Politicians in Montenegro are very sensitive to criticism, and although they are declaratively in favor of media freedom, the highest state officials, instead of solving problems, often lash out at journalists who point them out.
For decades, the former long-time president of the state and the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and prime minister led the way Milo Djukanovic.
At one time, he often accused a part of the media of fascism, proposed their "extermination", called them a "media mafia", and the government and the media under his control or those close to him, during his reign, especially after 2006, worked actively and openly are on the demonization, financial strangulation, and even shutting down such media.
However, the prime minister too Dritan Abazovic several times in recent years he publicly targeted the media that reported critically on his work and that of the Government.
For example, in 2018, Đukanović accused the daily "Vijesti", which wrote about his son's affairs with the state he headed, of promoting "fascist ideas".
"If you are sending a message that my son cannot be someone who does business in the Montenegrin economic area, that is a message that someone should be discriminated against. Those are fascist ideas. I think that no compromises can be made with fascism," Djukanovic stated in the TV show.
He then ironically commented on numerous warnings from international organizations not to do exactly what he was doing.
"For God's sake, the media should be allowed to contribute to democratization, even when their operations are at the border, or below the border of legal business," said Đukanović, reminding that these are messages from the European Commission, the OSCE.
For years, in its reports on Montenegro, the European Commission pointed to the unenviable position of independent media, which were the targets of attacks and political and economic pressures.
"The authorities are expected to show zero tolerance for threats and attacks on the media, and they should also refrain from making statements that can create an environment that is not suitable for freedom of expression."
"Research by the Center for Civic Education (CGO)... proves that media funding from public funds, through the most diverse forms, is directly related to how favorably or critically media houses report on government decisions and activities, with those who support the ruling structure they receive the largest part of the funds, while the rest are deprived of money from the budget", stated the CGO in its document from 2020.
Some of Đukanović's critics claimed that one of the motives for the numerous attacks on journalists at that time was his attitude towards the media for which the attacked journalists worked.
The Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on Journalists stated in its recent report that out of 131 registered attacks on journalists and media property since 2004, the most attacks were on journalists and property of Vijesti and TV Vijesti - 49. Next is Dan (16), RTCG (11), Victory (8).
After the elections in August 2020, the government formed a coalition gathered around the then Democratic Front, with Democrats and GP URA, led by the Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić. That government fell in February 2022, and in April Abazović's Government was formed with the minority support of DPS. That government was voted no-confidence in the Parliament in August 2022.
At that session of the Assembly, saying that the DPS is running a campaign against him, Abazović said that the media "which have a fascist touch" are also doing the same. A month later, Abazović accused some of those media outlets of collaborating with organized crime groups.
Media expert Dragoljub Duško Vuković he assessed that since August 2020, when the DPS government was replaced after 30 years, "nothing fundamentally has changed".
"The government still expects journalism to be loyal to it, and not to those it addresses and should serve - citizens. "The government still expects journalism to search for truths that benefit it, while compromising those that are not to its liking or are unpleasant opponents," Vuković told "Vijesta".
He said that the new government has not shown the will to fix bad media laws and to primarily strengthen public broadcast media (RTV) at the national and local level with new norms.
"This reveals the essential thing - the will to control, and not to provide the media and journalism with freedom and independence that will oblige them and make them more responsible," said Vuković.
Nevertheless, according to the state of media freedoms on the list of Reporters without Borders, Montenegro has advanced by 65 places since the application of the authorities - from the 104th position in 2020 to the 39th place this year.
"After the defeat of the DPS in 2020, the pressure of the authorities and attacks on journalists have somewhat decreased, but the new authorities are still trying to control certain media and journalists," the RSF report for Montenegro assesses.
The Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on Journalists states that in 2021 and 2022 there was an increase in the number of attacks on journalists due to "increased tensions in society", but that they are "generally treated more seriously by the police and prosecutors' offices, although a number of attacks through social the network has not yet been clarified, and in a few cases, irregularities were noted in the investigation".
As of 2018, the Commission has not registered an attack on journalists that resulted in serious bodily injury or serious consequences for the victim.
However, the Commission states that in recent years, the number of attacks on journalists and media property has increased, which "were not attacked before or were not attacked that often. (RTCG, Pobjeda, Gradska TV, Antena M, Standard)".
For years, international organizations and the European Commission have been appealing to shed light on old cases of attacks on journalists, including the murder of the owner and editor-in-chief of Dan, Duško Jovanović 2004. years.
The new government promised to solve the murder.
"Although she committed herself to shedding light on cases of violence against journalists and the media, especially the case of the murder of Duško Jovanović, the darkness remained just as dense. The promising rhetoric of the new government did not help, but unfortunately, it could further demotivate and discourage those who are already engaged in journalism, and especially those who would like to do so," said Vuković.
