Director of the Agency for Electronic Media and his associates had a meeting with Ombudsperson of RTV Slovenia Ilinka Todorovski, representative of the Ljubljana-based Peace Institute Brankica Petkovic and Acting Director of the Montenegro Media Institute Olivera Nikolic.

The model of Slovenian Ombudsperson, who acts as a spokesperson of the public and a mediator between the citizens and the public service, was presented at the meeting. The Spokesperson’s role is to mediate between the dissatisfied media consumers and media outlets, oversee the application of codes of ethics, enhance professional media standards, and protect the public from unprofessional and manipulative media reporting.

AEM Director said he found important that a working group in charge of the development of amendments to the RTCG Law had recognized the role and significance of introduction of an ombudsperson in the national public service broadcaster. He also recommended that the local public service broadcasters should consider this option in the process of adoption of their decisions on establishment.

Mr Dzafic said that establishment of a single self-regulatory body was important for the protection of editorial freedom, promotion of quality, and ensuring credibility and reputation of journalists, adding that this required a broad and inclusive acceptance by media professionals and efficient functioning of self-regulation.

Promotion of this form of self-regulation is part of the project “RESPECT – Advancing Respect for Ethical Standards by Media and Respect for Ethical Media by Citizens”, implemented by the Media Institute, Ljubljana-based Peace Institute and London-based Ethical Journalism Network.

Photos from the meeting are available here.