In order to prevent potential attacks and threats, the state must make additional efforts to improve the safety of journalists and the overall environment for their work, announced the Association for Responsible and Sustainable Development (UZOR).
The non-governmental organization (NGO) said that their announcement refers to a comparative analysis of the institutional and legislative framework for the protection of journalists in Germany and Montenegro.
"Responses to attacks on journalists and the media must include a combination of legal, governmental, journalistic and non-governmental sector efforts aimed at protecting media freedom, promoting the safety of journalists and preserving democratic values. Not even twenty years after the murder of the editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Dan', Duško Jovanović, the perpetrators Also, the perpetrators of the murder of journalist Olivera Lakić have not been solved even today, and the number of threats and attacks has increased significantly in Montenegro to journalists, with the absence of an adequate reaction from the institutions," states the statement of UZOR, signed by Maja Nikolić, project manager.
The NGO added that, in cooperation with experts, they prepared a comparative analysis of the institutional and legislative framework for the protection of journalists in Germany and Montenegro in order to point out numerous problems faced by the journalism profession in its work, but primarily to show solutions modeled on positive ones. practices in Germany.
"The Montenegrin legal system still does not regulate the anti-SLAPP protection mechanism, and the experience of the Montenegrin media shows that the legislation does not recognize lawsuits directed at the media as SLAPP, which is a big problem. Therefore, institutions must initiate the adoption of new regulations to protect against SLAPP lawsuits. considering the increasingly frequent threats and attacks that journalists face in Montenegro, it is necessary to adopt a mechanism of rapid response to threats and attacks on journalists. Special attention should be paid to female journalists, who are systematically victims of certain threats such as harassment, hate speech," the statement reads.
From UZOR, they said that considering the latest verdicts in cases of attacks on journalists, it is necessary to do additional work on the education of representatives of the judiciary, as well as police officers who are the first line of contact in case of verbal or physical attacks on media representatives.
"The findings of the analysis indicate that it is necessary to form specialized teams in the Police Directorate and the Prosecutor's Office that will monitor and investigate cases of attacks on journalists. It is also necessary to establish a 24/7 SOS line for journalists who are victims of attacks and threats, and the police must start preventive security checks and, in cases of threats, to ensure the relocation of journalists to a safe place. The police, prosecutor's office and courts should regularly submit reports on actions taken in cases of attacks on journalists to the Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on Journalists, and establish a single database on attacks on journalists." they stated.
UZOR said that the law must provide for disciplinary liability in cases of officers and officials who intentionally prevent or hinder the investigation of attacks on journalists.
"In this sense, the state must ensure that the victim has access to case files, submits evidence and receives information about the investigation, as well as conduct a security risk assessment for journalists dealing with cases of corruption and organized crime before going to public gatherings. should quickly provide personal protection measures to investigative journalists and journalists working on the topics of corruption, organized crime or terrorism, who have reported threats to the police minority groups, as well as that legislation and sanctions are not applied discriminatory or arbitrarily against journalists and other media actors," UZOR said.
They state that last, but not least, journalists must work on strengthening trade union organization within media houses, as well as on establishing a single self-regulatory body as an independent, representative and efficient body for self-regulation of journalists, integrating both journalists and media employers.
"This comparative analysis was created within the project 'Effective prevention and protection of journalists in Montenegro', which is jointly implemented by the Association for Responsible and Sustainable Development (UZOR) and the Association of Professional Journalists of Montenegro (DPNCG), in cooperation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSS ) with the financial support of the European Union (EU), through the EU Delegation in Podgorica and the Ministry of Public Administration," said UZOR.
Bonus video:
