PODGORICA, August 23, 2021 – Although announced, the changes listed in the new Media Law did not occur during the first year of application of the umbrella media law.
One of the significant novelties of the Law is, among other things, the obligation to keep a record of media payments based on advertising and other contractual obligations.
In this way, the long-standing criticism of the civil sector addressed to the state funding of certain media, gets its epilogue.
Those records were supposed to be available by March 31 for the previous year, and the new authorities recently sent a reminder to the public administration bodies on their obligation to record and publish such expenditures on their websites.
“Through the transparency of media financing by public sector bodies, continuous public insight into the amount, their type and basis are enabled,” says the invitation of the Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media.
The Ministry also keeps a record of financial resources allocated to the media from public revenues. The records contain data on the funds received for public services and the funds received from the public sector.
“The obligation to submit data has the public sector bodies that allocate funds for the provision of public services, as well as the founder of the media within 30 days from the day of allocation, ie obtaining financial resources,” reads the invitation.
In the form of an annual report, the Ministry announces the total allocation of public sector funds to the media as of June 1 of the current year for the previous year.