Within the project, „Monitoring of Journalistic Self-Regulatory Bodies in Montenegro“ funded by the British Embassy Podgorica, HRA carried out the following activities from September 2012 to September 2014:

• Daily monitoring of media with national coverage in Montenegro and performance of two, out of three in total, self-regulatory journalistic bodies. Project team identifies media reporting irregularities for five daily newspapers, one weekly, and portals (television and radio shows are monitored when required) regarding violations of the Code of Montenegrin Journalists and freedom of expression standards from the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, and analyses responses of the self-regulatory bodies to the identified irregularities.

• Development of monitoring reports based on monitoring results. The reports will include case studies – description of irregularities observed in practice, analysis of self-regulatory bodies’ performance regarding the identified irregularities or lack of anticipated action of the bodies, and when appropriate, recommendations for improvement of self-regulatory bodies’ operation. Three semi-annual and one final report will be published assessing overall progress in media self-regulation.

• Translation and distribution of translated summaries of the relevant European Court of Human Rights judgments and other CoE standards. In cooperation with Peter Noorlander, attorney at law and director of the Media Law Defence Initiative London, selected summaries of the relevant ECtHR decisions, and other CoE standards and recommendations are prepared biweekly and distributed to members of the media self-regulatory bodies, journalists, NGOs, etc.

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Monitoring of Journalistic Self-Regulatory Bodies in Montenegro

(September 2012 – September 2014)