PODGORICA, 28.08.2018. – Fund for the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Minorities in Montenegro has been supporting the media of minority nations for years. Anyway, Fund’s decisions have been followed by various controversies, and often by court proceedings.
The Fund launches a fundraising competition for projects aimed at protecting minorities twice a year.
The first allocation is made at the beginning and the second in the middle of the calendar year. The Fund is managed by the Steering Board and the Director appointed by the Steering Board. Minority peoples in Montenegro are represented in the Steering Board by national minority councils in Montenegro: Serbian, Albanian, Croatian, Muslim, Bosniak and Roma.
Last year, two competitions were awarded a total of EUR 972,926. The public call announced at the beginning of 2017 was worth 680,000 euros, while the July competition was worth 262,926 euros. The latest information for this year is not available on the Fund’s web site.
During both calls in 2017, support to media of national minorities was uniform and amounted to about 27% of the total funds allocated, as approximately EUR 260,000 was earmarked for electronic and printed media.
What is worrying is that the Fund’s data show that the degree of realization of projects that received support is only slightly higher than half. So in 2016, only 54.8% of projects were fully implemented, and even 19.3% were not realized or there are no reports on realization. What the Fund did on that occasion, is not known.
The results of the competition show that during both calls the Serbian National Council and organizations promoting the cultural values of the Serbian people received the most money. Over the past year, support to these organizations amounted to 133,400 euros. Thus, during both calls, Srpska TV received support from the Fund, in the amount of EUR 52,000 for projects “Informative Production” and “Serials of Srpska TV”. The publishing activity of the Serbian National Council was supported with 37,400 euros. “Serbian cool radio” received a grant in the amount of 27,000 euros in the second call. Behind all projects is the NGO “Society for Equality and Tolerance”, which media for years links with the President of the Serbian National Council, Momcilo Vuksanovic, who is also a member of the Steering Committee. The Serbian electronic newspaper, issued by the Serbian Cultural Center “Stefan Nemanja” received a project worth 17,000 euros.
When it comes to the Croatian people, for their media activity, 53.300 euros have been committed. The newspaper Hrvatski glasnik, published by Croatian Civil Society was supported with 14,000 euros, while the radio and the portal “Dux” received grants in the amount of 39,300 euros. This project was proposed by the NGO Croatian Organization “Dux croatorum”.
Media in the Albanian language received support in the amount of about 16,000 euros. Television from Tuzi, TV Boin got a green light for projects whose goals are the promotion of women and the special peculiarities of that region with 7,700 euros. The project has also approved to the TV Teuta from Ulcinj, and its value is 6,050 euros. The Fund also supported the Journal of Culture, Science and Social Issues, proposed by NGO “Malesia”, worth 2.050 euros.
Media aimed at promoting the cultural identity of Roma and Egyptians had projects worth around 25,000 euros. Thus, Roma Association’s „Roma Voice“ worth 12,000 Euros was approved, the Roma Cultural Center received 9,000 copies for the newspaper Alav, and the Roma and Egyptian Information Center, proposed by NGO Info Center Roma and Egyptians worth 3,250 euros.
Muslim organisation „Matica muslimanska Crne Gore“ received 3,500 euros for the magazine “Osvit glas Muslimana u Crnoj Gori”, while the Bosniak web portal, by author Almira Koljenovic, was supported with a grant in the amount of 2,500 euros.
Radio Elita received financial support of 4,585 euros, Radio series “Bisernica 18,000 euros, newspaper “Almanah” 7,400, portal www.sehara.me by Adis Pepic, 4,750 euros.
The recent amendments to the Law on the Protection of Minority Rights attempted to put a stop to the controversy following the decisions of the Fund regarding the allocation of funds. So, the decision on the allocation was no longer passed by the Steering Board of this institution, but by the director of the Fund, Safet Kurtagić.
The law also stipulates that at least 0.15% of the current budget is for the functioning of the Fund, and 70% of that amount goes to financing projects aimed at the preservation and promotion of minority rights.
Assembly finances “Koha javore”
There are also other ways of state-supporting media. The example is weekly „Koha javore“, on the Albanian language.
The Montenegrin Parliament decided to financially support this media.
According to the annual Budget of the Montenegrin Parliament, 100,000 euros each year goes to the account of the weekly “Koha Javore”.
This solution came in 2014 when, until then, the state Pobjeda, which issued weekly “Koha javore”, was privatized and the new owner was not intimidated for Albanian-language newspapers. As it was estimated at that time, the weekly was of great importance for informing the Albanians in Montenegro, it was found that the Assembly should took over this obligation.
This article has been produced as a part of the project Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for advocating media freedom and journalists’ safety with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia and its authors, and can in no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.