In just a few days, almost all the levers of the state, the security service, the prosecution, the police and the court, turned against Montenegrin journalists. We are no longer talking about incidents, but about a pattern.
The Media Council for Self-Regulation strongly condemns the broadcasting of the so-called documentary film "Referendum - the story of invented freedom", a product of the Center for Social Stability in Novi Sad, which was aired in two episodes on Montenegrin televisions with national frequency - TV Prva and TV Adria, on May 20 and 21.
The Media Council for Self-Regulation is asking the Police Administration and the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica to urgently identify and prosecute the person who sent a death threat to Kristina Perković, a journalist of Standard portal, and her children via Instagram, and to qualify the act as a threat to security, not a misdemeanor.
The Media Council for Self-Regulation, on the occasion of World Media Freedom Day, reminds the fact that media freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution, but it does not mean that it is guaranteed in practice. The Constitution of Montenegro obliges everyone in the country to respect media freedom, guarantee freedom of expression, prohibit censorship, but also the right of access to information held by state authorities. This should not be just a declarative formulation, these are the constitutional obligations of the state. Media freedom exists as long as the judiciary, institutions, political elites and the profession itself are ready or powerful to fulfill those obligations.
Podgorica, 29-30 April, 2026 - The Media Council for Self-Regulation held workshops about transposing the European regulations of the Digital Service Act (DSA) and the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) into national legislation. The workshops were primarily intended for members of the Working Group dealing with these laws, but in addition to them, other interested representatives of regulators and international organizations, and representatives of the NGO sector also attended. The workshops were organized in cooperation with the Media Directorate of the Ministry of Culture and Media.
The Media Council for Self-Regulation expresses serious concern over the drastically different court outcomes in cases concerning the same event - the attack on dailies Vijesti and Pobjeda photojournalists Boris Pejović and Stevo Vasiljević during the removal of the monument to Chetnik duke Pavle Đurišić in Gornji Zaostro on August 8, 2025.
The Media Council for Self-Regulation strongly condemns the insults and threats directed at journalist Duško Kovačević after the publication of the author's text on a topic of public interest. We believe that such vocabulary and tone represent unacceptable pressure on journalists and an attempt of intimidation, which contradicts the basic principles of freedom of expression and professional communication in the public space.
The Media Council for Self-Regulation expresses serious concern regarding the final decision of the High Court for Misdemeanors in Bijelo Polje, which acquitted three adult defendants of responsibility for attacks and threats against journalists during reporting from Gornji Zaostro in August 2025.
The Media Council for Self-Regulation expresses serious concern about yesterday's summoning of the columnist Duško Kovačević to an informative interview with the police due to a published column and public criticism of state authorities, and warns that a pattern is increasingly being established in Montenegro in which the word of a journalist is viewed as a problem and not as the foundation of a democratic society.
The Media Council for Self-Regulation expresses serious concern regarding the statement of the director of the Police Administration, Lazar Šćepanović, who, during a guest appearance on the show, told journalist Petar Komnenić that "he will be prosecuted after this for the insult" and threatened him for using a stylistic figure with which he described the work of the institution.
