Jovović for "Monitor": The mission of "Vijesti" is carried by the people who founded it, worked for it, and work for it.

The same people and others have tried to shut us down or take us over several times in the past thirty years, because we were a thorn in their side, and they failed, and they won't this time either. They can take us over only if the competent authorities of this country violate its laws, and illegally allow it. In that case, Vučić will get computers and desks, equipment for broadcasting TV programs, a printing house and several rented water dispensers. He will not get the people who make the newspaper, the portal and TV Vijesti what they are, said in an interview with "Monitor" the editor-in-chief of "Vijesti" Mihailo Jovović.

Monitor: "Vijesti" front page again about the threat to journalists. Jelena Jovanović is being continuously threatened, how come the perpetrators have not yet been discovered and what message does this send to other journalists considering that she is a journalist who has police protection?

Jovovich: It sends a dangerous message, even though it involves virtual bullies, who are essentially cowards. At the same time, I do not rule out the possibility that this is an organized effort by members or sympathizers of one or more criminal clans, who are trying to criminalize and dehumanize Jelena in public with the most heinous insults and threats, in order to prepare the environment for something much more serious. I am glad that there are many people who condemn such things both publicly and privately in their contacts with us, and I thank them for that.

Many threats to Jelena and other journalists remained outside the public sphere, some were not even reported, because journalists often do not want to be harassed, give statements to the police and prosecutor's office, testify in court, do not want to be in the role of a victim, and consider threats and insults to be part of the job. I went through such a process, and believe me, it is not easy to endure all of that in your head.

However, we at "Vijesti" have decided that in the future we will report every, even the smallest insult on social networks and in comments on portals, for which these scoundrels can be punished at least as a misdemeanor. I hope that in this way we will contribute to at least cleaning up that public space a little, and discourage some cowards from engaging in such activities.

Jelena has been under 24-hour police protection for years, and most people, even her colleagues, can't even imagine what life is like, without the ability to freely go somewhere or walk the dog whenever you want, not to mention meet with sources without your companions seeing who it is. Jelena still finds a way to do the latter...

I don't know why it hasn't been revealed who has been insulting and threatening her for several months. I understand that some of them are reporting from fake profiles, but there are also those who are not hiding, and even some so-called "fellow journalists" are involved in this. That is why I once again appeal to the prosecutor's office and the police to take these attacks on Jelena seriously, especially given the recent information that has been presented to them.

Monitor: You are the head of the Commission for Monitoring Investigations into Attacks on Journalists. How effective is the response of institutions when attacks occur?

Jovovich: In the last few years, both the police and the prosecution have been more efficient than before, especially when it comes to more serious attacks, such as the one on Ana Raičković in Podgorica or on colleagues in Zaostro. That is commendable, although it is a bit absurd to praise someone who is doing the job for which he is paid. Perhaps we were used to attacks on journalists not being resolved for years or ever. However, in the Zaostro case, we have an acquittal for a "stupid" who admitted to taking away cameras and demanding that photos of the monument be deleted, and at the same time introduced himself from the riotous crowd surrounding his colleagues and threatened Boris with death if he did not do so. I say, the police and the prosecution are doing their jobs better, but the same cannot be said for individual judges.

The police and prosecutor's office, the journalistic community and the entire society still bear the weight of unresolved old cases, and the clarification of some of them is a condition for closing negotiations with the EU. Of course, I expect them to quickly find those who threaten Jelena and insult her.

Monitor: Is the Commission fulfilling its purpose and have the actions of the police and prosecutor's office been improved?

Jovovich: I think the Commission has fulfilled its purpose, if only because the prosecution also stated that it had reopened the investigation into the murder of Duško Jovanović two years ago based on the numerous recommendations it had received from the Commission in that case by then. All of them are in our reports to the Government, and indeed all of us in the Commission were proud when we were told about this.

The Commission's task is mainly to monitor investigations into attacks on journalists ex post, determine whether there were any shortcomings in them, and provide general recommendations for improving investigations in general, recommendations in individual cases on the direction in which investigations could be continued, and recommendations for conducting appropriate proceedings against prosecutors and police officers for their shortcomings, when it deems this to be clearly necessary.

Based on the Commission's recommendations, the State Prosecutor's Office Milorad Marković also issued mandatory instructions for prosecutors who act in cases of attacks on journalists, which, I believe, has greatly contributed to conducting investigations better and more efficiently, among other things because it is easier to hold prosecutors accountable if they do not comply with the instructions.

One of our recommendations included in the instructions is that prosecutors should also investigate articles written or intended to be written by the attacked journalists in order to try to determine the motive for the attack. They are also required to respond to the Commission's recommendations in a short period of time. If it had not been for the decision to stop providing us with case files, the review of which we recommended in the latest report, cooperation with this composition of the prosecution would have been the best since the Commission was established.

My wish is for the Commission to be closed down as soon as possible, because that would mean that the old investigations have yielded results, and that the newly established Mechanism for the Protection of Journalists has successfully come to life and taken over its role in real time.

