Local public broadcasters should not depend on the political will of the current municipal leadership, and a precisely determined percentage of the budget allocated for their financing and tied to a percentage of the annual budget of the local government unit will ensure financial independence in their work.
This, among other things, he told "Vijesti" Goran Đurović, director of the Media Center, a non-governmental organization that has developed models of the Decision on the Establishment of a Local Public Broadcaster and the Statute of a Local Public Broadcaster.
The models were created within the project "Participation of non-governmental organizations in the professionalization of local public broadcasters", and the goal, says Đurović, is for the municipal assemblies of 15 local governments to adopt and implement these general acts in local public broadcasters by November this year.
According to Đurović, the proposed models were designed in a way that they can be used for local public services that have television, radio and a portal within their legal entity.
"... And by simply deleting the provisions relating to television. The model is usable for all local public broadcasters that have, within their legal entity, a radio and a portal as organizational units," he said.
New method of appointing Council members
The models, among other things, contain chapters that elaborate on the responsibilities and activities of local public services.
"... Employee rights and obligations, program independence, financing, management and leadership, appointment of a self-regulatory body (ombudsman, commission, membership in an external body), decision-making regarding property, conflict of interest of members of management bodies," said Đurović.
The existing normative solutions, he added, left unresolved the issue of the independence of the work of local broadcaster councils, as well as freedom from "inappropriate political influence and full respect for professional standards."
"Until now, members of the councils of local public broadcasters have been appointed by public enterprises founded by municipalities or the state, so editorial policy has been politically influenced through council members employed by public enterprises. In addition, it was necessary to further develop the criteria for appointing council members and revise the existing criteria for nominators," he said.
According to him, it was necessary to establish a new method of appointing members of the local public broadcaster's council and establish new criteria for authorized proposers.
Finance
Previous decisions on the establishment, as he said, did not foresee a clear minimum amount of annual funding for the public broadcaster from the municipal budget, but rather left the establishment of mutual obligations through a contract signed every three years.
"The model decision of the norm, which provides for a precisely determined percentage of the budget allocated for financing the local public broadcaster, is fully consistent with the solution from the Law on Audiovisual Media Services, which prescribes the establishment of a new system of financing local public broadcasters and linking it to a percentage of the annual budget of the local self-government unit. This ensures financial independence in the work of local public broadcasters, which should not depend on the political will of the current municipal leadership," said Đurović.
The Media Union of Montenegro (SMCG) also said that one of the biggest problems for local public broadcasters so far has been financing, "which has often been imposed as a matter of survival for the media themselves."
Vice-president of SMCG Milena Bubanja Obradović She also said that it remains to be seen how the provisions of the Audiovisual Media Services Act will be interpreted:
"The new legal solution ensures that the founders - local governments - have a legal obligation to allocate significantly larger funds for the work of local public broadcasters than was previously the case. This provides a more stable financial basis for the work of the media. However, the challenge arising from the interpretation of legal provisions, especially in the part relating to the percentage of the local government budget intended for financing broadcasters, will show the extent to which local politicians recognize and appreciate the role of local media in the community," she said.

Challenge - own production
According to her, it is crucial to continuously work on strengthening the capacities of local public services.
“...So that they can achieve their mission as a service to citizens, which includes the production of quality and objective content that reflects the interests of the local community. The production of their own content in the amount of 30 percent for television and 20 percent for radio programming of local public broadcasters represents a serious requirement and challenge for most of these media. One of the possible problems in fulfilling it is limited resources. Many local broadcasters operate with a small number of employees who participate in the creation of content and poor technical equipment, which can make it difficult to create quality and diverse content,” says Bubanja Obradović.
Necessary training
She said that additional investments are needed in the training of journalists and production teams, in order to ensure professionalism during content creation.
"Creating content that simultaneously reflects the interests of the local community and meets the standards of a public broadcaster requires constant communication with citizens, researching their needs and preferences, as well as monitoring new trends in the media industry. Despite this, this legal obligation provides an opportunity for local public broadcasters to become more dynamic, innovative and relevant to their audience. It is crucial that the founders and councils of broadcasters recognize the importance of their own production and provide the necessary resources and support to achieve these standards in practice," concluded Bubanja Obradović.
Now they can hire an ombudsman
Another novelty envisaged by the model Decision on the Establishment of a Local Public Broadcaster is the introduction of an Ombudsman:
"Which should consider and decide on the petitions and complaints of users of the local public broadcaster. Also, local public broadcasters are given the opportunity to choose whether, instead of an ombudsman, who would be engaged in their public media, the complaints of listeners and viewers should be resolved, as before, by a Commission composed of members of the Council or an external Commission," said Đurović.
"The new legal solution ensures that the founders - local governments - have a legal obligation to allocate significantly larger funds for the work of local public broadcasters than was previously the case. This provides a more stable financial basis for the work of the media. However, the challenge arising from the interpretation of legal provisions, especially in the part relating to the percentage of the local government budget intended for financing broadcasters, will show the extent to which local politicians recognize and appreciate the role of local media in the community," said Bubanja Obradović.
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