By The Ombudsman of Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG), Ivan Ivanović, upheld a complaint submitted by the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro (TUMM), stating that the Public Broadcaster’s portal violated its obligation to publish a response from TUMM’s leadership.
TUMM filed the complaint on June 19, after the RTCG portal published a one-sided article, originally taken from the RTV Podgorica portal, in which RTV Podgorica director Vladimir Otašević claimed that TUMM President Radomir Kračković and Vice President Marijana Camović-Veličković allegedly asked him to stay silent about illegal fuel usage and calls for physical confrontation at RTV Podgorica. The story was later broadcast in the news on the First Channel of RTCG.
Although TUMM promptly submitted a response, it was aired only on television, while the portal ignored it and left the disputed article featured on its homepage for nearly the entire day.
“Additionally, given that Otašević’s statement was part of correspondence between TUMM leadership and the management of City RTV, and that the editorial team of the Public Broadcaster (both TV and portal) chose to publish only Otašević’s version—taken out of context—it is clear that the motive behind this decision was not in the public interest,” stated the SMCG in its complaint.
They added: “What is particularly problematic is that the article contains a large number of serious and false accusations that required a factual rebuttal. RTCG Portal was obliged to publish the response from the Union’s leadership, but failed to do so.”
TUMM emphasized that this conduct violates the Montenegrin Journalists’ Code of Ethics, which clearly states that journalists must serve the public interest, respect truth and facts, and strive to provide complete and accurate information.
“Furthermore, this approach by the RTCG portal management also violates the Media Law, which mandates the publication of a response in the same manner and prominence as the original article (see Article 61), a point that was highlighted in our submitted response,” said the Union.
RTCG Portal Editors Claim No Breach of Code or Law
The editorial board of the RTCG portal responded by saying there is neither legal nor professional basis to claim they violated the Media Law or the Journalists’ Code of Ethics.
“The article was republished as a finished product from a media outlet that operates independently and is responsible for its own content. In that context, RTCG Portal was not obligated to simultaneously publish a response to an article that was not originally theirs. Such a practice is not required by either the Law or the Code,” they stated.
They added that the public broadcaster does not edit content under pressure, and therefore, the RTCG Portal editorial team cannot be obligated to automatically publish every response to republished content.
“The obligation to publish a response applies only to original content, which is not the case here,” the editors stated.
Ombudsman Rejects Editorial Board’s Arguments
However, the Ombudsman found that Article 61 of the Media Law clearly defines the right to respond, regardless of the source of the information, if it could potentially infringe on someone’s rights or interests.
“A person affected by information that may harm their rights or interests has the right to request from the editor-in-chief the publication of a response that disputes, supplements, or corrects false, incomplete, or inaccurately conveyed information, without compensation,” the Ombudsman’s decision states.
He concluded that the Law does not support the editors’ argument that they have no obligation to publish a response because the content wasn’t originally authored by them, and thus rejected their claim.
He instructed the RTCG portal editors to publish TUMM’s response in the same place and with the same prominence and duration as the original article that prompted the complaint. He also urged them to align their editorial policy with the Media Law, especially with regard to the right to respond.
The Ombudsman also noted that this is the second complaint he has received regarding the portal’s failure to publish a response, which signals an urgent need for the outlet to align its operations with legal standards.
Concern Over Fundamental Misunderstanding of Law and Ethics
TUMM leaders welcomed the Ombudsman’s decision but noted that the response came more than a month after the complaint was submitted.
They stated that while this does not formally breach legal deadlines, it undermines the purpose of the right to timely response, whose goal is to correct misinformation while it is still fresh in the public domain.
“At this point, publishing our response—if it even happens, which we doubt—would seem pointless and belated, as the damage has already been done and the public has been denied a timely view of the other side of the story,” TUMM leadership said, adding that they are now awaiting the RTCG portal to follow through with the Ombudsman’s recommendation and publish their response.
They stressed that, for a public service broadcaster, this is more than just a procedural oversight.
“What worries us most is that the RTCG portal’s editorial team demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of both the Media Law and the Journalists’ Code of Ethics, as well as journalism itself. Nevertheless, we hope they will respect the Ombudsman’s findings and finally align their editorial policy with legal standards and professional ethics,” concluded the TUMM.
