The media center announced that in the articles published on the local public television Gradska TV, which directly concern the elections in Podgorica, as many as 26 of them refer to Ivan Vuković, the holder of the election list "All for our city", and to that list, of which only one article (news) can be treated as value-neutral, while all others belong to contributions that have a clearly expressed promotional dimension, which, in a professional sense, makes them one-sided.
"In 11 attachments, the promotional activities of five other electoral lists were presented, while two electoral lists were not discussed at all in the Dnevnik shows. Of these, four attachments were parts of promotional interviews of holders of electoral lists or candidates for councilors published in the show I know" , adds the Media Center in the statement it sent to the media today.
They state that a month before the local elections in Podgorica, the Media Center monitored the main news program Dnevnik Gradske TV and the programs from which parts of the content (inserts) were used for the program Dnevnik. The monitoring lasted from September 23 to October 21, the day after which there was a pre-election silence.
"The goal of the monitoring and the analysis based on it was to assess the extent to which this public television adheres to the professional and ethical standards of the journalistic profession prescribed by the Rulebook on Professional Standards in Electronic Media, Paragraph 1 of the Founding Decision, Article 16 of which states that journalists are independent and to 'act in the interest of the public', as the Code of Journalists of Montenegro", they say in the announcement.
They add that they chose Gradska TV because it is an influential local public broadcaster that covers the area of the Capital City, the most populous and most important municipality where local elections are held.
When it comes to the aforementioned programs on Gradska TV, the Media Center states that one of those programs (brief information on the activities of Democratic Front election list holder Jelena Borovinić Bojović) was processed in a problematic manner.
"By being illustrated with an inappropriate photo that suggested that she is the holder of the electoral list of the party "Europe Now". This was the reason for the reaction (objection) of the Media Center, which was followed by a public apology from Gradska TV. This apology was accompanied by a note that The Democratic Front did not deliver its promotional materials to Gradska TV, which justified not covering the activities of this political group," the announcement reads.
The President of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Milo Đukanović is the only party leader whose participation in the pre-election campaign in the municipalities where the elections are held was covered by Gradska TV, they added in the announcement.
"From 12 pre-election gatherings in municipalities, reports were published that consist of parts of Đukanović's addresses to supporters of coalitions in which the DPS is the main actor. The authors of those reports were not mentioned, so it can be reasonably assumed that the authors were people from the public relations department of the DPS. The majority of these reports was not published in the part of the Dnevnik show, which is reserved for the topic of local elections and announced as such with appropriate graphics," they assessed.
They say that the leader and other high-ranking members of DPS spoke in 48 articles published in the Dnevnik show in the analyzed period, which directly or indirectly related to the upcoming elections, including the holder of the election list "All for our city", Ivan Vuković.
"All those contributions had an emphatically affirmative, promotional tone when it comes to DPS, and a negative, critical tone when it comes to political competition, most often directed towards the civil movement URA and its leader Dritan Abazović, the Prime Minister of the Government in a technical mandate," he writes. in the statement.
In the same period, they add from the Media Center, prominent individuals from political parties and associations who are part of the coalition "All for our city" led by Ivan Vuković or a coalition in one of the municipalities where the elections are held, in which the DPS is the backbone. In all those contributions, the mentioned electoral lists were directly or indirectly affirmed and supported, and negatively and critically talked about political competition, also especially about the Prime Minister in technical mandate Dritan Abazović and the party of which he is the leader.
"In the Dnevnik show, 19 items were published, which are inserts from shows in which the leaders of political parties and associations that make up the coalition 'All for our city' were guests, and only five from shows in which people from one of the remaining seven election lists were guests. In the case of other election lists, it is only a matter of shows (Znam da znaje) that were intended for promotional content. , and those reproduced as a whole, neglected the professional obligation to hear the other side as well and never provided an opportunity for dissenters and/or critics to express themselves equally," they state.
