President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Mr Ivan Brajović, met with Mr Vojislav Raonić, team leader of the European Union regional project "Assistance to Public Service Media in the Western Balkans". It is a project of the European Commission, which will make contribution possible to the reforms and professional development of the Public Service Media of Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia in the next two and a half years by engaging a consortium led by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) with the aim of production of pluralistic, independent and credible content.
The President of the Parliament expressed satisfaction with the fact that Podgorica was designated as the project's headquarters, and the expectation that the responsible parliamentary committees would contribute to its success by active participation. The project envisages activities aimed at supporting stable and sustainable mechanisms for financing public service media, by reducing political influence on their work, and improving the quality of programs through closer regional cooperation of national public broadcasters.
Mr Brajović stressed the significance that one of the expected results of the project would be establishing of a code of conduct for the election of members of the management bodies of the Public Service, which is verified by the Parliament. He expressed his belief that in this way the focus of attention would be diverted from the management bodies to the programme production professionals.
The President of the Parliament also emphasised that this project showed the importance of European integration for Montenegro in all areas, and to the support of the Public Service, with the expectation that the raising of the professional level of the media outlet financed by the citizens of Montenegro would contribute to the improvement of the overall image of the media in the country.
Meeting Mr Brajović – Mr Raonić
