A representative of NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro attended the 4th Regional Conference of Equality Bodies in Southeast Europe, held in Podgorica on 29.10.2019. at the Ramada Hotel.
Prof. Dr. Andrea Spaic opened the fourth Panel Discussion on “Media and Equality Bodies – Natural Allies or Just a Source of Information in the Fight Against the Discrimination”. She spoke about the new dimension and the role given to the media as educators, communications, empowerment and public awareness in what is a need for all of us.
“It connects equality bodies and the media as the main transmitters of what are not only human rights violations.” Prof. Dr. Andrea Spaic said.
Gender Equality Ombudsperson Chief of Staff Mladenka Morovic spoke about the experience of the Gender Equality Ombudsperson of the Republic of Croatia. She also talked about basic discrimination and areas.
“Women are still often portrayed in the media as stereotypical and sexist, placed in the private sphere, at home and in the family, or portrayed as sexual objects.”
Assistant Director of the Agency For Electronic Media, Suncica Bakic, said that the agency publishes a number of information and analysis from a broader human rights code every year in an attempt to break that silence and said that the media were not separated from society.
“According to data from last year, every fifth television advertisement is gender stereotyped.” Suncica Bakic said.
The Deputy Commissioner for Equality for Republic of Serbia, Mirjana Kecman, spoke about the importance of the media for today’s society and when several media outlets were accompanied, many ministers and directors were replaced. She further stated that the fact that the media can be promoters of both discrimination and tolerance.
The editor of the MINA agency, Milan Zugic said that the media should be divided into two parts: traditional media, which primarily means television, and newspapers and contemporary media, which are online media. He estimated that the media in Montenegro respect human rights when reporting and fortunately there was no such tabloid journalism in Montenegro.
“We are all journalists, we all have got the opportunity to be a journalists.” Milan Zugic said.
Milana Bojovic, a consultant for public relations and an international cooperation, spoke about the patron and the media as a joint mission. We have not got the dilemma of the institution that we are natural allies with the media, if the both do the job properly in accordance with the code of laws, moral and ethical principles.
“Of course, we are each other’s source of information, because we need the media and they need us, who to whom the question is more.”Milana Bojovic said in a further interview.
She also said that citizens sometimes choose the media as their first ally, rather than institutions in the protections of their rights, as well as the term of the protector in relation to the media, where she ended her presentation.