Media and Democracy

The development of democracy and media freedom in a particular society are inseparable. Freedom is the basis of existence of democracy, as much as the key enemies of the democracy are weak institutions of the system and instrumentalized media. That underlines the strong connection between freedom and responsibility of media and those protecting media, as well as of the right of public to be informed about the issues of public interest. Therefore, since its establishment, Centre for Civic Education (CCE) has followed current affairs within media community, and in accordance with the assessment of the complexity of the challenges in this area established a separate programme.

The aim of this programme is promotion and monitoring of the application of the standards that are helping in the process of democratisation and media professionalisation, as well as functioning of the society in line with the democratic principles with focus on freedom of expression.

In that respect, CCE has, independently or with partners, conducted a series of project activities ranging from active monitoring of the implementation of a set of media and related laws, through opening of different issues which contribute to the improvement of media freedoms and freedom of expression and their harmonization with the best international practices, up to the monitoring of allocations for the means for media from the budget of Montenegro. Also, CCE regularly reacts concerning the numerous cases of attackd on journalists in Montenegro, which remain unadequately processed thus significantly limiting development of professional and investigative journalism.

The last five reports from this programme can be downloaded directly: