Montenegro Media Sector Inquiry with Recommendations for Harmonisation with the Council of Europe and European Union standards Report by Tanja Kerševan Smokvina (ed.) Jean-François Furnémont Marc Janssen Dunja Mijatović Jelena Surčulija Milojević Snežana Trpevska 29 December 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................5 PROJECT BACKGROUND 5 FINDINGS AND PROPOSALS 6 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 13 PURPOSE 13 SCOPE 13 ORGANISATION 14 STRUCTURE 14 METHODOLOGY 16 CH. I: MARKET OVERVIEW AND ASSESSMENT ................................................................................... 17 CONTEXT AND ENVIRONMENT 17 ACCESS AND OFFER 18 ECONOMIC HEALTH AND DYNAMICS 20 LEGAL AND REGULATORY INTERVENTIONS 22 IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PUBLIC 23 POLICY BRIEF 24 CH. II: LEGAL AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK .............................................................................. 26 HARMONISATION: A STEP FORWARD, TWO BACK 26 LEGISLATION: OVERVIEW AND SUGGESTIONS 26 INSTITUTIONS: GAPS, OVERLAPS AND CAPTURE 35 THE NATIONAL REGULATORY AUTHORITY 40 POLICY BRIEF 42 CH. III: PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA ......................................................................................................... 44 PUBLICLY FUNDED MEDIA IN MONTENEGRO 44 ORGANISATION AND GOVERNANCE 44 FUNDING 46 AUTONOMY AND INDEPENDENCE 47 CONTENT: UNIVERSALITY AND DIVERSITY 50 RTCG AND ITS AUDIENCE, CITIZENS 52 THE FUTURE OF PSM IN MONTENEGRO 53 POLICY BRIEF 54 CH. IV: INTERNET INTERMEDIARIES AND ONLINE MEDIA PLATFORMS ............................................... 56 GOVERNANCE OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ONLINE 56 PREVENTION OF HATE SPEECH ONLINE 60 BLOCKING MESSENGER APPLICATIONS 60 SAFEGUARDING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ONLINE 61 POLICY BRIEF 62 2 CH. V: SUPPORT SCHEMES AND STATE AID ....................................................................................... 63 DIRECT AND INDIRECT SUPPORT TO MEDIA 63 STATE AID 63 SUPPORT TO AUDIOVISUAL PRODUCTION 65 STATE ADVERTISING 70 TOWARDS TRANSPARENT FUNDING OF MEDIA 72 POLICY BRIEF 73 CH. VI: TRANSPARENCY OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND MEDIA CONCENTRATION ................................. 74 MEDIA OWNERSHIP IN MEDIA POLICY DEBATES 74 TRANSPARENCY OF MEDIA OWNERSHIP IN MONTENEGRO 75 MEDIA CONCENTRATION IN MONTENEGRO 75 POLICY BRIEF 80 CH. VII: JOURNALISM – PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY AND SAFETY ........................................................ 81 TO THE CORE: INTEGRITY AND SAFETY 81 STATE OF PLAY IN MONTENEGRO 83 PROPOSALS TO THE INDUSTRY AND GOVERNMENT 86 POLICY BRIEF 95 CH. VIII: SELF-REGULATION OF THE MEDIA........................................................................................ 97 SELF-REGULATION IN COE AND EU POLICY DOCUMENTS 97 SCATTERED AND OVERLAPPING APPROACHES IN MONTENEGRO 99 LACK OF COOPERATION, FINANCING AND EVALUATION 100 IMPLEMENTATION, DELINEATION, PROMOTION 102 POLICY BRIEF 103 CH. IX: MEDIA LITERACY ................................................................................................................. 104 INTRODUCING THE SUBJECT 104 EU POLICIES AND CONCEPTUALISATIONS 104 PUBLIC SECTOR POLICIES AND INITIATIVES 106 THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM 107 POLICY BRIEF 112 CH. X: COPYRIGHT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS .............................................................. 114 THE SPECIFICS OF THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK 114 DIVISION OF POWERS AND COOPERATION 115 INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS 117 POLICY BRIEF 118 RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................... 120 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................. 126 APPX.1: ABBREVIATIONS 126 APPX.2: AUTHOR’S BIOS 128 3 APPX.3: PROJECT ROADMAP 130 APPX.4: LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 132 APPX.5: QUESTIONNAIRE 137 REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................... 147 TABLES AND FIGURES TABLE 1: MONTENEGRO IN MEDIA SUSTAINABILITY INDEX 2017 ............................................................................... 18 TABLE 2: SUPPLY OF AUDIOVISUAL SERVICES, INCLUDING FOREIGN CHANNELS ....................................................... 19 TABLE 3: LIST OF BODIES WITH STATUTORY RESPONSIBILITIES IN THE MEDIA SECTOR ............................................. 36 TABLE 4: AEM SUBSIDIES TO COMMERCIAL RADIO 2015-16 ...................................................................................... 