By The Trade Union of Media of Montenegro organized a meeting with representatives of Montenegrin media, the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Ministry of Justice, the Police Directorate, the Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on Journalists, and the OSCE Mission to Montenegro. The meeting discussed the Protocol for the Protection of Journalists and the modalities of the functioning of the Mechanism for the Safety of Journalists, modeled after the Dutch initiative PersVeilig.
In addition to the key modalities of the Mechanism’s functioning, the main challenges for its establishment were also identified.
Photo: SMCG
Participants stressed the urgent need to establish a protection model, as no journalist is immune to attacks — experience shows that representatives of various newsrooms have been targeted, regardless of political affiliation.
Therefore, the Mechanism should provide universal, accessible, and prompt legal and psychological assistance, a single crisis hotline, and preventive training, in order to guarantee the safety of media professionals and safeguard media freedom and pluralism.
It was also emphasized that forming the Mechanism will be significant for strengthening trust between institutions and the media, as well as for overcoming the deep polarization within the media community.
The establishment of a joint body, it was noted, represents an important step toward creating a safer environment for journalists and enhancing cooperation among all relevant stakeholders.
The meeting was organized within the framework of an EU-funded project.
