PODGORICA, 24.03.2020. – The Montengrin media will receive the assistance from Government and other state’s bodies, in amount of around 265,000 euros, as a support to recover from the effects of the corona virus pandemic.
Out of that amount, 150,000 euros was provided for print media, for assistance to local public broadcasters is planed the amount of 35,000 euros, and commercial and public broadcasters will be exempted from paying fees to the Agency for Electronic Media, in the amount of 80,000 euros.
The department headed by the Minister of Culture, Aleksandar Bogdanovic, recently launched a public competition for support to the print media in the amount of 150,000 euros.
“In this way, we want to support the activities of daily print media for the creation and production of content of public interest, in order to practice the right of citizens to be informed and educated on all issues, problems and consequences related to the corona virus”, emphasized Bogdanovic.
At the same time, the Agency for Electronic Media accepted the recommendation of the Government of Montenegro and made a decision to completely release the electronic media from the obligation to pay the Agency fee for the next three months.
“This measure provides additional support in excess of 80,000 euros for electronic media, all with the aim of supporting the media in order to ensure continuity in their work in these challenging times”, Bogdanovic said.
He added that one-time financial support for 14 local public broadcasters was also allocated, in the amount of 35,000 euros.
“These funds will be used to create a correspondence network that will enable Montenegrin public and national-frequency media to receive material from other cities, in the form of multimedia content, in the shortest possible time”, Bogdanovic said.
In this way, he said, the aspiration was to strengthen the capacities of the local media, to assist the national media and to encourage timely public information, but also to comply with the recommendations of the National Coordinating Body for Infectious Diseases related to reduced intensity. movements of citizens and thus of journalists.
“All of the above is only a part of the measures to encourage the media sector, whose employees these days are on a demanding task and are doing an exceptional job, to which the entire Montenegrin public is grateful”, Bogdanovic concluded.