The Centre for Civic Education (CCE) welcomes any improvement, even the smallest one, in the transparency of the highest state institution in the field of science and arts, particularly when such steps bring its work closer to the citizens who finance this institution.
It is commendable that on 23 January the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (CANU) published three news items on its website, related to the acquisition of honorary membership in the International Association of Academies (Koinon), a visit by a delegation of the The Association of Lawyers of Montenegro, and the launch of CANU’s YouTube channel. Of these, the announcement regarding the YouTube channel is the most interesting, as CANU informed the public that information about the institution’s most significant events is available on that platform.
However, the channel was created in April 2024, when the first video was published, and it currently has only 66 subscribers and 54 videos, seven of which relate to a single scientific conference. The published content includes lectures and scientific panels and conferences, tributes and commemorative sessions, round tables, promotions, exhibitions, features on the lives of academicians, as well as a video from the CANU Assembly at which the current President, Ljubiša Stanković, was elected. Although the channel was launched only in April 2024, most of the videos were recorded in earlier years. Only 17 videos date from 2024 and 2025, while the rest originate from the period between 2018 and 2023.
It is positive that the channel features topics of broader social relevance, such as road traffic safety; however, it remains unclear on what basis these particular events were selected for publication, given that numerous other activities were held at CANU during the same period. Likewise, when it comes to appearances by academicians outside CANU, only one lecture by Dragan Vukčević has been published, despite the fact that there were more such activities. CCE believes that CANU’s YouTube channel should include all events, accompanied by active promotion of links, while allowing the public itself to assess which of these events are of greatest importance to them.
CCE points out that a good practice would be the organisation of livestream broadcasts of events, enabling interested members of the public to follow them in real time. This would contribute to greater visibility of both the channel and CANU’s work, and would also bring CANU closer to those living outside the capital who are unable to attend events of interest in person. In addition, sessions of the CANU Assembly and Presidency should be regularly broadcast live, especially those concerning the election of new members, in order to dispel doubts that have arisen during previous election processes. We recall that the Parliament of Montenegro already applies this practice for plenary sittings and committee work, as do many municipalities for their plenary sessions, and there is therefore no reason why CANU should not do the same.
The total number of views across all videos on CANU’s YouTube channel, which effectively cover seven years of its work—amounts to only 8,141, indicating insufficient promotion of the channel. Although YouTube is one of CANU’s more active social media platforms, the profile is not linked on its website, which is a standard practice in promoting official institutional and organisational accounts. The website features icons for Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and Instagram, but only the Facebook icon is active, leading to a page with just 560 followers that has not been updated for ten years. At the same time, CANU maintains another Facebook page with even fewer followers, 412, which is updated relatively regularly (the last three news items from the CANU website were not published on this platform), yet it is not adequately promoted and commenting is restricted, sending a message of institutional closedness. On LinkedIn – the most important social network in the professional sphere – CANU has an account but no published content. An Instagram icon is present on the website, but it was not possible to identify an official CANU account on that platform.
CCE expects that in the coming period CANU will continue with more open and proactive promotion of its work, update its social media accounts, and enable real-time broadcasts of events and sessions. Criticism and questions from citizens may be moderated, but must not be prohibited, as this institution is financed with public funds.
Important issues discussed within CANU must be accessible to the interested public. The Academy is too important an institution to marginalise itself through closedness and the absence of contemporary communication practices. CCE maintains that a stronger public presence of CANU would contribute not only to greater societal influence of the Academy, but also to the overall emancipation of society.
Sara Čabarkapa, Active Citizenship Programme Coordinator