Activity Details (ID# 10157)

Activity Synopsis

The general objective of the Conference was to raise awareness on the significance of media concentration legislation and to open a public discussion on the draft Law on media concentration prior to its submission to the parliamentary procedure, so as to have more in-depth analysis and understanding of this very important matter. Moreover, as the draft law also concerns the representatives of the local media, the conference aimed at familiarizing them with this draft law, getting their suggestions, and offering them necessary explanations. 

The Conference was very well organised, gathering all local media representatives for whom it was primarily intended. The participants’ feedback was beyond expectations both in terms of attendance and quality of discussions.
During the conference the participants received a copy of the draft Law on unauthorized media concentration, together with the comments of the Council of Europe experts. In addition to this, the Recommendation 99 (1) of the Committee of Ministers to member states on measures to promote media pluralism was distributed as well as extracts from a regional study on media concentration done by the South-East European Network for Professionalisation of the Media (referring to the Montenegrin situation). The representatives from local print media also brought some copies of their media.
The quality of discussions was very high. The content varied from the debate on some basic principles to the more complex issues of cross ownership. The overall media reform transformed state and local municipality media into a public broadcasting service and exposed all of them to the free media market for which they were not prepared. This basically led to disappearance of many of them. It was estimated that during that process, print media did not have the same treatment as electronic media and this seriously affected their sustainability and quality of programmes / articles produced by small media.
Starting from the point that media are not only a very powerful industry, but also an important social and cultural element, it was underlined how important it is to ensure that media are not centrally controlled.
The Council of Europe expert presented CoE standards on media pluralism, through basic texts such as Recommendations (94)13, (99)1 and (2000)23, stressing that media pluralism and media transparency are essential elements for a stable media sector and democratic society. He also presented some of the European models on regulating media concentration and measures to promote media pluralism.
Local experts gave a thorough overview of the situation within print and electronic media in Montenegro, and the obstacles for media professionalism.

The event gained extensive media coverage. All local media, both print and electronic, reported on it at length. In addition to this, RTVCG broadcasted a piece on the conference in its main news programme and newspapers with national circulation ran articles on the conference. Review “Polje” will print the detailed report, as the appendix for its next edition.

The programme was implemented with minor changes but it did not affect the objectives nor shorten the presentations of the experts.

The target group was entirely reached, gathering media owners and representatives of local media from the north of Montenegro. In addition to this, the mayor of Bijelo Polje and members of the working group that drafted the law on unauthorized media concentration were present.

The overall impression, based on the participants’ feedback, is that the conference was quite successful.
 

This conference did not have as its goal any formal declaration or other document. However, certain conclusions were made and these primarily refer to the urgency of adopting media concentration regulation in order to protect media pluralism in Montenegro. This was also an opportunity for the Ministry and members of the WG to collect suggestions and comments on the draft law. In addition to this, it was underlined that clear ownership structure must be identified in the media sector, and that media legislation framework has to be finalised with media concentration law and free access to information law. Specific approaches for promoting media pluralism should also be considered. The general conclusion was that this has to be done as soon as possible, before it becomes too late.

 

Deputy-Minister of Culture and Media, Director of Montenegrin Broadcasting Agency, media owners, editors and journalists from the north of Montenegro 

David Ward, Director, Centre for media policy and development and professor at the Westminster University 

Daliborka Uljarević, CoE Office in Montenegro