BRISEL, 23.10.2019. – Međunarodna federacija novinara (IFJ) je povodom pritvaranja ekipe Radio Beograda i zadržavanja novinara televizije Pink i agencije Tanjug na administrativnom prelazu Jarinje danas poslala pismo predsedniku Kosova u kojem se kosovske vlasti pozivaju na poštovanje međunarodnih standarda i prestanak uznemiravanja novinara koji prate događaje na Kosovu.

U pismu u koje je UNS imao uvid, IFJ izražava duboku zabrinutost zbog pritvaranja novinara i odvraćanja medija da izveštavaju sa teritorije Kosova, kao i sve većih pretnji i napada na novinare.

„Ovakve mere narušavaju slobodu medija i uskraćuju novinarima njihovo pravo na slobodu kretanja i obavljanja profesionalnih dužnosti bez uznemiravanja ili nepotrebnog ograničenja“, navodi se u pismu IFJ-a koje je potpisao generalni sekretar Antoni Belanger (Anthony Bellanger).

IFJ je u pismu je obavestio kosovske vlasti da je, prema informacijama koje mu je UNS dostavio, u petak, 4. oktobra bez obrazloženja ekipa Radio Beograda bila pritvorena u policijskoj stanici u južnoj Kosovskoj Mitrovici, kao i da su istoga dana više od dva sata na administrativnom prelazu Jarinje zadržane ekipe televizije Pink i agencije Tanjug.

U pismu se navodi da je četvoročlanu ekipu Radio Beograda policija zaustavila, pretresla službeno vozilo Radio-televizije Srbije, da su muški deo ekipe pretresli kao kriminalce, kao i da su odvedeni na saslušanje u stanicu u Južnoj Mitrovici, gde su im oduzeti mobilni telefoni.

„Posle šest sati ekipa je puštena na slobodu, uz napomenu da treba da se vrati u Severnu Kosovsku Mitrovicu, jer nije bezbedno da ide ka Gračanici gde se prvobitno uputila, iako toga dana nije bilo nikakvih incidenata i opasnosti na putu od Mitrovice ka Prištini i Gračanici”, navodi se u pismu.

IFJ u pismu podseća i da je 11. septembra ekipa RTS-a na putu za Severnu Kosovsku Mitrovicu zadržana 25 sati na administrativnom prelazu Jarinje, iako je blagovremeno podnela dokumentaciju koja je neophodna za ulazak na teritoriju Kosova.

SKOPJE, 22.10.2019 – The Association of Journalists of Macedonia in cooperation with Alfred Friendly Press Partners Institute completed a project cycle of five workshops for training of young journalists. These workshops were held over the last six months as part of a project supported by the US Embassy in North Macedonia. The main goal of the project was to improve the journalistic skills of a group of young journalists.

The workshops involved 15 young journalists from across the country, who learned how to use modern tools for creating journalistic content from media experts from the country and the United States. Also, topics such as: data-driven in-depth reporting, mobile journalism, production of audio and video materials, effective story presentations etc., were included in the training program.

After the workshops finished, the president of AJM, Mladen Chadikovski said that he expects from them to apply their skills in the future and to always work in the public interest. “I hope that the young colleagues who have successfully passed the five workshops will set a positive example of how journalists in the Republic of North Macedonia should work and report, and thus we will get a better informed audience and public,” said Chadikovski.

In addition you can see the promotional video that was made to complete this project.

BELGRADE, 22.10.2019. – The Brainz TV Director Zivojin Petrovic said on Tuesday that the TV YouTube channel was hacked and that they had no control over it right now, N1 reported.

Brainz TV is a platform which informs the audience about science, education and culture. It’s a part of the United Media along with N1 TV.

PODGORICA, 21.10.2019. – One of the priorities in the work of the Police Directorate is the suppression and resolution of attacks on journalists, media and their property, as well as preventive action in order to facilitate the uninterrupted execution of a journalistic work in Montenegro. This was said at the meeting of representatives of the Police Directorate and the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (SMCG).

The meeting, initiated by SMCG, was attended by Enis Bakovic, Assistant Director of the Sector for Criminalist Police of the Police Directorate, Aleksandar Boskovic, Head of Department for the Suppression of General Crime in the Sector for Criminalist Police and Miodrag Furtula, high-ranking Criminal Police Officer, and President and Vice President of SMCG Marijana Camovic and Radomir Krackovic.

Bakovic pointed out that out of four crimes against journalists that occurred during 2018, three were resolved and are legaly finished. He emphasized that with new job classification in the Sector for Criminalist Police, his colleague Furtula was specifically appointed to coordinate all police and prosecutorial activities in cases of attacks on journalists at the level of Montenegro on a continuous basis. Also, two police inspectors have been appointed in all the centers and departments of security in the municipalities, which are responsible for coordinating this work at the local level.

In this way, the Police Directorate undertakes preventive and repressive activities in its work, and overall action were assessed by the Council of Europe representatives as an extremely positive and unique approach in the area of ​​Southeast Europe. This mode of action was registered as the first case of comprehensive treatment of this issue by police services in the region.

Police officers entrusted with this work have extensive experience.

Furtula said that one of their tasks was to analyze cases from an earlier period and that, thanks to their work, one case of theft from 2015 journalists, where journalist was victim, was solved.

SMCG representatives emphasized the importance of resolving all cases of attacks against journalists and expressed their expectation that a new way of treating these cases within the Police Directorate would produce the desired results in the coming period.

