebook post he said he had hoped until the last moment that MRT would again become a source of national pride, but that he had been disappointed by what he described as the broadcaster’s steady decline. "What a disappointment! I was one of those people who until the last moment nurtured hope and sincerely believed that Macedonian Radio-Television would once again become a source of national pride. It seems I was mistaken. I really don't know who is most to blame for the increasingly successful sinking of this television. Is it the current government, or all the governments that have changed since independence until today?" he wrote.

Markovski reminded readers that the former Television Skopje — today’s Macedonian Television — was once among the region’s leading production houses, responsible for a large volume of drama series, documentaries, educational and children’s programmes. He listed radio dramas, children’s shows, school broadcasting, dubbed series and cartoons and cited well‑known voices and creators associated with that output. "I assert responsibly that the former Television Skopje, today's Macedonian Television, was one of the best television houses in this region. It filmed countless television series, documentary films, TV dramas, programmes and feature films. In this building a priceless archive is kept — material that is part of someone's childhood, someone's growing up and the collective memory of Macedonia. Radio dramas, children's programmes, educational and school programming, dubbed series and cartoons with the unforgettable voices of Dadi, Meshko, Rusi, Trajche Georgiev, Biljana Belichanec, Slavica Jovanovska… Here are 'Prikaznite', 'Dzvon', 'Makedonski baladi'… A marvel of documentaries, music shows, series, reports, cult programmes. A wealth that could be shown for years and still not be exhausted completely."

He argued that instead of tapping that resource for the schedule, hundreds of programmes remain shelved while MRT repeats roughly the same two dozen items. He also criticised the use of YouTube clips in MRT’s own broadcasts rather than material from the broadcaster’s holdings. "Macedonian Television today is only a pale shadow of what it once was. For a whole decade almost the same programme has been broadcast. The same twenty‑odd items are repeated in a loop, while hundreds of others lie forgotten in the depots. And imagine how far we've come — using inserts filmed from YouTube in our own programmes instead of material from our own archive. That is the greatest tragedy," he wrote.

Markovski said his repeated attempts to reach MRT officials have failed and used a rhetorical comparison to underline his frustration: "I am more likely to meet the head of the USA, President Donald Trump, and have coffee in the White House, than to get an MRT official who will want to talk about the archive and the programme. Someone who will listen to our demands and finally do something to preserve and revive this priceless wealth. Simply put, those people are unreachable. If they even exist."

Despite his criticism, Markovski insisted he still believes MRT could return to being a genuine public service if it starts a serious digitisation of the archive and returns that cultural treasure to citizens. He closed his post with a call to conscience addressed at today's management of the broadcaster.

The Facebook page "Gjorgji Kolozov", administered by Markovski, has for years been publishing archival footage, photographs and materials related to Macedonian television, film and theatre with the stated aim of preserving memories of the country’s audiovisual heritage.

Photo: Wikimedia commons