TUMM’s Retrospective: 10 Major Initiatives in 2025

For the Media Union of Montenegro, 2025 was a year marked by the continuation of the struggle to improve the position of media workers, as well as a period in which new initiatives and projects were launched. In addition to regular activities such as providing support to members, organizing workshops, trainings and seminars, and publicly advocating for better working conditions in the media, the Union also opened several new and important topics during the year.

Below, we highlight ten of the most significant activities of the Media Union of Montenegro in 2025.

1. Protocol on the Protection of Journalists

We initiated the signing of the Protocol on the Protection of Journalists, which represents a key step toward establishing a Mechanism for the Safety of Journalists, aimed at strengthening the institutional framework for media protection in Montenegro. In addition to the Media Union, the Protocol was signed by representatives of the prosecution, the police, relevant ministries, and the media community.

At a session held at the end of December, the Government adopted a Decision on establishing an Interdepartmental Working Group for the creation of a mechanism for the safety of journalists, marking the first concrete step toward the implementation of the Protocol.

The idea of the Mechanism is based on successful European models, and through it, attacked media workers will receive concrete support, including legal and psychological assistance.

2. Psychological Support Service

The Psychological Support Service, led for the third consecutive year by psychologist Dragana Đokić, continued to play an important role among our membership throughout 2025. We organized numerous trainings focused on the psychological safety of media workers, as well as on organizational culture in newsrooms more broadly. During the year, nearly 200 individual consultations were provided to members of the Media Union through this service.

3. Legal Support Service

The Legal Support Service, led for several years by lawyer Mirko Bošković, handled dozens of cases in 2025 based on requests from media employees. These cases primarily concerned safety issues, but also the protection of labor rights of media workers. The service assisted our members during disciplinary proceedings initiated against them and protected their rights in court proceedings.

In addition to providing direct legal assistance to Union members, the service actively monitored and analyzed the existing legal framework, with the aim of improving legislation and strengthening the protection of media workers’ rights.

We also initiated new amendments to the Criminal Code, and during the public consultation process, the Ministry of Justice accepted three out of four of our proposals. As a result of our advocacy, stricter penalties were introduced for the criminal offense of minor bodily harm committed against journalists, the definition of “endangering security” was expanded, and more precise penalties for coercion against journalists were introduced. We also proposed introducing a qualified form of the criminal offense of stalking when the victim is a journalist. Although this proposal was not accepted, we remain firm in our view that such protection must be clear and specific.

4. Exhibition of Montenegrin Photojournalists

On the occasion of Journalists’ Day in Montenegro, we organized an exhibition of Montenegrin photojournalists titled “From Frame to Frame: Stories of Journalism” at the “Budo Tomović” Cultural and Information Center, with the aim of highlighting the importance of news photography and the position of photojournalists in Montenegro. Visitors had the opportunity to see 30 photographs by 11 prominent Montenegrin photojournalists, further increasing the visibility of their professional role and the challenges they face in practice. The exhibition was complemented by a forum dedicated to working conditions in the media, where participants and the audience could further discuss the role and contribution of photojournalists in contemporary journalism.

5. Campaign on Journalists’ Safety

We launched an online campaign aimed at drawing attention to the importance of physical, psychological, and digital safety of journalists. More than 30 colleagues from various media outlets participated in the campaign, sharing personal testimonies and messages about the risks journalists face in their daily work. The campaign sought to raise public awareness and to empower media workers to speak openly about safety challenges and the need for systemic protection.

 

6. Monitoring of Court Proceedings

Our monitoring team attended 29 hearings in cases where our colleagues were victims of attacks. This activity is carried out in order to directly monitor the actions of competent institutions in cases involving attacks on journalists, and to send a message to our attacked colleagues and to the wider public that they are not alone and that attacks on journalists must not be tolerated. The interested public could follow reports from these hearings on the SafeJournalists network website.

7. Research on the Safety of Media Workers

We published the first Research on the Safety of Women Journalists in Montenegro (2021–2024), which provides a detailed overview of threats, pressure, violence, and discrimination faced by women journalists in their work. In addition, the SafeJournalists network, of which we are a member, initiated the signing of the Declaration on the Safety of Women Journalists in the Western Balkans. The document was signed by a total of 360 journalism associations, trade unions, media outlets, public institutions, civil society organizations, as well as individual journalists and experts across the region.

Furthermore, for several years we have been monitoring the level of media freedom and journalist safety in Montenegro through the Journalist Safety Index and Indicators of Media Freedom and Journalist Safety. These are research-based tools that measure and track changes affecting the safety of journalists and media actors.

8. Media Financing

We also published the fourth study on media business operations in Montenegro. Through this work, we aim to closely monitor changes in the media industry and their effects on the economic and social position of media employees. The findings of the research also serve as a strong argument in negotiations with employers over improving working conditions.

9. Youth Magazine

The Youth and Freelancers Section was active this year as well, with its members once again demonstrating that trade unionism is relevant to young people and that unions can be an important space for articulating and addressing their needs. In addition to regular activities, the Section published three issues of the youth magazine “Ekipa,” featuring around 40 analytical articles, interviews, and columns. Our young colleagues are already preparing a new issue to be published in 2026.

 

10. Trainings, Education, Public Discussions