Acting upon the complaint of the anonymous submitter due to the alleged violation of the principles of the Montenegrin Journalists’ Code of Ethics in the text that conveys the statement of the president of the European Federation of Journalists, Maja Sever, published on the Portal Standard on September 16, the Complaints Commission of the Media Council for Self-Regulation makes the following decision
The Complaints Commission considered the complaint and by looking at the disputed text, as well as the attached material, determined that there was no violation of any principle of the Code of Journalists of Montenegro.
The commission notes that the Standard portal correctly marked the source of the statement in its text - the Antena M portal, and it did not change the essence or context of the statements of the president of the European Federation of Journalists, Maja Sever.
By comparing the published text with the original content published on the Antena M portal, the Commission found no evidence of imprecise, incorrect or manipulative conveying statements, nor elements that would constitute a violation of the principles of accuracy, objectivity, respect for the context or responsibility towards the public.
In the process, it was established that the Standard's editorial office published the article in accordance with the usual journalistic practice of conveying news from other media, with a clear indication of the source and without adding content that could change the meaning of the statements.
The Commission concludes that there is no basis to establish a violation of any of the principles of the Montenegrin Journalists’ Code of Ethics, and that the editorial staff of the Standard portal acted professionally and in accordance with the standards of journalistic ethics.
Explanation
The Media Council for Self-Regulation received a complaint from an anonymous submitter regarding the manner in which the Standard portal conveyed the statement of the president of the European Federation of Journalists, Maja Sever, originally published on the Antena M portal.
The complaint stated that the transmission of the statement was carried out in a way that, according to the submitter, could misrepresent the statement or mislead readers about its content.
The submitter pointed out that both Standard and Analitika transmitted an identical quote that clearly indicates that the statement was originally given to the Antena M portal, but that it was not marked in the text.
In the complaint, it was stated that certain media outlets (Standard and Analitika) reported on the decision of Defense Minister, Dragan Krapović, to refuse accreditation to Antena M, and after an invitation to an event at which Slovenian Minister Borut Sajović would also speak, was "mistakenly" sent to that media outlet, they relayed Maja Sever's statement.
"I think the public should pay attention to the fact that it is very important to cite the sources, especially in these cases when it comes to the media themselves and their discrimination. Those two media reported the statement, but they did not indicate the source from which it was taken, which is Antena M," reads the submitter's complaint, to which he also provided links.
He states that from the text published by Antena M, it is clearly seen that the statement was given to them, because of the sentence: "You are the media that transmits information in the public interest and they are obliged to give you that information, so that you can transmit it to the citizens":
The reader states that it is very important that in situations when discrimination of the media is discussed, and in the case of Krapović’s violation of the Law of the media, the media themselves should strictly adhere to the Code of Ethics, that is, they must state the source from which some information was taken.
"I hope you will recognize this, and insist that authors and sources are clearly indicated in the texts," the complaint reads.
In his reply to the Media Council, the editor of the Standard portal, Ivan Đoković, stated that the news was published in accordance with the Law on Media and the Montenegrin Journalists’ Code of Ethics.
"The source from which the Standard portal took the news is clearly indicated both in the text and in the section where the source is mentioned. Due to all of the above, we believe that there is no justification for the complaint," it was written in the statement of the editorial staff of the Standard portal reads.
As an attachment, "screenshots" were submitted, which show that in the news itself and in the news source section, it is clearly stated where the news was taken from, in this case from the Antena M portal.
By reviewing the available material, the disputed text on the Standard portal, by reviewing the screenshots, and the original article by Antena M and the attached evidence, the Commission concluded the following:
Maja Sever's statement was transmitted correctly and without changes that could affect its meaning. Antena M is clearly listed as the source of the information. It was not established that the principles of accuracy, respect for sources, objectivity or professional distancing were violated.
The Commission believes that Portal Standard acted in accordance with the Montenegrin Journalists’ Code of Ethics, because it transmitted the information responsibly, citing the source and without violating the integrity of the original statement.
In this case, the Commission did not find evidence that there was any violation of the principles of the Code of Ethics, so the appeal is considered unfounded.
The Complaints Commission recommended that the media in similar cases cite the sources of information immediately below the headline or highlight them visibly in the text, in accordance with the rule of the Montenegrin Journalists’ Code of Ethics - point 11.2. "Originality". The Commission pointed out the importance of consistently respecting the principle of transparency of information sources, especially when it comes to the mutual transfer of content between media.
Complaints and monitoring commission
Aneta Spaić
Sonja Drobac
Danilo Burzan
Branko Vojičić
Ranko Vujović
