Center for Civic Education (CCE) continuously points out that the public broadcaster RTCG does not fulfill its role as a check on government and a source of comprehensive and critical public information. This is further supported by the findings of monitoring the central news programme Dnevnik 2, which CCE conducted over the past year in several waves.
Specifically, the monitoring reveals that reporting is largely based on statements and press releases from institutions, while analytical and investigative content is significantly less represented. From August to November, a total of 122 news programmes were broadcast, with an average duration of about 29 minutes. These were dominated by news pieces and statements from officials, while original and thematic reports made up a substantially smaller portion of the content. More precisely, during August and September, 514 news pieces, statements, and/or press releases were recorded, along with 135 authored reports, 26 interviews, 336 thematic/report segments, 9 feature stories, and one item classified under “other.” Additionally, in October and November, 566 news pieces, statements, and/or press releases were aired, along with 100 authored reports, 21 interviews, 302 thematic/report segments, 24 feature stories, and one media item that could not be classified within defined genres. Such an approach often results in information that remains at the level of conveying facts without context or additional journalistic processing.
The analysis also indicates a dominant reliance on institutional sources. The executive branch, the police, and local governments are the most frequent interlocutors in the news, while non-governmental organizations and independent experts receive less coverage or appear later, selectively, and in shorter segments.
The monitoring also recorded many so-called pseudo-events, i.e., reports on official visits, conferences, and commemorations in which government officials promote their own work without journalistic scrutiny.
Editorial decisions regarding the placement of news items also suggest an intent to influence the shaping of the public agenda. For example, a report marking three years since the first mass killing in Cetinje was aired only in the second half of the Dnevnik, despite ongoing protests by victims’ families and their demands toward institutions at the time. Although the most pressing news during that period were the wildfires affecting Montenegro, it is unacceptable that information about wildfires worldwide on the public broadcaster was aired before the anniversary of this mass killing.
The analysis also identified examples of problematic practices in reporting on sensitive issues. In covering a femicide case in August, RTCG published the victim’s full name along with additional details that could have jeopardized the family’s privacy, which is contrary to international recommendations for reporting on gender-based violence.
A special segment of the analysis focused on reporting on topics that triggered strong political and social controversy. One such example is the case involving the erection, unveiling, and subsequent search for a monument to Chetnik commander Pavle Đurišić. Although RTCG covered the erecting of the monument, key questions about institutional responsibility and the role of religious officials were omitted. Reactions from non-governmental organizations were not included in the news programme, not even regarding the condemnation of attacks on journalists during the event, nor in subsequent reporting in October and November.
A similar pattern was observed in October regarding the decision of the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, to posthumously award Metropolitan Amfilohije. RTCG reported on this issue mainly through brief news items, without recalling the controversies related to Amfilohije’s public role during the wars of the 1990s and his political views. Critical perspectives from civil society were not given space, even though they were covered by almost all other media outlets in Montenegro.
The monitoring also noted insufficiently critical reporting on events that caused social tensions in October. An attack on a young man in the Podgorica neighborhood of Zabjelo, initially attributed to Turkish nationals, led to a protest march “against Turks.” RTCG approached this event purely in a reporting manner, without analyzing the rise of xenophobic narratives and hate speech. The following day, the central news opened with an interview with the Director of the Police Administration of Montenegro, Lazar Šćepanović, but without key questions regarding the conditions under which the police assess whether a gathering that may incite hate speech or threaten public safety should be restricted or dispersed.
At the same time, some topics of public interest were not covered in the central news programme. For instance, Dnevnik 2 did not report on an event in Krnovo, where the Speaker of Parliament, Andrija Mandić, laid a wreath commemorating members of Chetnik units from World War II, while a memorial service was conducted by Bishop Metodije. The event was accompanied by warnings from civil society about the dangers of historical revisionism, but these reactions were not conveyed in Dnevnik 2.
Nevertheless, the analysis also identified positive examples of professional practice, particularly in continuous field reporting during the summer wildfires, when RTCG journalists included various interlocutors and provided on-the-ground information.
Overall findings indicate that RTCG has the capacity for higher-quality informational and analytical journalism. However, fulfilling the full role of a public broadcaster requires editorial independence, stronger insistence on critical questioning, greater diversity of sources, and consistent application of professional standards. Without such changes, there is a risk that the public broadcaster will remain primarily a service to institutions rather than a media outlet serving the public interest.
These analyses of the news programme were conducted in two waves – during August and September, and October and November – within the CCE project “Media for Democracy: Strengthening RTCG’s Independence for the Future of Montenegro,” supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Željka Zvicer, Programme Associate