President of the Commission, Mihailo Jovovic, assessed that for the first time after many years "something is being done in the investigation of the murder of Jovanović".
"Thanks to the pressure of the media, public opinion, the Commission, and even Prime Minister Abazović - which sometimes seemed inappropriate, because it is not his competence - it finally seems to me that something more serious is being done here. However, I think that this and other unsolved cases of attacks on journalists will be solved only when the people who have been 'solving' them for years leave the prosecutor's office and the police," Jovović told "Vijesta".
Serbia: Drawing a target is an everyday occurrence
Serbia fell 12 places compared to 2022 and is now the 91st country in the world according to the media freedom index. Such a ranking is not overly surprising, if one takes into account that government representatives have been trying for years to create an atmosphere of persecution in the public space for anyone who dares to look where it does not suit them, and to lynch all newsrooms, which over the past years have discovered dozens affair by presenting irrefutable evidence that points in only one direction.
Everything gets an additional dimension when the fact that it is added to the calculation Aleksandar Vučić, as well as some of his current collaborators, honed his "craft" of pressuring the media in the nineties, for which he is still remembered today, and because of the notorious Law on Public Information that he passed as the Minister of Information at the time Slobodan Milosevic, which already at the end of the last millennium came to the head, in some cases literally, of numerous critical media and their workers, among whom was Danas.
That things could get worse, it was already clear with the return of Aleksandar Vučić to power in 2012, then in the capacity of Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Serbia who, while climbing the political ladder, created a monopoly of influence and power in the media market. With the arrival of United Media and their channel N1 in Serbia in 2014, new problems started for the ruling structure. Although Danas, along with several other local newspapers and weeklies, represented a barrier in the protection of public interests, the print media were an easy target for neutralization, since advertisers were mostly afraid to buy advertising space in such media.
Also, over the years, complete control over the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media was established, so national frequencies were assigned to media houses that break the law almost hour by hour, while the programs of television stations where protests can be seen equally by "leftists" and " right-winger" convicted of a cable operator who then leads his fight for coverage in Serbia with a company whose operations have been repeatedly called into question by various scandals.
The years then showed that the combination of the uncontrolled flow of information on the Internet and several critical media that stood out on the map of influence could not be stopped, so not only the President of Serbia, but also his associates, embarked on a new type of pressure - drawing targets on forehead.
In almost every guest appearance, Vučić does not miss the opportunity to wave the front page of our newspaper or some text that is not to his liking, with the mandatory labeling of journalists with the words "foreign mercenaries", "domestic traitors", "autochauvinists".
When it happens that one of the journalists from the critical spectrum of the media gets hold of the microphone at the conferences, the answer to the question is usually never obtained. What follows is a diversion from the topic, questions about what the Democrats have been doing, who have not been in power for 11 years, while confrontations with political opponents are reduced to his monologues on television programs that are favorable to the ruling regime.
He generally answers questions from foreign media in a calm tone, with a gentle smile and the obligatory thank you, except when it comes to one of the regional branches of N1, then he probably gets a little carried away.
The Prime Minister of Serbia is no better Ana Brnabic, who apart from television appearances, often expresses her frustrations and dissatisfaction that she has no influence on the editorial policy of certain media on the social network Iks (X). One of the last such examples concerned Danas, and the Prime Minister, in her haste to deny the writing of our journalist, missed several millennia, but also forgot to deny it.
The reason for the latest attack on the editorial office of Danas is the article published on the front page of our newspaper on Friday, October 20, about the appointment of state representatives to the councils of faculties and universities. In a hurry, the Prime Minister went into the distant future, saying that Belgrade and Novi Sad universities were not on the Shanghai list before 20212.
Journalists from Nova and N1 television were recently denied access to the event where she was speaking, including Brnabić, so they were forced to stand in front of locked doors in order not to "meet" her and possibly ask a question.
Aleksandar Šapić, the resigned mayor of Belgrade, is another specific example of the government's attitude towards critical media. Although he was once the main opposition figure in Belgrade, almost overnight he changed his attitude towards the media from the side of the spectrum where subsidies are almost non-existent. He often blames the media company United Media for his own slip-ups, which he has had enough of during the past few years.
He still took the "victory" among media appearances Vladimir Orlic, the president of the National Assembly, who a few years ago held a "press conference" in very unusual circumstances. After "addressing the journalists", Orlić asked if anyone else had a question, then thanked him and left, and the footage that spread over the entire hall revealed the harsh truth - there was absolutely no one in the room, except for one cameraman who filmed everything. Whether anyone was even invited to this conference remains an enigma to this day.
At the very end, we should not forget the fact that the representatives of the authorities do not stop only at verbally drawing a target on the heads of journalists who are not on their payroll, but also had their moments when they decided to deal with them physically.