I have no major or significant complaints about the work of the police in the last few years in cases of attacks on journalists, except that they sometimes justify that the investigation is being conducted by the prosecutor's office, so they haven't been ordered to do something. No one is stopping them from proactively investigating everything they think is necessary, and then presenting it to the prosecutor's office; on the contrary, the law allows them to do so. One of the complaints is that they have not established the responsibility of two of their officers, who, according to the journalists, witnessed the mistreatment of our colleagues in Zaostar, and did nothing.

Monitor: Many are celebrating and announcing the closure, or rather the takeover, of "Vijesti". Will that scenario be avoided and what would it mean for Montenegro?

Jovovich: The same people and others have tried to shut us down or take us over several times in the past thirty years, because we were a thorn in their side, and they failed, and they won't this time either. They can only take us over if the competent authorities of this country violate its laws, and illegally allow it. Lawyers and minority owners of "Vijesti" have a ready response to any legal move that the "takeovers" - in the form of a Portuguese fund that cooperated with Orban's tycoons in purchasing the once reputable Euro News and is now cooperating with the Serbian autocrat in an attempt to take over the best media in the region, including "Vijesti" - can take. As far as I know, they haven't taken any yet.

And if Montenegrin state authorities violate the laws of Montenegro, Vučić will get computers and desks, equipment for broadcasting TV programs, a printing house and several rented water dispensers. He will not get the people who make the newspaper, portal and TV Vijesti what they are – the most influential media brand in Montenegro and among the most influential in the region. "Vijesti" has never allowed anyone outside the editorial office to dictate what and how they will publish, and neither will Vučić.

How much we in the editorial office are concerned that both enemies and "friends" are spreading rumors that we have already been sold or that we will soon disappear, that they are constantly writing about who will be Vučić's director or editor of "Vijesti", is also evidenced by the fact that one of our Viber groups was until recently called "Until Dražen Comes" and is now called "Until Minja Comes", because the main characters in this disinformation change like socks.

What would that mean for Montenegro? Well, the citizens of Montenegro would get another In4s, Borba, Adria, Prva, Alo, Euro News Serbia, etc., they would get a barrage of propaganda, another Vučić megaphone of lies, disgusting attacks on his dissenters, stupid chess analyses about the leader and a bunch of texts that some of them are clumsily written by artificial intelligence (not its fault).

We would get another media opponent of the country's integration into a "failed" Europe, an advocate of the "Serbian world" whose supreme authority after Vučić is the Serbian Orthodox Church, and another lawyer for a Russian dictator. Citizens would lose the three most reliable and professional media outlets in Montenegro, which they turn to when they want to find out what is really happening, especially in crisis situations. But that hole would not remain open for long, because the mission of "Vijesti" would not disappear, it is carried by the people who founded them, the people who worked and still work in them today.

Monitor: Do we have a political class that understands the importance of media freedom?

Jovovich: Unfortunately, there is no political class, but there are a dozen politicians who understand and respect this, even when something negative is published about them, provided that it is true. These are the same politicians who advocate for democracy in their parties. There are few of them, but when there are more of them, we will all be better off. There are, however, many who respect the power and influence of media like Vijesti, so that counts too.

Monitor: What is the fate of the media in Montenegro in such an environment?

Jovovich: The kind they deserve and fight for, individually or together, if the latter is ever possible.

Controversial secrecy

Monitor: The public focus is on the investigation into the murder of Duško Jovanović. Can progress be expected?

Jovovich: The Commission has dealt with the case to the extent possible in recent months, drafted a report and submitted it to the Government. I say to the extent possible, because for a few years now it has been denied access to the prosecutor's office's documents, so its work and the fulfillment of the tasks assigned to it by the Government depend on written information about the cases submitted by the acting prosecutors. The Supreme Prosecutor's Office believes that the Commission is not among those to whom the Criminal Procedure Code provides access to case files. It is possible that the CPC can be interpreted in this way, but I do not understand why the Supreme Prosecutor's Office does not initiate proceedings against its predecessors, who, although sometimes selectively, submitted the same files to the Commission.

The Commission received written information on the proceedings in the Duško Jovanović case since the reopening of the investigation in April 2024, which was marked with the level of secrecy, and interviewed the acting prosecutors in a "blind room" at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I think we have not yet received their decision on marking this information with the level of "confidential", although we requested it. By law, our report also had to be marked with the level of secrecy, because we also considered secret documents that we received from the National Security Agency.

What I can say, and we have stated this in the report to the Government that will be published once it adopts it, is that the prosecutors stated in general terms what they did – they heard a large number of witnesses, conducted or plan to conduct some expert assessments, and so on – but in the information and in the conversation with us they did not mention almost any specific names, they were unable to talk about possible suspects, the findings of the investigation, or to predict the possible outcome of the investigation based on the work done so far, or to say whether all the perpetrators, organizers, and orderers will be found. I understand that the confidentiality of this information according to the Commission is probably for the purpose of protecting the investigation, but the Commission stated that it cannot therefore assess whether the latest investigation was efficient and effective.