The basic right of all citizens is to know who owns the media, and they must be transparent when it comes to the production of media content, said the participants of the conference "Media Horizons: How to Transparency, Reliability and Public Interest", organized by the Audiovisual Media Agency. services (AMU) in cooperation with the OSCE Mission in Montenegro.
Minister of Culture and Media Tamara Vujović said that independent media contribute to strengthening society's trust in the media.
"The basic right of citizens is to know who is behind the media, as well as who the owners are. That way he can be better informed, and when it comes to unethical reporting, he can find a motive for it. We have taken a number of steps to strengthen media regulation. The new Law on Media foresees the mandatory registration of media in the records. It is managed by the competent department and data related to the name and surname of the media founder, editor-in-chief and all changes to the recorded data with the date of modification are entered there," said Vujović, adding that failure to act entails criminal liability.
Vujović emphasized that by not publishing the imprint, "misdemeanor liability is also withdrawn".
Bakić: Financiers control the media
AMU director Sunčica Bakić said that "he who finances, controls" the work of the media.
"What we see on the stage of Montenegro is the consequence of decisions made by Montenegro a long time ago. "The Montenegrin market is very challenging in itself, due to the fact that it is very small and exposed to regional competition," she said.
She noted that media ownership can have economic consequences, but also potential illegitimate foreign influence.
"It is clear that we have foreign capital in Montenegro, which does not have to be bad, if it strengthens the scene. We definitely have entities that do not produce programs in Montenegro, that do not employ local residents, that sell advertising space outside the country, and this has the consequence that Montenegro loses some taxes, that citizens are deprived of some information", said Bakić.
Head of the Program Office of the Council of Europe, Lejla Dervišagić, said that media literacy is extremely important.
"The media should have transparency when it comes to content production, but also media ownership. We have recommendations from the EU and the European Court of Human Rights. The aim of all the recommendations is to ensure that the public can trust the media. There is no harmonized practice in European countries. Norway has a Media Ownership Act. Germany has an agreement on the media," said Dervišagić. She said that there was an initiative in Bosnia and Herzegovina to create a law on media transparency and ownership.
Vujović: Foreign interest in Montenegro is not only economic
Vujović noted that they are aware that foreign media influence can have a negative effect on the domestic media scene.
"It is clear that this foreign interest in Montenegro cannot be economic. These are mostly political or other interests," Vujović assessed.
She explained that the presence of foreign media is not necessarily bad, but that the domestic sector must be strengthened.
Bakić stressed that Montenegro must have strong public services, "but that they represent strong competition to the domestic media".
"Commercial media earn barely 15 million euros. And we are talking about half the number of public services that employ twice as many people as in the commercial sector. We expect a lot from our broadcasters, but I am not sure that we provide them with all the conditions for market operations", she assessed.
Dervišagić pointed out that pluralism is not only ownership, but that it has several aspects.
"The study says that Montenegro has defined media pluralism in accordance with recommendations based on examples from Slovenia and Great Britain," she said.
Bakić said that advertisers influence the media in Montenegro.
"This is a really big and complex topic, but I think it should be opened as often as possible. The beginning of solving this problem is to look at it in all its dimensions and complexity...", said Bakić.
She reminded that the portals are not under the jurisdiction of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services.
Vujović emphasized that the media must have an ombudsman and added that "there has been a strong increase in ombudsmen in the commercial media".
Satler: There is room for additional media advancement
The Ambassador of the European Union (EU) in Montenegro Johan Satler said that the current year was good for Montenegro, but that there is room for additional media progress. He explained that it is important to discuss the impact of digitization, but also the improvement of the media.
"The global increase in digitization has led to the rapid consumption of information. Although this opened up various ways to consume content, it also brought with it certain problems. Commercial pressure and media polarization are just some of them. The media sector is very important in solving those challenges," he said, adding that the EU monitors the level of media freedom in Montenegro.
Satler emphasized that it is very important to continuously talk about media literacy.
"We are glad to see that the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services is improving the level of media literacy, which is very important. Media literacy is something that is very often forgotten. You have to be careful which media you 'consume'", Satler pointed out and emphasized that the media must serve the public interest.
Gabasi: Media literacy encourages society
Acting head of the OSCE mission in Montenegro, Giovani Gabasi, said that this conference is important and added that it covers three topics: media ownership, freedoms and self-regulation mechanisms.
"In our cooperation with the Agency, we worked to strengthen media literacy - first with children in schools, and then with adults... Media literacy encourages not only journalists and the media, but the entire society, and this leads to more responsible reporting and easier information to the public," Gabasi said. He said that the Code of Journalists of Montenegro was refined in 2016 in a "more open, inclusive process". He said that the manuals helped journalists how to moderate online comments, how to approach hate speech responsibly.
"Among other things, how to report on election campaigns, but also to deal with the information confusion", said Gabasi.
Bošković: It is important to know which are the most influential media
The President of the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services, Branko Bošković, said that it is "an institution that enables citizens to exercise their rights, but also to be active actors in the creation of content in Montenegro."
"There is a lot of foreign ownership, and we believe that this is one of the biggest problems in Montenegro. We owe it to the public to show who the media owners are... If we want media that citizens will trust, we must know who the owners are, because if they are not transparent, we cannot expect that from anyone else," said Bošković.
He pointed out that the Agency will contribute to the strengthening of self-regulation and emphasized that the media must improve internal procedures regarding this issue.
"It is necessary to know which media the citizens follow the most and which are the most influential. It is necessary for us to know which media - who is watched and listened to the most, which contents are the most popular... The agency is here to contribute to the measurement of viewership in the most transparent way possible. The agency is an institution that enjoys considerable trust from the public, which we have confirmed through several decades of work..." said Bošković.
He pointed out that their partners are all citizens, the media, as well as other institutions with which they cooperate.
"One partner is, among other things, the OSCE mission. The conference is a continuation of successful cooperation and I expect that it will continue..." he said.
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