The Administrative Board noted that both proposals for members of the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services (SAMU) were timely, but incomplete.
Long-time journalist, editor and media analyst Dragoljub Duško Vuković was proposed as a member of that Council from among non-governmental organizations in the field of media, while the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences (CANU) proposed academician Niko Martinović.
The president of the board, Jelena Nedović, announced that the working group that reviewed the documentation reported that the Law on Audiovisual Media Services was not complied with in the part that refers to the fact that the candidate should be proposed by the governing body of the NGO, or the governing body of CANU or the PEN Center.
"We will inform the President of the Parliament that the committee has not established a list of timely and complete candidate proposals following the public call of January 30," said Nedović.
The coordinator of the working group, SNP MP Bogdan Božović, said that the body could not “undoubtedly establish that this candidate (Vuković) was proposed by authorized proposers - the governing bodies of the organizations.” He also said that he regretted that there were no opposition representatives in the working group.
DON'T MISS IT
Božović reminded that the Law on Audiovisual Media Services provides that members of the AMU Council are proposed by "the competent governing bodies of the proposer".
"According to the Law on Non-Governmental Organizations, they are divided into non-governmental organizations and foundations. In the case of non-governmental organizations, the governing body is the assembly, and in the case of foundations, the board of directors. We did not have that act as part of the documentation on the basis of which we could determine that Mr. Vuković was proposed by the governing bodies," explained Božović.
URA MP Ana Novaković Đurović responded that the working group should have looked at the NGO statutes.
"The law provides the basis for the governing bodies of NGOs, and they are further defined by statutes. The law did not limit the fact that only the assembly can have these powers, but that the non-governmental organization defines its governing bodies in the statute. I really cannot understand your interpretation, because in this Assembly, too, so far, on the Administrative Committee, based on the same law that has not been amended in the meantime, NGO representatives have been appointed to various bodies based on the proposals of the governing bodies," Novaković Đurović emphasized.
According to her, the only conclusion from all this is that "the intention is not to elect members of the Agency."
PES MP Vasilije Čarapić claims that “the government member who led the controversy with the government” during the process of adopting the Law is responsible for this, recalling his discussions with the director of the Media Directorate at the Ministry of Culture and Media, Neđeljko Rudović. He called on the Parliament to address the Law again.
"And to change it in a way that suits the Montenegrin reality, and not in a way that someone wanted to organize it, is seen as unsuccessful. I suspect that the reason was to introduce persons into the Agency who would be under the control of some entity that wants to organize the media scene in Montenegro differently," claims Čarapić.
He also said that, when it comes to private media in Montenegro, "except for one media outlet that is illegitimate - in terms of ownership structure, all other media outlets are owned by entities registered outside of Montenegro, mostly coming from Serbia."
"We had a person within our government who showed enormous insensitivity towards Radio Television of Montenegro, and tried in every way to have a representative of private broadcasters, who are not from Montenegro, on the RTCG Council. As they worked, so they ended up... It is clear who is responsible for that and why they could not be implemented," claims Čarapić.
At the end of the session, Nedović read out an initiative by several NGOs, which arrived at the Parliament at the end of last year, requesting amendments to the Law on the National Public Broadcaster and the Law on Audiovisual Media Services. “Vijesti” previously reported that a group of NGOs, including the Civic Alliance, LGBT Forum progress, ADP Zid, Euromost, etc., requested that the Parliament “actually decide” on the list of candidates for members of the governing bodies and to ensure fair and transparent processes in the selection of members of the councils of Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) and local public broadcasters.
Among other things, they requested that paragraphs 4 and 5 of Article 28 of the Law on the National Public Broadcaster - Public Media Service be deleted, so that candidates for members of the RTCG Council would not be judged by the number of stamps of organizations that supported one of the candidates.
They also demanded that the Administrative Board "essentially elect members of the RTCG Council", but also that the criteria regarding work experience be lowered for members of the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services (AMU) - to provide for five instead of ten years of work experience, emphasizing that the goal is to reduce discrimination against youth organizations in the field of human rights.
Bonus video:
