Explaining their views that the public broadcasted have been “hijacked”, that it is in “institutional agony” and operates as “Raonić and Drljević cooperative”, guests of the latest PROUDCAST , produced by the Centre for Civic Education (CCE), Marijana Camović Veličković, Vice President of the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro and member of the RTCG Council, and Srđan Čović, from the RTCG Technical Leadership, provided the genesis of the events that led to RTCG Council’s work being scrutinized by judicial authorities and the consequences of these developments.
Camović Veličković, who is also a witness in the case before the Basic Court in Podgorica against the President and four members of the RTCG Council, described the trial as precedent, given that it is the first time an RTCG Council member is being prosecuted, with an additional anomaly being that they continue to perform their functions despite legal proceedings against them. She reminded that the case arose because five Council members illegally reappointed Boris Raonić as General Director in 2023. “Instead of annulling the August 2021 decision, which was found illegal, they re-elected him… These Council members do not even consider what they are voting on; they simply follow orders at any cost – even at the risk of imprisonment,” Camović-Veličković stated.
She believes there is a clear intent to delay the judicial process, which benefits Raonić. “It is in his interest for the mandates of these Council members to last as long as possible while they serve him, ensuring that the verdict does not arrive in the meantime,” she explained, adding that some Council members’ terms expire this year, while others’ end in June next year. She also expressed surprise at the court’s lack of preparation for the public interest in the case, noting that the first hearing was postponed due to the unavailability of a courtroom of adequate size. Asked what kind of ruling she expects, Camović Veličković was firm: “ The verdict cannot be anything other than a conviction.”
Srđan Čović, a long-time professional at RTCG and former candidate for the position of General Director, stated that “revenge politics is at play in RTCG, with people who lack competence, knowledge, or integrity leading the institution, while harassing their colleagues and filing lawsuits against their own employees.”
He recalled that the current RTCG Council reappointed Raonić despite having four Basic Court rulings, a High Court decision confirming Raonić’s conflict of interest, a Supreme Court ruling, and an opinion from the Agency for Prevention of Corruption (APC), all of which confirmed the conflict of interest in Raonić’s appointment. He noted that the previous leadership of APC had even announced plans to inform the Administrative Committee, responsible for appointing Council members, and alert the State Prosecutor’s Office.
“Never before have court decisions been ignored so blatantly,” Čović emphasized. “It is absurd that RTCG employees are paying legal fees for lawyers who do not defend RTCG’s interests but rather protect Raonić and his loyal Council members,” he explained.
He also recalled that all candidates for RTCG’s General Director in the last selection process jointly addressed the public, warning that if Raonić’s previous tenure was illegal, he could not have legally acquired the work experience required for the position. “The greatest absurdity is that RTCG’s lawyers defended Raonić’s appointment by citing court decisions they themselves had lost,” he added.
When asked about the atmosphere at RTCG, Čović said that professional staff eagerly await the outcome of this case, while others fear for their positions or hope to benefit from the ongoing housing allocation scheme, disregarding the fact that such transactions would be legally invalid. “With a budget of 24 million EUR, out of which 20.8 million EUR comes from Montenegrin taxpayers, RTCG could be in a strong position. But, never before has the broadcaster been more bloated with administration. Every manager has a deputy and advisors who are given more importance than the Directors of Radio and Television,” he noted.
Commenting on RTCG’s financial management, Marijana Camović Veličković described the 24 million EUR budget as staggering, pointing out that at least 16 Montenegrin municipalities have smaller budgets than RTCG. “Each year, RTCG’s budget increases, and money is left unspent because it is impossible to rationally allocate funds for a system that does not start from scratch every year. Yet, they never return unused funds to the state budget,” she said, questioning what happens to unspent and unreturned money. “The behavior of the Ministry of Finance is quite indicative. For example, in 2021, when the first report of the State Audit Institution (SAI) on RTCG’s operations was published, the Ministry of Finance did not provide any response to the SAI. Had they responded that report would have been significantly different,” said Camović Veličković. She emphasized that the financial plan only presents figures but lacks an explanation for their justification, citing an example where 55,000 EUR has been allocated for legal services this year, compared to 30,000 EUR the previous year. “We do not see why this amount has nearly doubled, what kind of workload justifies it, how the lawyers are selected, and why they are chosen, especially when the institution keeps losing cases. For at least three years, we know that these vast sums have been managed by a man who was illegally appointed,” Camović Veličković stated, adding that equipment is being purchased without control.
“The public broadcaster has been hijacked by political parties, with Boris Raonić at their service,” said Camović Veličković, citing examples of unprofessionalism, unverified information, and censorship, such as the recently ‘withdrawn’ statement from the European Commission spokesperson because it did not align with the political parties that Raonić serves.
Commenting on censorship and the selective presentation of information, Srđan Čović pointed to what was effectively an RTCG campaign against Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović, following his warnings that the Law on RTCG should not be tailored to suit a single individual. He dismissed as absurd the government’s justification for lowering the criteria for selecting the General Director to increase competition. “Interestingly, on 1 September, there were eight candidates with a combined 300 years of experience at RTCG, yet the Council members once again chose Raonić. They now face a new criminal complaint, which remains unprocessed. All eight candidates have filed lawsuits against the organized criminal group responsible for this appointment, meaning that the 7 March trial will have further legal consequences,” Čović assessed.
When asked if RTCG can become a true public service instead of a mouthpiece for the government, Čović recalled that RTCG had periods of independence, particularly in the late 1990s and briefly after 2006, but has since fallen into stagnation and declining standards, only for a while to regain public trust under Andrijana Kadija and Vladan Mićunović, but that today, most RTCG programming is designed to serve political interests rather than inform citizens. “I don’t think RTCG should be a playground for politicians,” Čović is clear. He argued that the system cannot be reformed while an illegally appointed director remains in charge, and while the head of the Council is someone accused of plagiarizing 36 pages of their doctoral thesis.
“It is increasingly difficult to justify the existence of public broadcasters, as they are seen as societal parasites in many European countries. I believe a public broadcaster should exist, but it should focus less on political news and more on educational, cultural, scientific, and children’s programming,” concluded Camović Veličković.
PROUDCAST is produced as part of the project “Media for Democracy: Strengthening RTCG’s Independence for the Montenegro’s Future“, which CCE is implementing with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Maja Marinović, Programme associate