The first out of four planned meetings of representatives of media self-regulatory bodies, devoted to cooperation of self-regulatory bodies for the purpose of uniform application of the Code of Journalists of Montenegro has been organized by Human Rights Action (HRA) today.

Amer Ramusović, president of the Self-Regulatory Local and Periodical Press Council, Božena Jelušić, Ombudswoman of daily Vijesti, Paula Petricevic, Ombudswoman of weekly Monitor, Ilija Jovićević, Ombudsman of daily Dan and Dragana Tripković, member of the RTCG Council for Consideration of Petitions and Complaints of Listeners and Viewers, discussed today about plagiarism, hate speech and offensive language in the media.

The Media Council for Self-Regulation (MCSR) has not responded to the invitation to take part in the discussions.

On behalf of HRA, the round table was moderated by Mr. Dragoljub Duško Vuković.

The participants of the round table agreed that plagiarism is one of the “deadly sins of journalism” and that editors and self-regulatory bodies have to pay much more attention to this problem. Also, they emphasized the necessity of distinguishing between offensive speech and hate speech.

Detailed conclusions from this and the following round tables will be published at the end of the cycle of discussions.

Project “Continuation of Debate on Code of Ethics and its Application” is funded by the British Embassy Podgorica.

For all additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mirjana Radović (mirjana@hraction.org)
Coordinator of programme Freedom of Expression
Human Rights Action