The Media Council for Self-Regulation (MSS) strongly condemns the brutal and dangerous attempts to criminalize journalistic work and target media outlets that report professionally, responsibly, and critically on social and political issues.
The Media Council for Self-Regulation of Montenegro hosted the 26th annual conference of the Alliance of Independent Media Councils of Europe (AIPCE) entitled "Do media councils have a future?". The gathering was attended by more than 60 participants from 30 countries from three continents, and Montenegro thus became the first country in the Western Balkans to host this prestigious international event.
The conference “Do Press Councils Have a Future?” will begin on Thursday, 25 September, and will last for two days. At the same time, the annual conference of the Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe (AIPCE) will also be held.
The Media Council for Self-Regulation is this year’s host of the AIPCE conference, and this is the first time in 30 years of the Alliance’s existence that the event is being organized in one of the Western Balkan countries.
The Ministry of Defence “by mistake” sent an email to the newsroom of Antena M, which it admitted, and then openly refused accreditation for attending the press conference.
At the meeting of the Board of directors of the Media Council for Self-Regulation, which was held on September 11, 2025, the members were informed about the upcoming activities of the Media Council, and the most significant of which is the organization of the upcoming AIPCE conference in Budva.
The state is increasingly proving itself either powerless or simply unwilling to protect journalists and media workers. Evidence of this lies in the growing number of brutal verbal and physical attacks that continue to go unpunished.
Under the title “Do Press Councils Have a Future?”, the annual conference of the Alliance of Independent Press Councils of Europe (AIPCE) will be held in Montenegro on 25 and 26 September, 2025. This annual gathering of European press and media councils, which takes place in a different European country every year, will be, for the first time, organized in one of the Western Balkan countries.
Media Council for Self-Regulation Council (MSS) strongly condemns the attack on colleagues from Vijesti and Pobjeda, who were physically assaulted, harassed, detained, and whose work equipment was seized and partially destroyed while they were professionally carrying out their task – reporting to the public on events in Gornje Zaostro, where Chetnik apologists, led by Metropolitan Joanikije, glorified a man under whose command innocent people were killed 80 years ago.
Several media outlets in Montenegro this morning published a video of an attempted murder in Budva, thereby grossly violating the Montenegrin Journalists’ Code of ethics and demonstrating irresponsibility towards the public and the profession.
The footage of yesterday’s murder in Podgorica, published in full by the IN4S portal, along with screenshots showing the perpetrator holding a firearm and aiming at the victim, represents the crudest form of sensationalist journalism.
