On the occasion of May 3 - World Press Freedom Day, the Media Institute called on the state to protect the media sector in Montenegro with quality media policies and laws and their consistent application.
They said that the media in Montenegro this year also welcome the Day of Media Freedom with the problems of survival in an increasingly complex media and political environment, exposed to pressure from different centers of power, inappropriate influence from outside, the unfavorable socio-economic position of media workers, and everything, how pointed out, endangers professional integrity and results in a decline in professional standards.
"World Press Freedom Day, May 3, is an opportunity to remind the authorities of the obligations assumed towards media freedom, the media community of the responsibility we all have in maintaining trust in the media, but also to recognize and honor all our colleagues who, despite everything, they persist in preserving journalistic ethics," the announcement states.
The Institute states that the state has shown its will to regulate the accumulated problems in the media sector, through a media strategy and a change in the law. However, they emphasize, even after 18 months of work on those documents, it is not certain when they will be adopted.
"If and when they are drawn up, practice will show whether these documents address the key problems of the media sector in Montenegro, such as sustainability of the media, concentration of ownership and transparency of the media, unfair competition, influence from outside, good management of the media, security and socio-economic status of journalists. This is certainly the subject of some future analyses," they add.
There are improvements, as they said from the Media Institute, in the very fact that the state has decided to map problems and offer solutions for the first time through a media strategy.
"The draft laws try to stand in the way of unregistered portals by banning the advertising of state-owned companies on such platforms, and the concern for the sustainability of the media can be seen through the willingness to increase the amount of money allocated to the Fund for Media Pluralism. Political influence on the editorial independence and management structures of the Public Service Radio Television "Montenegro is trying to get rid of inappropriate political influence by strengthening the independence of those structures," they emphasize.
The problem still remains, as they point out, unregistered portals, unfair competition, inappropriate media influence from outside. "The fact that only one media with national coverage is domestically owned puts Montenegro among the rare countries with such a structure of broadcasters. Such an approach can be interpreted as a political unwillingness to protect the country's media system from excessive influence," the Institute believes.
They also said that the number of attacks on journalists and the number of unexplained attacks and murders of journalists from the previous period remain a matter of concern. "In addition, we are witnessing the inappropriate influence and targeting of the media by politicians, which speaks of the efforts of politicians and other power centers to put them under control and turn them into a propaganda tool for the production of enemies and division".
The Institute adds that the poor socio-economic position and the fact that a significant number of journalists work for a salary below the national average, that they do not have quality employment contracts, or adequate benefits for a stressful and responsible job such as journalism, are a concern. The newsrooms work with minimum capacity, and the fact that journalism has not been an attractive profession for a long time is evidenced by the declining interest of young people to stay in the media, warns the Institute.
They also note that the increasing exposure of citizens to the media, especially young people, requires the strengthening of media literacy of all citizens, which requires the state to pay more attention to this topic, in order to empower citizens to be resistant to propaganda, manipulation, misinformation and hate speech.
"We pay respect to all our colleagues, who, despite everything, remain consistent with professional ethics. We call on the state to help the sustainability of the media with quality media policies, laws, and their consistent application, without favoritism and undue influence on their work," the announcement concludes. .
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