Soft censorship as a threat to journalism in Montenegro


06/11/2016

Daliborka Uljarevic, Executive Director of Center for Civic Education (CGO), speaks for SEE Media Observatory about the media and soft censorship in Montenegro. In Montenegro, soft censorship is exercised primarily through politicised, discretionary and non-transparent distribution of public money and subsidies to media

Lack of transparency, as well as lack of standard and equitable procedures in allocation of public funding seriously distort the media market, improving business prospects of some outlets and endangering the existence of others. Uljarevic says that this is directly related to how favourably or critically media outlets report on governmental activities. CGO was reporting mechanisms of potential influence of public institutions on media editorial policies, pointing to examples of abuse of public funds for manipulating media reporting to pursue partisan political goals.