Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) ombudsman Danijela Popović accepted two objections from the Media Center on the content of TVCG, and the Council of RTCG was aware of this, the non-governmental organization (NGO) announced.
As stated in the announcement, the first objection that the ombudsman accepted referred to the report from the fourth regular Assembly of the New Serbian Democracy (NSD), published on the third, Parliamentary channel, which, as they state, deviated from the Program Production Plan for 2024. and acted contrary to the goals and principles contained in the Rulebook on Program Principles and Professional Standards RTCG.
The Media Center said that they assessed that this was not a journalistic report, but political propaganda in favor of a political party.
"It is interesting how the editors tried to justify themselves, stating in their defense that 'the regular Assembly of the New Serbian Democracy is not a classic party gathering, but the president of the party was elected on that day'. Ombudsman Popović concluded that all programs are "obliged to comply with the Program of the production plan of RTCG'", states the statement signed by the president of the assembly of Media Center Dragoljub Vuković.
The second complaint accepted by the ombudsman concerned the show Kalendar, in which a feature was published about fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, where, as they say from the Media Center, it was unfoundedly stated, without citing the source, that some of the most famous fairy tales were taken from the Serbian language , which suggested that they were originally Serbian.
"The editorial board justified itself that this is not about scientific, but educationally entertaining content, and that 'there is no space for citing sources and a broad elaboration of the claims made', but the ombudsman was on the trail of the Media Center's evaluations, so she concluded that 'informative programs and all other programs are required to adhere to … professional standards of 'accuracy' and 'fact checking,'" the statement said.
"The media center expects the RTCG Council to, in accordance with the conclusions of the RTCG ombudsman, take measures within its competence against those who knowingly or ignorantly violate important internal acts and expose the national public media to public compromise and criticism," it concludes.
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