One of the most striking examples of such treatment was recorded on May 31, 2017, during the presidential inauguration, when the private security of SNS choked and pushed a photojournalist, a journalist from Danas, and a citizen. During this time, the police paid no attention to the physical violence right next to them.
"I apologize on behalf of those who wanted to provoke at those meetings. I especially apologize to the journalists who wanted to record those provocations. Even to those who wanted to clash with those who were there legally and came illegally", Vučić cynically commented on the said event.
Photos from the event were soon published, which clearly testified to the brutality of members of the SNS security, and the court's epilogue was awaited already the following year, when the prosecution abandoned the criminal prosecution of those responsible, stressing that in everything that happened there were no elements of the criminal offense of endangering security .
And that's not all. In the years that followed, attacks on journalists, and even those from the media sympathetic to the regime, who dared to do their job according to the standards of the profession, received no better treatment. The only thing that has changed is the private security team, which often comes from the criminal milieu, since part of those who attacked the Danas journalist that May afternoon are now in the dock of the Special Court in Belgrade and charged with some of the most serious crimes.
BiH: Laws for dealing with the media
"A hyphen should be added to your first and last name, then a prank," he said Milorad Dodik, leader of SNSD and president of Republika Srpska, to journalists during a press conference at the beginning of the year. He forbade others to ask questions, and often threatened journalists that he would "break them up", "wish they had a heart attack", pushed them away, pounded on the microphone...
The list is long. But, certainly, Dodik is not the only one. Many BH politicians called journalists vultures, refused to listen to questions, forbade attendance at conferences, threatened, insulted, called names...
The media community is attacked by all possible means, including legal ones. In August, the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of the RS, which criminalizes defamation, entered into force in the RS. Media freedoms have ended up at the bottom of the ocean. The adoption of the Law on the Special Register and Publicity of the Work of Non-Profit Organizations is in its final phase. The next step is the Media Act.
Sandra Gojković Arbutina, chief and responsible editor of Nezavisne novini, points out that the government's tendency to control the media space in recent years is very visible.
"It is nothing new, the government has always controlled the media space, but now it has entered the final phase, which is going through legal solutions. Digitization actually increased the number of media and it led to the fact that the media space is much larger than before and it is more difficult to control the media. We are now in the phase where we have/are preparing three legal solutions, which we call the package of media laws - the third nail in the media coffin. One has already been adopted, the one criminalizing defamation after 20 years. The goal is to bring the media under control, to increase self-censorship in the media," said Gojković Arbutina.
He explains that the second law on non-governmental organizations indirectly affects the media, because many non-governmental organizations are the founders of the media - for easier functioning. Through this law, our interlocutor explains, certain non-governmental organizations, and therefore certain media, will be designated as agents of foreign influence.
"The media law is also being prepared, which we haven't had in 25 years. For 25 years, and the last 10 intensively, we have been looking for a law on media and we could not get it, and now, within six months, a law on media has been added to two laws at once. It is clear that the tendency is to round off the story about the control of the media space", says our interlocutor.
He fears that in 2023 we are entering a dark age that is worse than after the 90s. He warns that the adopted law does not apply to just one entity, but spills over into the entire country. He also emphasizes that the opposition, as well as the authorities both in the Federation of BiH and at the state level, almost did not react at all to the adoption of the law criminalizing defamation. It was just some timid condemnations, because actually everyone hopes to be able to use these mechanisms.
"These are the laws for dealing with the media," says Gojković Arbutina.
He also warns that the public has not understood that the laws can actually be applied to any individual who wants to publicly express his opinion.
Dženana Burek, executive director of the Press and Online Media Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina, says that the government wants to silence the media. He considers the mentioned laws very repressive. Mild and superficial condemnations from the FBiH, he points out, also show the way the government in this entity treats the media.
He considers the general situation in the relationship between the authorities and the media in BiH to be very bad.
"We, journalists, first of all, should work on the dignity of our profession, adhere to the postulates of professional reporting, codes and ethics, so that we can rightly stand in front of politicians and oppose any kind of unacceptable behavior. Our politicians give themselves the right to say 'no, I don't want to answer', 'who are you to ask me', 'I don't want to hear from you', 'which media do you represent, and your boss is a traitor'", emphasizes Burek .
He adds that there is a threat to media freedom on the scene and believes that the media in such moments must be in agreement and united. She recalled the press conference of the President of France Emanuel Macron and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Journalists, after being told that they would not be able to ask questions, left the conference.
"It is a demonstration of power, and the media is very powerful," said Burek and asked why journalists would not leave a press conference where a politician insults or attacks a colleague.
He concludes that people in public positions must be ready to suffer criticism, and journalists have the right to ask, but also the obligation to respect ethics, codes and postulates of the profession.
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