Rudović: Media laws were passed so that Montenegro would have an independent public service

The recently adopted media laws were adopted so that Montenegro would have an independent public service, announced Neđeljko Rudović, Director General of the Media Directorate at the Ministry of Culture and Media (MKM).

He said this at the second panel at the conference "Information ecosystem and the fight against foreign influence and manipulation of information (local and regional perspective)" in Podgorica, organized by the Atlantic Alliance of Montenegro (ASCG).

The second panel is entitled "EU Legislation on Information Ecosystem - State of the Union and Implications for Candidate Countries".

Rudović also pointed out that media laws have been passed and that the state would much more strongly support media content of public interest, as well as that local media broadcasters would be strengthened.

He said that the question is whether Montenegro can carry out on its own what the European Union (EU) carried out with the Digital Service Act (DSA), because he is not sure whether companies will deliver data to Montenegro.

He said that it would be easiest if EU laws also applied to candidate countries.

Bakić: The EU will be very demanding

Director of the Electronic Media Agency, Sunčica Bakić, said that Montenegro must be faster in amending laws and harmonizing documents that are coming as European practice.

"We have to be aware at some point that we are improving the text related to the standards," she said.

Bakić added that the EU will be very demanding, because it already receives questions about the implementation of the DSA, and not a single member has implemented it.

Nikolić: We should not wait for the EU to click the red button

Director of the Media Institute of Montenegro, Olivera Nikolić, pointed out that Europe is only at the beginning of the application of those acts, and that Montenegro has fairly solid laws, but that the problem is in their application.

"For us, the building of institutional capacities is necessary in order to achieve anything in this, but also in other fields. We should not wait for the EU to click the red button, but we must think about what is the best solution. We tend to transpose the solutions that they propose to us, not fitting it into the domestic context," said Nikolić.

Kuedevlieg: Two years ago, Montenegro had more advanced media laws than some EU members

Ema Kuedevlieg, policy manager of the European Partnership for Democracy, pointed out that two years ago, Montenegro had more advanced media laws than some EU members.

Rudović: The point is to preserve the stability of society and prevent toxic influences from "destroying us"

Rudović assessed that the point is to preserve the stability of society and prevent toxic influences from "destroying us".

"All fake addresses on social networks have succeeded in spreading their content," said Rudović and gave examples of the number of people vaccinated against covid and measles.

He added that the DSA was born out of the code, and that there are no penalties for violating the code.

"It has become clear that wars are not fought with tanks and planes, but are fought in the online space," said the general director of the Media Directorate.

Bakić: It is very difficult to register the economic activity of bloggers

Bakić said that AEM will register bloggers, influencers...

However, she explained that it is very difficult to register the economic activity of bloggers, while it is much easier in the EU, and that the institutions currently do not have the capacity to do so.