The role of the media is to demand that public officials be accountable to them, because that is how they are actually accountable to the citizens - those from whom they have been mandated to make important decisions so that we will all be better off, was assessed in the podcast of the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) "Action ".
The editor-in-chief of "Vijesti" Mihailo Jovović said that it is one thing to have an image, and another is the essence of what politicians and public officials want to hide.
Jovović said that it is first of all the duty of journalists to find out what is really happening, even when politicians and public officials do not want to answer the questions, and that journalists must have good contacts and connections, but also be careful and additionally check everything they receive. information.
"If politicians or public officials think there won't be stories, at least as far as we are concerned, because they don't answer questions, there will certainly be stories, but it is in their interest that their position be heard as well. Maybe if they answer the journalist's questions, the story will be different, because maybe the journalist doesn't know the other side, maybe he didn't manage to get that information, that's why it's in their interest to answer the questions, to appear in public. This is how it is done in developed democracies, where there is responsibility and public opinion that calls for responsibility if something happens," said Jovović.
Speaking about the openness and transparency of the Government, he said that his impression is that the ministers from the ruling parties or the majority of them look exclusively at the party's interest, and that there is no common communication strategy of the Government, because this is not noticed.
Journalist and author of the program on the Television of Montenegro, Ivana Popović, in response to the question about the openness and transparency of the Government, said that it is necessary to change certain bad practices, such as those in which journalists had to wait for hours for a press conference.
"It is unacceptable for someone to tell journalists "we didn't call you". The journalist's job is to find out, our obligation is to be there, to be in the place where something is happening. Let's wait for those ministers who will come out, maybe someone will make a statement, maybe not, but it is the journalist's responsibility to wait for some information," said Popović.
She added that she believes that government sessions should be open to the public, which would greatly facilitate the work of journalists, and as she said, it would also mean that after each government session we have a press conference so that journalists can ask everything they want. they are interested.
Popović referred specifically to the cooperation of journalists with ministries.
"As far as the ministries are concerned, we have different experiences, some ministries are quite open, we get information on the same day, while we cannot even get a written answer from certain institutions, these are the problems we are facing. Ministers change, directors of certain institutions change, but these problems remain," she added.
Other forms of communication, the principle of (not) responding is the same
Popović also questioned the way public officials communicate via social networks, stressing that she understands that this is a mitigating circumstance for certain politicians, however, she said that, for example, television journalists remain deprived of the statements that are necessary for that media format.
Jovović said that in this way of communication he also sees the fault of journalists who only transmit information about politicians from social networks.
"You need to put all the things you write about in some context. Why did a man say that, what does it mean... It's not a matter of being the first to convey it, because anyone can do that, but the matter is that journalists have accustomed politicians to such a thing. "Why should they communicate with journalists, when they can tweet it, journalists pass it on, no one asks the politicians, they won't answer," Jovović said.
He added that politicians have always tried to hide what they don't do well or what they don't do at all, while at the same time they try to impose some of their stories in which they will turn out to be "good guys".
"Normal governments have spokespersons who can say what is written in the announcement. We should not reveal hot water, but apply the experiences of governments that are transparent and that communicate with the public regularly and transparently and apply that here," he added.
He cited the General Secretariat of the Government, as well as the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, as well as the former government of Igor Lukšić, as positive examples of ways of communicating with the media.
The interlocutors of the CDT podcast urged colleagues to use the Law on Free Access to Information as much as possible. They pointed out that journalists in this field also face many problems, that they are demotivated due to the long wait for answers, that certain stories "fall into the background", but that it is essential to be persistent in searching for information, and that this persistence it pays off in the end.
Even in the region, official information is hard to come by
Kristina Kalajdžić from Partner Serbia, Amina Izmirlić Ćatović from Zašto ne, BiH and Meri Jordanovska from the Metamorfozis Foundation from North Macedonia spoke about how difficult it is for journalists and representatives of the civil sector from the region to reach officials and information about the Government's work.
Jordanovska said that the situation in North Macedonia is similar to Montenegro.
"Transparency does not mean only publishing information from daily meetings, but also timely answering of journalists' questions."
Izmirlić Ćatović said that the government in Bosnia and Herzegovina is very happy to provide information to the media and the non-governmental sector if that information serves to promote the work of the government.
"However, when some more serious information is requested about spending money, about salaries, about employment, about public procurement, then the government acts as if it is some kind of their private information. Any critical approach towards the government is not welcome, and insults against journalists are not rare," she added.
Speaking about the situation in Serbia, Kalajdžić said that the institutions there are completely closed to the media who do their work professionally and actually want to review the work of the institutions.
"We can see what kind of relationship there is at media conferences where the highest state officials disparage journalists whose work they disagree with," Kalajdžić said.
The podcast is part of the project "Application of new media in promoting government transparency" funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The podcast is the sole responsibility of the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) and does not necessarily reflect the views of the donors.
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