Equal chances for all media in Montenegro – 2021

About publication

Author: Damir Nikočević

Publishing year: 2022

The media scene in Montenegro, for a long period, reflects a deep social polarization, accompanied by numerous problems that, in different manners, affect the environment in which the media function as well as the quality of media reporting. The problems of hard censorship are particularly emphasized, as reflected in the burden of unsolved cases of attacks on journalists and their property. This is accompanied by the dysfunctionality of self-regulatory bodies and regulators - the Agency for Electronic Media, but also the public service media RTCG that fails to genuinely transform itself, and even takes a few steps backward, which consequently limits the opportunities for citizens to be objectively informed about events in Montenegro.

Additionally, one of the key neuralgic points remains the so-called soft censorship, carried out by the authorities. This subtle way of influencing the media completed the complex mosaic of the overall media situation in Montenegro. Through the politicized, discretionary, non-transparent distribution of public funds, as well as through subsidies to the media, editorial policies were and are being influenced.

The content of this report is the sole responsibility of CCE and cannot in any way be interpreted as the official position of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway, or the Balkan Trust for Democracy of the German Marshall Fund of the USA (BTD).