NGO 35mm: Minute of silence for the journalism profession instead of congratulations

"Being a journalist in Montenegro is a challenge on the border between financial stress caused by the arbitrariness of media owners and the constant threat that each of us can become a 'target for shooting' if we dare to stand up to the powerful, investigate deep behind-the-scenes affairs and call for accountability" , said Milica Đokđurić, editor of media programs at NGO 35mm

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Photo: NGO 35 mm
Photo: NGO 35 mm
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

Until journalists in Montenegro are free to work in the interest of citizens, until the system restores their dignity when it comes to finances and security, until employers enable work without domestic and imported influences, until investigations into reported cases of attacks become fast and efficient, there is nothing left but to hold a minute of silence for the journalistic profession, which is sometimes louder than all words, instead of congratulations.

This was said by Milica Đokđurić, editor of media programs at the NGO 35mm, on the occasion of January 23 - the Day of Journalists of Montenegro.

"Compared to last year's holiday, this Day of Montenegrin Journalists is marked with 16 more attacks on our colleagues, one death threat and a burden that has been on the back of justice for two decades - the unsolved murder of Duško Jovanović and the unsolved murder attempts of Olivera Lakić and Tufik Softić." , she announced.

In support of this, he reminds, the European Commission emphasized in the last report on the rule of law in Montenegro that there was no progress in investigations, prosecutions and trials for old cases of violence against journalists and media workers.

"Being a journalist in Montenegro is a challenge on the border between financial stress caused by the arbitrariness of media owners and the constant threat that each of us can become a 'target for shooting' if we dare to stand up to the powerful, investigate deep behind-the-scenes affairs and call for accountability. "Working conditions include low wages, unpaid overtime, exposure to security risks and reporting as 'house rules' and pressures from different parties state, and rarely as prescribed by the rules of the profession," says Đokđurić.

She said that journalists in Montenegro work in an "atmosphere of pervasive mistrust".

"The results of the latest public opinion survey on media use and media literacy, conducted by the Digital Forensic Center, show that every second citizen believes that the Montenegrin media have political affiliations, and that almost as many believe that the media work in the interest of political structures. These worrying the data clearly indicate that journalists in Montenegro work in an atmosphere of pervasive mistrust, where the perception of political influence on the media has become a reality that further complicates responsible journalism," the announcement states.

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