Association of Journalists of Kosovo, OSCE, and Ministry of Internal Affairs organized a three-day workshop on “Capacity building training for communication officers and journalists through the ‘victims first’ approach.” The workshop took place in Tirana, from 18 to 20 October 2019.

Representatives of the MIA, experts from Kosovo Police, media experts and 15 participating journalists discussed about the role and responsibility of media in preventing trafficking in human beings as well as the international standards that journalists should adhere to when reporting on this phenomenon.

PODGORICA, 19.10.2019. – Montenegrin Code of journalists states that the media must act in good faith, even when they are strongly criticized, unsuspecting personal attacks cannot be protected by the right to freedom of expression. Freedom of expression in the media provides a wide space for free action and information for citizens, as long as they respect journalistic ethics and the rights they have been granted treating responsibly. The problem arises when a journalist, as an individual, editorial board or other person deviates from ethics and the public interest for material gain, or for some other reason. Where is the limit to which journalists are allowed to go when talking about individuals, even those working as public officials, in such a way that they question their reputation and honor?

Was Montenegrin society prepared to decriminalize insults and defamation and would their reintroduction into the Criminal Code endanger media freedoms?

In practice, the media can use the right to freedom of expression as an excuse to threaten the rights of the individual, damaging their reputation. Thus, they draw the attention of the public to their work, leading to personal quarrels, political or other disputes with people who don’t think the same as they do. It is similar beyond the borders of our country, as exemplified by the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

The issue of the balance between freedom of expression and libel and defamation has been repeatedly raised in front of the European Court of Human Rights. Thus, in the case of Krutil v. Germany, the court concluded that the right to freedom of expression of the journalist had not been violated, when he publicly compared his colleague with Goebbels, the minister of propaganda in Nazi Germany. The Court considered that in this way the journalist had damaged the reputation of his colleague, which exceeded the limit of acceptable criticism.

The European Court of Justice has done the same in the cases of Perna v. Italy, Łozowska v. Poland, Kinces v. Hungary, without giving priority to freedom of expression at all costs.

Endangered personal rights can be accompanied by compensation for non-pecuniary damage, which may not be a significant barrier for some media. If we consider journalism as a business (from the perspective of media owners), financially stable media can channel some cash to compensate the harm they do to certain individuals, if that story brings them (by their standards) sufficient publicity and money. The amount of the fine and damages for the violation of honor and reputation should be commensurate with the gravity of the infringed right. In the case law of the European Court of Justice, there have also been cases where the amount of compensation for non-pecuniary damage has led to a violation of the right to freedom of expression. Thus, in the case of Filipović v. Serbia, the applicant had to pay a fine equal to his total income for six months, and in the case of Koprivica v. Montenegro, the penalty was 25 times higher than his monthly income. The Court concluded that this was a violation of the right to freedom of expression.

From a journalistic point of view, it is not difficult to determine where the line between sharp criticism and blatant insult is, but it is often the presence of editorial influence on the words behind the journalist as the author of the text. Are editors the ones encouraging disrespect for the line between reputation infringement and freedom of expression? Is taking the word out of context for greater circulation justified? Can a violation of this article of the Code be one of a series of “business games” by media outlets?

It is necessary to work on professional and ethical media standards. It is necessary to insist on compliance with the Code of Ethics and its unconditional implementation. Through the process of self-regulation, the media should correct their shortcomings and create conditions where freedom of expression will be considered a priority, but respecting their obligations, counteracting the abuse of power of public speech. They don’t currently do that.

Jovana Svrkota, graduate journalist

The text was created within the project “Monitoring for free media” implemented by the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro within the framework of a major project “Judicial Reform: Upgrading CSO’s capacities to contribute to the integrity of judiciary” financed by the European Union, and implemented by the Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMi) in partnership with the NGO Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM) and the Network for the Affirmation of European Integration Processes (MAEIP).

BEOGRAD, 18.10.2019. – U zemlji koja ima tešku istoriju ubistava novinara niko ne bi trebalo da odmahuje rukom na pritiske na novinare, rekao je za Dojče vele (DW) direktor televizije N1 Jugoslav Ćosić.

“Srbija ima tako tešku i frustrirajuću istoriju sa ubistvima novinara, pokušajima ubistava, paljenjem kuća, ovakvim pritiscima. Ne znam da li iko može da dozvoli luksuz i da kaže ma to je običan incident”, rekao je Ćosić za DW govoreći o poslednjem incidentu kada su dvojica maskiranih muškaraca u dvorište TV N1 ubacili letke na kojima piše “Republika Srbija doviđenja. Dobrodošli u Luksemburg”.

Ćosić je podsetio da je pre izvesnog vremena predsednik Srbije Aleksandar Vučić prestao da pominje “američku televiziju”.

“Uz neku vrstu poluizvinjenja i to tek kad ga je upozorila naša novinarka. Kao, on do sada nije kapirao kakvu vrstu karme nama to donosi. To se ne menja iz vremena radikala – samo nazovi medije antisrpskim! To se radilo devedesetih, a radi se i sada. Sad je samo inkarnacija drukčija – sad smo ‘luksemburški'”, navodi Ćosić.

Dodaje da se “gura” priča da TV N1 nelegalno posluje iako je, podseća Ćosić, premijerka jasno rekla da televizija posluje tako što koristi “rupe u zakonu”.

“U celom svetu je to eufemizam za poslovanje po zakonu samo što ona ne sme to javno kaže”, ističe Ćosić.

Ceo intervju sa Jugoslavom Ćosićem pročitajte na sajtu DW.