Attacks on the media and journalists, poor economic status, non-compliance with the law and the Code, pressure from owners and advertisers, censorship and self-censorship, are the problems that the NGO 35mm persistently points out year after year and which, again persistently, are not resolved, the statement states. which is signed by the program director of NGO 35mm, Kristina Ćetković.
From that non-governmental organization, they congratulated all journalists, editors and all bearers of the public word that serves information and public interest on the Day of Media Freedom.
"In addition to the devastating position our country has on the Reporters Without Borders list, which indicates the degree of media freedom - where we are the worst among our neighbors, the worst in the region and almost the worst in Europe (only Bulgaria, Turkey and Belarus are behind us), it should not be surprising that research that shows that even those who are studying to be journalists and choose the media as a profession do not want to work in them but in the PR sector, and the position of news distributor in the state apparatus is the most desirable job for them," Četković said in the announcement.
It is gloomy, as she said, it is a picture of "a proud profession in a country that does not do enough to make journalists feel safe, and their voices can be heard freely and loudly".
"Thus, since the last Media Freedom Day, we have had the scandalous wounding of Olivera Lakić, which has not yet been fully clarified, then another lawsuit by the President of Montenegro against Vijesta, the fact that the ownership structure in certain media is unknown, and the incredible practice of state authorities announcing tenders for journalistic texts that contradict the media laws and the Code, and when we add to that the now chronic lack of unified self-regulation - we need to congratulate Norway and Finland on Media Freedom Day because there is no logic in doing so in Montenegro," Ćetković said.
The "disastrous attitude of state authorities, especially the Prosecutor's Office", continues, he adds, according to the Commission for Attacks on Journalists, which delivers the documentation about the wounding of Olivera Lakić nine months late, and this May, Ćetković reminds, marks the 15th anniversary of the murder of the main and responsible the editor of "Dana", Duško Jovanović, and "there is no progress - neither the perpetrators nor the perpetrators have been discovered."
"Let's add to everything the situation in the Public Service, whose Council was decimated by the will of the ruling majority, after classic legal violence and hasty, irregular confirmation of the same in parliament, and the purge of those who stood up against the violation of regulations in the Council of the electronic media agency that hit Darko Ivanovic, our founder", the announcement states.
Ćetković says that NGO 35mm will continue to produce media products such as the documentary "Force on the Seventh", as well as that it will go to the regional scene and the Robin Hood show.
"We will support those who want to engage in investigative journalism, we will train and educate young people, and we will join forces with those whose voices are either less or not heard at all. We will be on the side of those who want to present the facts to the public and not be a pamphlet of interests. Freedom the media is key to the freedom of society and is a unique resistance to the repression of free speech. We invite all media, partners and free citizens to work together to achieve this goal," the statement concludes.
Bonus video:
