„The contract which TV of Montenegro signed with the NGO Center for Civic Education degrades the editorship of that house and endangers the independence of programs. Therefore, that document is not in accordance with the Law on National Public Broadcasting Service“, said Milan Radović at the meeting of the Council of the Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG) which was held yesterday.
The public broadcasting service signed contracts with several NGOs at the beginning of this year and, according to Vladan Mićunović, the director of Television of Montenegro, these contracts were beneficial since they contributed to the overall quality of the programs. Some members of the Council of the TV disagreed and said that „somebody from the outside is now able to control the program which can harm its reputation and undermine independence“.
„This contract authorized the legal entity from the outside to approve the subjects, to choose the journalists who would report the stories, to choose the guests… The legal entity pays fees to the journalists and editors. Now I’m asking these journalists to donate that money to charity, instead of keeping it for themselves“, said Radović.
Member of the Council, Perko Vukotić, agreed with Radović and suggested that an annex to this contract be made, which would provide the independence of the public broadcast service. Mićunović, on the other side, replied that there were no any legal obstacles for the fees that journalists get.