As they say, even though Gradska TV is a local public broadcaster, none of those talk shows covered any local controversial topics during the monitored period, not even those that were media attractive for the region. (This is about the ban on further work on the theater play "Paolo Pazolini directs the Last Judgment" which was commissioned by the local Secretariat for Culture and Sports from the Serbian playwright and director Zlatko Paković).
"Gradska TV dealt with local events and topics only sporadically in the Dnevnik show. A total of 28 news were published, of which almost half (13) were in the function of promoting the local self-government and its first person, the holder of the electoral list 'All for our city'. "For example, the news in the Dnevnik program was not even worthy of a media event that was covered by national public television. It was a public protest class of students, professors and parents of students at the location of the demolished elementary school 'Vladimir Nazor' in the neighborhood of Masline," say the Media Center.
According to the findings of the Media Center, as stated in the announcement, Gradska TV in its main news program strongly favored the election list "All for our city" and its holder, current mayor Ivan Vuković, whose re-election to that position was contested by the Administrative Court.
"Such an approach was additionally strengthened by the choice of interlocutors in talk shows that did not deal with local issues, and from which inserts were published in the Dnevnik shows in which one electoral list was directly or indirectly favored and the political parties that make it up were affirmed, while a negatively qualified political competition, and especially the civil movement URA and its leader, the current Prime Minister in technical mandate Dritan Abazović," they add.
This means, according to the Media Center, this also means that during the pre-election campaign, RTV Podgorica continuously violated the professional standards prescribed by the Law on Media, the Law on Electronic Media, the Rulebook on Program Standards in Electronic Media, as well as the Code of Journalists of Montenegro.
"With its reporting, according to the findings of the Media Center, RTV Podgovica did not contribute to free, truthful, complete, unbiased and timely information to the public about events in the country and abroad, thereby violating Article 7 paragraph 1 of the Rulebook on Program Standards in Electronic Media," they said in the announcement. .
The Media Center reminds us of the most frequently violated professional standards prescribed by the Rulebook on Program Standards in Electronic Media.
"Article 7 - Broadcasters who produce (edit and broadcast) news programs are obliged to do so professionally and responsibly and thus contribute to:
a) free, truthful, complete, impartial and timely information to the public about events in the country and abroad;
b) respecting and promoting basic human rights and freedoms, democratic values, institutions and pluralism of ideas.
Article 8
(1) In the production of news programs, electronic media are obliged to respect the principles of objectivity, impartiality, timeliness, accuracy, prohibition of discrimination, freedom to publish comments and application of the rules of the other party.
(2) Events must be presented faithfully, and different approaches and opinions must be professionally and correctly represented.
(3) Opinions and comments must be separated from factual reporting, and their source or author identifiable.
Article 11
(1) Program content, especially informative and political programs and programs on current events, must be fair and balanced, which is achieved by publishing opposing views, either in the same program or in a series of other programs, which represent a whole in the processing of a certain topic.
(2) The interests of one political party or any group or individual must not be promoted with program content, especially if such content is broadcast systematically over a certain period of time.
(3) Hosts and reporters, program authors, moderators in news-political and current events programs, as well as debate programs and discussions may express personal opinions and viewpoints regarding controversial political, economic and other topics of public interest, which must be clearly indicated, so that the audience could clearly recognize them as such.
(4) Persons referred to in paragraph 3 of this article must not abuse the advantage of constant appearances in programs to promote their own views and opinions in a way that could violate the necessary impartiality and balance.
(5) Announcers in news programs are obliged to limit themselves to the impartial transmission of information, without expressing personal views, whether verbal or non-verbal communication," the Media Center states.
They say that the price list for political advertising in local elections has been published on the website of RTV Podgorica, although paid advertising on the local public broadcaster is completely contrary to Article 51 paragraph 2 of the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament.
"By charging for space on television, radio and the portal, RTV Podgorica grossly violated the law, for which the director and Council of RTV Podgorica are responsible," they conclude in the announcement.
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