Equal chances for all media in Montenegro?
Author(s): Ana Vujošević,Mira Popović,Jovana Marović,Tanja Maksić,Wanda Tiefenbacher / Language(s): English
Keywords: Montenegro; media; public service broadcasting; policy; public finances;
The aim of the project “Equal chances for all media” is to contribute to creating of clear mechanisms and control of state financing and state aid given to the media, in line with the regulations of the European Union and best international practices and standards. Additionally, general goal of the project is to raise awareness of the public about responsible spending of the funds from State Budget of Montenegro, by pointing out to the relations public sector in Montenegro has towards the media through expenditures based on contractual agreements. Public sector, as a subject of a research, according to the Law on Budget of Montenegro, comprehends state bodies, municipalities (units of local self-government), independent regulatory bodies, public institutions and commercial enterprises where the state or municipalities own majority of shares, judiciary (courts and prosecutions), Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms and others. In order to achieve those goals, Centre for Civic Education (CCE) from February to December 2014, in line with the Law on Free Access to Information, gathered data related to that to which media, public relations agencies, production houses and public opinion poll agencies, and in which amount have the public bodies transferred funds, either based on service providing agreements, specialized services or any other grounds. Besides these findings, the publication contains analysis of media legislative and institutional framework, comparative experiences in the region and member states of European Union, as well as recommendations on how to improve existing practices. The project was based on previous work done by the CCE in this area, reflected in two annual reports for 2011 and 2012 titled: “How much and to who do the citizens in Montenegro pay for advertising?” Findings in these researches showed that there is a lack of clarity when it comes to financing of the media from the budget, and also that there is a need to bring order into this field. Tendency on the side of state bodies has been spotted to keep influence over media through selective and non-transparent financing, which directly makes the competition vulnerable through creating of non-equal conditions on the market, and also to “subtly” influence editorial policy. Lack of transparency in this process and (non)existence of proper criteria for allotment of the funds, accompanied with incomplete legislative framework has additional negative influence over already troublesome media scene in Montenegro. Having in mind that state bodies and bodies of local self-government in 2011 spent 2, 642,070.83 EUR on advertising, specialized media services and on other grounds, while on the other hand the overall media advertising market is between 8-9 million EUR, it is quite clear that in 2011 the state was big, if not the largest player on the market, which significantly influenced income of some media, and consequently their sustainability. In 2012 we noticed decrease of almost one million EUR for these expenses, so that the overall amount CCE team managed to find was 852.059.00 EUR, having in mind that this amount only includes spending of the Government and the Parliament, and does not include expenses of local self-governments as the report from 2011. However, the reduction of expenses was not result of following of recommendations and efforts made to bring order in this field, but mostly reflects limitations of financial capacities of state bodies. These findings of CCE attracted the attention of relevant international actors. The European Commission in its Progress Report for Montenegro states: “Concerns remain that the state is in breach of the law on the media, which prohibits the state from founding print media. Concerns persist also regarding possible state aid and advertising funding allocated to print media in 2012, which were not in line with public procurement rules and could jeopardize competitiveness on the media market. Also the report of the State Department on Human Rights in 2013 states: “Private media claimed that governmentowned enterprises openly discriminated in favor of the government-owned newspaper “Pobjeda” in the placement of advertising, despite the newspaper’s smaller circulation and more limited influence than its private competitors. On February 20, the NGO Centre for Civic Education reported that during 2012 “Pobjeda” received 93,000 EUR ($130,000) from government institutions for advertising, compared with the combined total of 21,000 EUR ($28,000) received by the three other private newspapers, “Vijesti”, “Dan”, and “Dnevne Novine”. The NGO concluded that there were no clear criteria by which government institutions chose media to advertise their activities, since the current selection did not appear to correspond to independent measures such as public trust, popularity, or the media companies’ pricing policies.” In order to continuously monitor this area, there was a need to once again conduct extensive research that would gather data for 2013. The research would provide comprehensive and updated overview of distribution of public funds to media for that year through analysis of obtained information, as well as through comparative analysis having in mind previous reports. The additions to the survey are specific recommendations (by local and international experts) about how to ensure transparency and what kind of criteria should be considered when allocating public funds for the media in Montenegro, in order for this process to be in line with the Acquis communitaire in the field of freedom of expression, independence of the media, competition, state aid allocation and public procurement. Without a clear mechanism for the allocation of state aid to media, the distribution of these resources has the potential to cause serious deviations in the media market and jeopardize the functioning of some media or to enhance the business of other media on discriminatory grounds and contrary to EU competition policy. It causes serious concerns when public funds are used for such purposes. Citizens, as taxpayers have a right to know how public funds are spent, and whether the method of distribution of these funds affects the impartiality of media coverage of state authorities and to which extent such distribution supports (or not) pluralism of the media. This report indicates the existence of the mechanism through which control and the pressure against media can be exercised. It also offers recommendations how to end such practice, which denies citizens of Montenegro right to have free and independent media that are able to accurately and impartially report about activities of state authorities, political parties, other institutions, and also about issues of public interest.
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