67 TABLE 5: MONTENEGRO MEDIA SECTOR INQUIRY ROADMAP ................................................................................. 130 TABLE 6: PARTICIPANTS OF MEETINGS DURING THE ASSESSMENT .......................................................................... 132 FIGURE 1: PROPORTION OF RTCG PROGRAMMES BY GENRE FOR 2015 ..................................................................... 51 FIGURE 2: TYPE OF RADIO PROGRAMMES SUBSIDISED .............................................................................................. 68 FIGURE 3: DISTRIBUTION PLATFORMS MARKET SHARES 2011-16 .............................................................................. 69 FIGURE 4: OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE OF VIJESTI .......................................................................................................... 76 FIGURE 5: EXEMPLARY NEWS CONGLOMERATE ......................................................................................................... 77 FIGURE 6: MARKET PLURALITY RISKS .......................................................................................................................... 77 FIGURE 7: POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE RISKS ................................................................................................................ 78 4 Executive summary The Montenegro Media Sector Inquiry aims to contribute to the development and implementation of a media policy promoting and enabling freedom of expression and media freedom in Montenegro. Its key ambition is to provide Montenegro with concrete and useful support in launching the National Action Plan on the AVMS Policy, outlining actions needed for a thorough review of the existing media instruments and practices in the context of the European Integration Process of which Montenegro is a part. The inquiry revealed a weak and polarised media market with a high degree of state intervention and political parallelism, an inconsistent legal and institutional framework with obstacles to regulators’ full independence and effectiveness, fragmented self-regulation, risks related to journalists’ integrity and safety, as well as deviations from the principles of freedom of expression online. In the very last days of 2017, in the concluding phase of this report,1 it was announced that the Parliament had dismissed one of the most active members of the RTCG Council and replaced him by a well-known ex-functionary of the ruling party. This dismissal followed a series of early terminations of mandates not only of the RTCG Council Members, but also of an AEM Council Member. Given their extent and the fashion in which they are implemented, these moves represent a serious questioning of independence both of the national public service media company and the national regulatory authority. In order to ensure an improvement of media policies, legislation and practices for the benefit of the citizens of Montenegro, a strong commitment of the State authorities to the EU acquis and the Council of Europe standards is required. Instead of deteriorating the already achieved level of harmonisation and hitting new lows in practices towards the media and governing bodies, the country should speed up and facilitate the reforms in a coordinated and responsible way. Sustained efforts are needed to improve legal coherence, predictability and safety, strengthen implementation and enforcement of legislation, increase transparency of media funding and ownership, ensure conditions for the full transformation of the RTCG into a public service media company, and actively assert and bolster freedom of expression and of the media. Project background The Inquiry was suggested by the European Commission (EC) and was carried out through the Council of Europe (CoE) and the European Union (EU) joint programme "Reinforcing Judicial Expertise on Freedom of Expression and the Media in South-East Europe (JUFREX)" from August 2017 until January 2018. The overall objective of JUFREX, a three-year regional project, implemented in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", and Kosovo*,2 is to promote freedom of expression and freedom of the media in line with the Council of Europe standards. 1 The cut-off date of the report is the last working day of 2017, that is 29 December 2017. 2 This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence. 5 For the purpose of the inquiry, the CoE has established a team of international experts, selected via public tender in July 2017, with a mandate to conduct and complete the media sector inquiry by the end of January 2018. The expert team was composed of Tanja Kerševan Smokvina (team coordinator and editor of the report), Jean-François Furnémont, Marc Janssen, Dunja Mijatović,