Decision on Sanja Crnić's appeal to the Analitika portal

The Appeals Commission did not find a violation of principle 4 of the Code of Journalists of Montenegro in the disputed text, nor elements of hate speech in the sense of guideline 4.1, nor content intended to spread hostility or hatred towards a religious or national community. The Commission also assesses that the use of the phrase "Church of Serbia" in itself does not constitute a violation of the Code.

The Commission, however, notices certain shortcomings in the way of presenting the features worn in the procession, which indicate insufficient precision and completeness of their contextual assessment. Although journalists are expected to exercise a higher degree of professional attention and more comprehensive fact-checking when reporting on issues that have a religious and identity dimension, the Commission assesses that the identified shortcomings are not of such intensity that they could be considered a violation of guidelines 1.2. (Accuracy) and 1.3. (Handling of sources) of the Code of Journalists of Montenegro. The tricolor with four S is also an official symbol of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is why its more precise contextualization would contribute to more complete information of the public.

Explanation

The Media Council for Self-Regulation received a complaint from reader Sanja Crnić regarding the article published on the Analitika portal, which reports on the religious procession held on 21 May, 2026, in Herceg Novi, led by Metropolitan Joanikije Mićović, with along Metropolitan of Zahum-Herzegovina Dimitrije Radjenović and the clergy, and reportedly attended by the Mayor of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, Stevan Katić.

The complainant makes several objections. She believes that the article incites hatred towards the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Serbian national minority and the citizens of Herceg Novi, and that it is a text that is "purely manipulative, with a tendency to arouse hatred" towards the SPC and the Serbian people in Montenegro. Secondly, she states that the journalist deliberately uses the incorrect term "Church of Serbia", emphasizing that it is the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro and that the phrase used implies that it is a church from another country that is illegally located on the territory of Montenegro. Thirdly, it indicates that the religious procession is a church event that contains exclusively church symbols, that the tricolor is an age-old symbol of the Serbian Orthodox Church that does not belong to the national symbols, and that the other flags used on that day do not represent state symbols either. The complainant particularly emphasizes that state insignia are not used at church litias, nor, in her opinion, should they be.

The Media Council requested a statement from the editorial office. In the response of the main and responsible editor of the Analitika portal, Rosanda Mučalica, the claim that the text contains elements of hate speech or that its goal is to incite intolerance towards any religious or national community is completely rejected, with the explanation that there is no element in the text that calls for discrimination, violence or hostility, which the editors indicate as a key criterion for qualifying the content as hate speech.

With regard to the term "Church of Serbia", the editorial office states that it is not an arbitrary term, but a term present in public, academic and international contexts, and refers to its use on reference Orthodox platforms, the website of the canonically recognized Orthodox Church in America, which bears the name "Church of Serbia", as well as on the Orthodox Times portal and the website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The editors believe that the use of that term in public discourse is not offensive or dehumanizing, but represents one of the ways of referring to the Serbian Orthodox Church in certain linguistic, translation and contextual frameworks, and that media practice often reflects the plurality of terms that exist in public communication. Allegations related to the religious processions and the use of symbols are marked by the editorial office as an interpretation of the event and its socio-political context, which, according to her opinion, falls within the domain of journalistic freedom and the right to report and comment on public events, with the assessment that the text remains within the framework of professional standards.

The Commission considered the allegations from the complaint, the editorial response and the available content.

With regard to complaints about hate speech, the Commission accepts part of the editorial's statement. Guideline 4.1. The Code prescribes:

"The media must not publish material intended to spread hostility or hatred towards persons because of their race, ethnic origin, nationality, religion (...). The same applies if there is a high probability that the publication of some material would cause the aforementioned hostility and hatred."

The Commission states that the disputed text does not contain a call to discrimination, violence or hostility, nor derogatory qualifications aimed at a religious or national community, and that it cannot be qualified as hate speech. The Commission equally assesses that the use of the phrase "Church of Serbia", although disputed in public discourse, does not in itself constitute a violation of the Code. At the same time, the Commission notes that the existence of that term in foreign, translation or international contexts, to which the editors refer, does not affect the assessment of the accuracy of the representation of the features on the litia, because it is a matter of two separate issues.

The Commission, however, cannot accept the thesis of the editors that the presentation of the features in its entirety falls within the domain of free interpretation. The Commission noticed certain shortcomings in the way of presenting the features worn in the procession, which indicate insufficient precision and completeness of their contextual assessment. Although journalists are expected to exercise a higher degree of professional attention and more comprehensive fact-checking when reporting on issues that have a religious and identity dimension, the Commission assesses that the identified shortcomings are not of such intensity that they could be considered a violation of guidelines 1.2. (Accuracy) and 1.3. (Handling of sources) of the Code of Journalists of Montenegro. The tricolor with four S is also an official symbol of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is why its more precise contextualization would contribute to more complete information of the public.

Commission for Monitoring and Complaints

Aneta Spaić

Sonja Drobac

Danilo Burzan

Branko Vojičić

Ranko Vujović