Activity Details (ID# 7448)

Activity Synopsis

The general objective of the Conference was to present the current situation in Montenegro concerning media concentrations and media transparency and to introduce to the participants the French and Slovenian experiences in this field as well as the Council of Europe’s work. Furthermore, the Conference was aimed at discussing the measures that the Montenegrin authorities should take in order to better monitor and possibly regulate media concentrations. 

The Conference was extremely well organised and well attended. The Council of Europe report on Media Diversity in Europe was made available, together with relevant Council of Europe recommendations.

The debates focused firstly on the current problems of media concentrations in Montenegro, particularly in the broadcasting field, where despite good anti-concentration regulation in this field, the anti-concentrations measures are not being applied yet. As for the press sector, specific regulation is probably needed in order to properly address the issue. The Council of Europe experts presented the French and Slovenian experiences in this area showing the shortcomings and the lessons that could be learned in the Montenegrin context. Due to the high level and quality of the speakers, the debates and discussions were intense and focused.

Media coverage was very good. The Conference was covered by all electronic media as well as by the press. Furthermore, extensive reports were made in all dailies and news programmes in prime.

Although no questionnaire was distributed, the overal feed-back by participants was very positive.

Small changes were introduced in the programme which did not have any serious impact on the implementation of the Conference. The target group was fully reached. 

No formal declaration was adopted at the end of the Conference. The organisers decided to set-up a small working group that would prepare a draft Law on media concentrations.
 

Deputy Minister of Culture, representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Members and Staff from the Montenegrin Broadcasting Agency, Members of the RTCG Council, member of the Managing Board of the RTCG, representatives of the EAR and the OSCE, media owners, media professionals, media NGOs and academics 

Ms Irina BOULIN-GHICA, Adviser to the Director, Media Development Directorate, Office of the Prime Minister, Paris, France
Ms Sandra BAŠIĆ-HRVATIN, Professor of Communications, University of Ljubljana and Chairperson of the Slovenian Broadcasting Council, Ljubljana, Slovenia 

Mr Mario OETHEIMER, Media Division, Directorate General of Human Rights