The NGO Mladiinfo Montenegro attended the CEDEM conference at which the results of the research on media and media freedoms were presented, on February 10, 2021. years in the PR Center.
Speakers at the conference were: the author of the research and the main methodologist of CEDEM, Miloš Bešić, the Director of CEDEM, Milena Bešić and the program manager, Marko Pejović.
Milos Besic pointed out at the conference that almost half of the citizens of Montenegro do not trust the media. “The level of distrust is higher or lower, but in general it is almost every other citizen of Montenegro,” Besic said.
He also pointed out that television is still the most dominant medium and that over 70 percent of citizens watch television every day, while he did not leave out social networks, which according to the research are used daily by 45.3 percent of citizens.
Based on the research, it is also shown which are the portals that are most visited by citizens. The Vijesti portal is monitored daily by every fourth citizen of Montenegro (24.3), and the second, third and fourth in terms of frequency of monitoring are CDM (16.2) and RTCG (15.2).
“Citizens have the most trust in the News Portal (32.8) in which every third citizen has a higher or lower level of trust. Then follows RTCG (21.5), and then CDM (18.3) “, said Bešić.
Any newspaper is followed daily and regularly by a very small number of citizens, but the most read is Dan, which is read regularly or daily by 7.5 percent of citizens, followed by Vijesti 6.2 and Pobjeda 4.2 percent.
“When it comes to trust, trust is expressed in the same order, with the differences being proportionally small. “23 percent of citizens express confidence in Dan, 21 percent of Vijesti and Pobjeda, 18 percent of citizens,” Besic pointed out.
When it comes to televisions, the most watched are Vijesti, which in the category is very often watched by over 52 percent of citizens, followed by RTCG 1 with 40.5 percent, TV Prva 30.6 percent, Nova M 23.6 percent.
He said that the most visited social network is Facebook, which is followed daily by 42.8 percent of citizens, followed by Youtube 30.8, Instagram 23.3 percent.
When asked if they heard about fake news, 45 percent of respondents answered that they heard, 26.9 percent of citizens heard about fake news, but they are not sure what that means, and 28.3 percent of citizens do not know what fake news is. Just over a quarter of citizens are more or less able to recognize fake news, and it is possible to manipulate fake news with about a quarter of citizens.
Milos Besic pointed out that a third of citizens estimate that media freedoms are at a more or less satisfactory level, but on the other hand, 58.5 percent of citizens believe that media freedoms are mostly at a low or very low level.
When it comes to investigative journalism, the most dominant view is that investigative journalism is generally good (39.5 percent), but that a small number of journalists deal with it in the right way. The research showed that citizens generally believe that the media are not independent in relation to various actors.
On a scale from 0 to 1, TV Vijesti is rated as the most independent media with a score of 0.33, followed by the newspaper Vijesti 0.29 and the portal Vijesti 0.28. Followed by RTCG 0.28, Day 0.26, CDM 0.25, Analytics 0.23, FOS 0.22.
When asked who should contribute the most when it comes to the promotion of media freedoms, the research showed that comparatively, the greatest contribution is expected from journalists, the state, the media and media owners and professional associations.
The director of CEDEM, Milena Bešić, appealed to journalists to take into account the views of citizens, respect their trust and make additional efforts to professionalize their work.
“There is a great need for investigative journalism and it is up to the institutions to ensure the safety of journalists,” said Milena.
Program manager, Marko Pejović pointed out that the research was conducted from December 10 to 21, 2020, and 999 respondents participated in the research.
