The number of media that are part of the collective self-regulatory body increased from 17 to 55 with a growing tendency, said Minister of Culture and Media Tamara Vujović.
She said this at today's press conference on the occasion of the public opinion survey "Self-regulation in Montenegro: challenges and opportunities" organized by the OSCE.
"Our data show that after the entry into force of the new law, the number of media that have a self-regulatory body to monitor compliance with professional and ethical standards is constantly increasing. Before the entry into force of the new law on media, we had only 10 percent of media that were involved in some of the types of self-regulation. Of the more than 200 media registered in the register, only 20 of them were part of the self-regulatory bodies. Due to the changes in the laws, I expect that we will have more than 50 percent of the media that meet these criteria become part of a collective or internal self-regulatory body," Vujović pointed out.
She explained that when the Media Pluralism Fund is increased according to the new Media Act from 0,09 to 0,2 of the current budget, it will amount to over 100.000 euros for the improvement of self-regulation.
Vujović said that self-regulation is one of the key mechanisms for improving professionalism and ethics in the Montenegrin media.
"Our mission is clear, we want to build a media space that is responsible, professional and based on freedom of expression but also respect for journalistic standards. One of the key changes found in our media laws has already proven extremely useful for strengthening self-regulation, and this the change refers to the additional conditions that media founders must fulfill in order to be able to apply for funds from the fund to encourage media pluralism and media diversity. All media founders must now be members of an external self-regulatory body or have an established internal body, otherwise they will not be able to participate in public tenders for the allocation of funds from the Media Pluralism Fund," said Vujović.
The largest percentage of respondents (36,4) believe that the media respects the ethical code when expressing themselves, and 32,8 percent of them believe that the media do not respect that code.
"Four fifths of the population are not familiar with the concept of self-regulation in the media, and every fourth respondent knows about this concept. 57,8 percent of those who are familiar with the concept are more or less satisfied with the current state of media self-regulation in Montenegro. Neutral attitude there are 28,6 percent of respondents, and 12,6 percent are dissatisfied to a greater or lesser extent with the state of media self-regulation in Montenegro," said Vuk Čađenović from the Damar Institute, which conducted the survey.
Čađenović pointed out that the biggest challenge in the process of media self-regulation in Montenegro, according to respondents, are the interests of media owners who influence editorial policy - 18,4 percent.
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