Montenegrin media in the pre-election periods least respect professional standards, and after the elections, to some extent, they return to the rules of the profession, assessed the Media Council for Self-Regulation (MSS).
In the most recent Report of that body, which refers to the period from July 1 to September 15, it was stated that the media violated the Journalistic Code less than before
"This monitoring period was marked by somewhat more professional work of the Montenegrin media, so that the number of violations of the principles of the Code itself is somewhat lower than before," said the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Ranko Vujović. In the MSS, as he stated, they notice that in Montenegro it is already a regular phenomenon that the media in the pre-election periods do not respect professional standards the least. "And when the elections are over, they return somewhat to the rules of the profession," Vujović said.
As he stated, in the observed period, the MSS received nine complaints related to the publication of inaccurate information, as well as improper publication of denials or the impossibility of publishing them at all. Vujović singled out the complaint of the Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Branimir Gvozdenović, about the texts published in the newspaper Dan, assessing that it is the most drastic example of violation of the Code of Journalists. According to him, Gvozdenović provided the MSS with translations of texts from the Italian press that were the reason for the publication of texts in Dan on May 28 and 31, under the titles "Millions in corruption in dealings with Gvozdenović" and "Prosecutors are investigating the connections between Gvozdenović and Klini". .
MSS assessed that the journalist falsified the statements of a number of Republika newspapers, because what was published in Dan does not exist in the original text of the Italian daily. As Vujović explained, the Republic does not mention Gvozdenović or Montenegro anywhere in the text, only in the last sentence it is stated that "other projects conducted abroad, from China to Montenegro, are also under scrutiny".
The MSS concluded that by publishing incorrect information and falsifying statements from the Italian media, the journalists of Dan deliberately tried to harm Gvozdenović. "This is a very serious violation of the Code, as it involves deliberate falsification of data and facts. This is one of the most serious violations of the Code that we faced in the previous period, and it does not honor the journalist who did it," said Vujović. MSS recorded violations of the Code in Dnevni novine, Informer, Vijesti, Blic and Pobjeda. Vujović clarified that there is no monitoring of online media in the Report, because their colleague who monitored that area, Miodrag Bubreško, no longer cooperates with MSS for private reasons, and in the future that part of the work will be performed by Branko Vojičić.
Regarding the recent discussion on media monitoring, Vujović reminded that "that activity is not a scientific discipline, and that it is not possible to expect exact data on the number and type of violations of the principles of the Code, whoever is doing that work." "MSS never pretended to get exact data from this activity. Our goal was to identify the main trends in violations of the Code, and to note the biggest violations," explained Vujović. Onn said that the MSS paid special attention to violations that are already published on the front pages.
"The need for this type of activity arose due to the enormous abuse of professional and ethical standards in the media, and its goal is to publicize the violation, as much as possible, to warn the media that this is something they should not be doing," stated Vujović. He said that in the region and in Europe, no one deals with this type of monitoring, and that the MSS is unique in that respect.
"We hope that the media will soon return to the profession, and that our body will be able to work only on the basis of citizens' complaints in the near future," said Vujović.
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