PODGORICA, 23.04.2020. – News programs on all Montenegrin televisions with national coverage are oriented towards factual reporting, transmission of credible sources, opinions and interpretations by the competent authorities.
This is the finding of the Broadcasting Agency of Montenegro, presented in the latest Analysis of the TV program with national coverage.
“The effort made to avoid speculation and sensationalism in the content and to inform and educate viewers about the risks and ways of protection is recognized”, the document states.
For the purposes of the analysis, between March 26 and April 1, 2020, four television broadcasts were analyzed: First Television of Montenegro, TV Prva, TV Vijesti and TV Nova M.
According to the document, a total of 13 hours of informative program, predominantly dedicated to informing the public about the current COVID-19 epidemic, are broadcast daily on the program of four observed television broadcasters. Almost 85% of the time in the central news programs was related to information and topics related to the COVID-19 epidemic.
The Agency’s overall assessment is that there was no sensationalism and panic in the programs covered.
“There have been no reports of information being transmitted that would violate the privacy rights of those affected by the new coronavirus and others affected by these events. All the televisions observed adequately directed viewers to the official information channels of the competent state services”, the analysis states.
However, of the 35 individual content on all four television stations observed, only one content, “Dnevnik 1”, of Television of Montenegro, had a sign language translation. This represents only 3.8% of the total information broadcast for four broadcasters. During the period under review, there was no Albanian and Romani content.
“Given the need for the entire population to be informed in a timely manner about events of public health importance, the Agency urges television broadcasters to pay particular attention to the availability of published information to hearing impaired persons, as well as in Albanian and Roma languages,” the experts recommended.