The executive director of the Daily Press, Marijana Kadić Bojanić, said that the question should be raised about how editors work with journalists and whether they are sufficiently prepared for pressure.
"Research has shown that the most pressure comes from politicians. Politicians very often complain about the photos we publish...", said Kadić Bojanić at the conference "Journalism in Montenegro: A Profession in which Divisions and Pressures Grow" organized by UZOR organized today in Podgorica.
General Director of Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG), Boris Raonic said that it is most important to define what is meant by pressure and how aware journalists are of their role.
"Not every communication with someone who has power is pressure. Of course, pressure will depend on the psychological profile. Not every expressed dissatisfaction is pressure, and we have to be fair here. There is a lot of talk about attacks on journalists. A serious problem in Montenegro is violence. It is not it's good that journalists focus on what concerns them personally, but there must be a balance. Violence against journalists is not the most important issue. We see what is happening when it comes to violence in Montenegro," said Raonic.
According to him, it is important for journalists to communicate intensively and to be aware of their role. He emphasized communication as the key to successful cooperation, and added that it is not fair to focus only on, as he said, one side of the coin.
"There were great journalists who were killed and beaten in Montenegro, and there were others..." said Raonic.
He believes that journalism is about reaching a consensus between interlocutors.
The director of Television E, Sonja Drobac, said that journalism is not about reaching a consensus among interlocutors and that "it will never be".
"There is no balance towards violence. It does not exist, and that is the letter 'A' of the alphabet. Zero tolerance. That is the first step we have to take," said Drobac.
Kadić Bojanić: Pressures must not reach the editorial office, whether the client will get angry should not concern the editorial office.
Kadić Bojanić said that the pressures must not reach the editorial office.
"The newsroom, in no way, is affected by what is happening on the market. When it comes to the survival of the media itself, the political situation affects the commercial media. The first reason is that Montenegro has never done an assessment of the marketing market and has never determined which will be the number of media in our country... Here we had a large number of televisions in a very small marketing space," she pointed out.
According to her, there were a large number of television stations in Montenegro that were shut down, and some survived difficult financial situations.
"The newsroom should be guided by the code of ethics, the laws related to the media and its own rules. The task of the newsroom is to try to be as professional as possible. Whether the client will get angry, that should not concern the newsroom," said Kadić Bojanić. .
Drobac said that it is devastating for her that what the media "says" is not heard.
"If we want to preserve the domestic media market, we will have to change some things," she pointed out.
As he claims, when we talk about the media market in Montenegro, there is no effort to "fix some things".
"For all of us, other people's interests were more important, not the media and the citizens of Montenegro. There is no consensus. We know whose responsibility it is... The results are miserable. The economic impact is mostly political. The vast majority of advertisers are not from Montenegro... ", said Drobac.
Raonic: Unfortunately, we have a media in Montenegro that is a good servant and a bad boss towards political groups; Kadić Bojanić: Ownership alone means absolutely nothing
Raonic said that he does not like false media professionalism, because it does not send a good message.
"Unfortunately, we have media in Montenegro that are a good servant and a bad boss towards political groups... I'm not pretending to be a great professional either, I can tell you that," he said.
Kadić Bojanić said that she believes that there is only one polarization - into professional and non-professional media.
"Ownership alone means absolutely nothing, but regulation and self-regulation... We cannot compare the media, their opening and creation, to grocers and surgeries, because information is something that is of public importance. The media exist because consumers, based on what they hear and see, make important decisions", she said, adding that it is not "normal to open a large number of media outlets".
Kadić Bojanić draws a line between the opening of a large number of media and media pluralism, and notes that the sign of equality cannot be placed between them.
She said that media pluralism, in fact, implies the possibility of citizens to choose. She pointed out that no one in Montenegro knows how many media portals there actually are.
"It is easier to swallow the media and people in the media if you are vulnerable and if you do not have a strong branch in the newsroom...", she pointed out.
Drobac stressed that it is important to know the consequences of wrong policies when it comes to the media.
"Neither the state understands it, nor does it want to understand it. There is pressure from the media on the media, but it seems to me that it is more important to talk about the pressure exerted by the so-called media," said Drobac.
Raonic said that 20 million euros for the Public Service is "nothing".
"The public service must have a program in the Albanian and Romani languages, and these are huge costs. By law, it must have two general channels on television and two on the radio. We have reduced costs, but 20 million is too little for a public service. We are too modest for public service," he said.
Kadić Bojanić said that Raonic's yard (RTCG) is also "the yard of the public".
"You should first take care of what the Public Service is doing. When you iron it all out, when you learn what professional media and journalism are, we can talk about other things," she said.
Kadić Bojanić to Raonic: Why did someone you hired interview you?
Kadić Bojanić asked Raonic why he was interviewed by someone he hired.
"You should have said that you did not want to be interviewed by someone you hired. Given that you are a public official, we have the right to express our opinion... We see the media as a place where we question the powerful about things that concern our lives," she pointed out. is she.
Drobac said that the biggest problem is violence and "the general atmosphere of violence in society".
"It is important that we stop at that fact and see what the consequences are for the media and society. Everyone flaunts their own hand of justice, everyone imposes their own truth...", she pointed out.
Bonus video:
