The Ombudsman of Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) accepted the complaint of Media Center and determined that an omission was made in Dnevnik 2 because the complete information from the statement of the President of the state was not transmitted. Jakov Milatović about not attending the public service anniversary.
This follows from the Ombudsman's opinion. Ivan Ivanović, which was recently adopted by the RTCG Council. The Ombudsman also partially accepted the second complaint of the Media Center, finding that the Television of Montenegro (TVCG) also made an omission by not publishing the number of professors, associates and cultural creators who supported the “Where to Tomorrow” protests.
In December last year, the Media Center filed a complaint because TVCG, in its Dnevnik 2 program from November 20, 2024, allegedly concealed information that was important to citizens.
They stated in their complaint that on the same day, other media outlets published a statement by the President of Montenegro on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of RTCG and his refusal to attend the ceremony, saying that, with deep respect for this significant anniversary and despite the management's invitation to attend and speak at the celebration, he decided to send a public congratulatory message. Milatović stated at the time that he "believes that with his presence he would give legitimacy to the numerous negative practices of the Council and management of the Public Service Broadcasting Company, which I have publicly spoken about in recent months", and that "both then and today I believe that the legal amendment has enabled the re-appointment of an acting director who previously did not meet the legal criteria". Milatović also said that he was particularly concerned that the appointment (of the Director General) Boris Raonic) occurred despite several final judgments in that case, and in the statement he also referred to the European Commission report.
The Media Center states that a report was broadcast on Dnevnik 2 in which it was only announced that Milatović decided not to attend the anniversary celebration "due to disagreement with the current management of the public service of all citizens."
"RTCG viewers and listeners were deprived of full information regarding President Milatović's absence because the editors decided to hide from citizens in Dnevnik 2 what other media outlets had published as important news. By not publishing this information, TVCG violated the professional standard relating to credibility in reporting," Media Center claims in its complaint.
The editorial board of TVCG responded, among other things, that the complete information with details from Milatović's statement was published on the RTCG Portal, and that the public service had no intention of concealing anything, and viewers/listeners/readers had access to full information about the reason for the president's absence from the jubilee celebration.
The Ombudsman stated that, despite the editorial team's explanation, he believes that an omission was made because, as on the Portal, the statement should have been presented in Dnevnik 2 as well. He recommended that the editors have frequent conversations with younger colleagues with a focus on professional standards and principles of credibility, accuracy and impartiality in reporting, in order to avoid similar situations.
The Media Center's second complaint, from January this year, related to an item from Dnevnik 2 that was dedicated to the support of professors and teaching assistants from Montenegrin universities, as well as cultural creators from Montenegro, for the demands of the informal group "Kamo sjutra", in connection with their demands regarding responsibility for two mass murders in Cetinje. The Media Center claims that the news item failed to include information that 169 cultural creators and more than 100 professors and teaching assistants supported the students in their demands, as well as the reaction of the US Embassy in Montenegro, which stated that they "strongly support the right to peaceful, non-violent assembly and freedom of expression", which, they believe, violated journalistic standards related to credibility and fairness.
The editorial office responded that Media Center's allegations were malicious because the information about the support for the students was broadcast on the RTCG portal integrally with the list of all those who provided support. They stated that the information about the support was broadcast second in the news, which it absolutely deserves given the importance of the events themselves.
The Ombudsman found that the omission, while perhaps unintentional, led to incomplete information for the public, and that by not publishing the US Embassy's response, viewers were not given a full picture of the international reactions to the protest. Ivanovic, however, found no concrete evidence to support Media Center's allegations that there was political influence on TVCG's editorial policy regarding that reporting.
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