Media Center: TVCG failed to problematize Joanikije's speech about Chetniks and Đurišić

Television of Montenegro (TVCG) failed to address the public speech of Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro and the Littoral about the Chetniks and their commander Pavle Đurišić in a professional and quality manner, the Media Center announced today.

"On May 4, the national public broadcaster TVCG published a short news item in the central news program Dnevnik 2 that Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro and the Littoral glorified the Chetnik collaborators of the fascist and Nazi occupiers during World War II, and in particular the war criminal, Chetnik commander Pavle Đurišić. This news item was accompanied by short excerpts from the critical reaction of an opposition politician and a group of non-governmental organizations, so, all in all, about a minute of space was dedicated to this in the middle of Dnevnik 2," the statement from Media Center, signed by Dragoljub Duško Vuković, President of the Media Center Assembly, states.

The statement added that TVCG did not find it appropriate to problematize the public opinion of a man whose position within the Serbian Orthodox Church, the majority community of Orthodox believers in Montenegro, obliges him to have a responsible attitude towards the community in which he operates, and the public to critically evaluate his public activities.

"This is especially true since Metropolitan Joanikije, with his public speech, may have entered the zone of criminal liability," the Media Center said in a statement.

The NGO added that the Criminal Code of Montenegro stipulates that anyone "who publicly approves, denies the existence of, or significantly minimizes the gravity of the criminal acts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed against a group or a member of a group determined on the basis of race, skin color, religion, origin, national or ethnic origin, in a manner that may lead to violence or incite hatred towards a group of persons or a member of such a group, if these criminal acts have been established by a final judgment of a court in Montenegro or an international criminal court, will be punished."

"By glorifying collaborators as equals to the mythical Kosovo heroes, and especially the person whom the State Commission of Montenegro declared a war criminal on October 12, 1945, not only are these crimes denied, but they are elevated to the rank of heroic deeds. A professionally responsible approach to this shocking speech by a Christian Orthodox clergyman required an appropriate critical reaction already in the program in which the news was announced. That reaction would be reflected in an in-depth treatment of the topic of Chetnik collaboration and their criminal involvement during World War II, but also in the problematization of the role of members of the Serbian Orthodox Church clergy in the revisionist reassessment of facts from the recent history of Montenegro and the former common state," the Media Center statement reads.

The NGO said that TVCG still has the opportunity to correct the omission and provide space for discussion regarding what Metropolitan Joanikije thinks and says publicly.

"This is, among other things, the obligation of the media, which is a public good not only because it is indirectly financed by all citizens and citizens of Montenegro, but also because it is the obligation of journalism to, among other things, provide a forum for debate on controversial issues that trouble and divide society," the Media Center said.