AEM: The election campaign in Budva shows that content involving minors is still being created and published

The election campaign for the extraordinary elections for councilors in the Assembly of Budva municipality is intensifying and shows that contents of importance for the media representation of the campaign participants, which include minors, are still being created and published, according to the announcement of the Agency for Electronic Media (AEM).

They emphasized that in order to avoid violation of prescribed standards by broadcasters, they recalled the relevant provisions of the Law on Media, the Law on Electronic Media and the Rulebook on Program Standards in Electronic Media, which refer to the protection of minors in the media.

"Article 37 of the Law on Media stipulates that the media are obliged to protect the integrity of children and minors;  Article 55 paragraph 1 of the Law on Electronic Media stipulates that the broadcaster is obliged to respect the privacy and dignity of citizens and protect the integrity of minors.  Article 21 paragraph 9 of the Rulebook on Program Standards in Electronic Media prohibits the use of minors for political purposes," the announcement reads.

The rights of minors, as they said, derive directly from their needs that affect their development and growth, which cannot be provided without the fulfillment of those rights.

"Inclusion and enabling minors to comment, propose and participate in the planning, creation and implementation of certain policies is one of those rights. That is why it is very important how minors are enabled to participate in political communication during (media) pre-election campaigns, i.e. how they are included in the content dedicated to media representation of political entities in that process," they added.

According to them, political entities try to use minors in order to emotionally influence and motivate voters to place their trust in them

"On the other hand, minors must be guaranteed the opportunity to freely make their own decision whether they want to participate in a specific campaign of any political entity (party, candidate, etc.). Finally, we point out that the cooperation between the Agency for Electronic Media and broadcasters of crucial importance for the successful protection of the rights of minors during election processes. By refusing to broadcast advertisements in which there is abuse of minors, it acts preventively and at the same time avoids the initiation of procedures and the imposition of administrative-supervisory measures by the Agency," they concluded.