The Media Council for Self-Regulation congratulates all Montenegrin journalists and media outlets on Journalists’ Day in Montenegro. Although this should be a day of celebration, it is difficult to find much reason to celebrate when journalists and journalism are under greater threat than ever before - both locally and globally.
We mark this year’s Journalists’ Day with statistics showing that attacks on journalists did not decrease in the past year. On the contrary, after a long time, we have once again witnessed a physical attack on a female journalist. In addition, there have been numerous cases of verbal attacks and threats, coming both from ordinary citizens and from high-ranking political officials. Meanwhile, the economic position of journalists has not improved compared to last year. Journalists’ salaries remain below the national average. The overall political climate in Montenegro, which has pushed society to the brink of radicalization, does nothing to create the basic conditions for normal journalistic work.
Globally, media and journalists are facing perhaps the greatest challenge of the past several decades. The aggressive promotion of so-called “free speech” coming from across the Atlantic threatens not only media freedom and professional journalism but also seeks to undermine the very foundations of all democratic societies. This threat is all the more real and serious because it comes from the most powerful country in the world - and from its top leaders. The concept of “free speech” in this context is nothing more than open and brutal propaganda that does not hesitate to promote the most poisonous and harmful content. Hate speech and disinformation lie at the core of these new “freedoms.”
For all these reasons, in the coming years, journalists and traditional media will need more support than ever before to defend their profession and their outlets from forces targeting not only traditional media but the entire democratic order worldwide.
Ranko Vujović
Executive Secretary
Media Council for Self-Regulation
