Candidates for RTCG ombudsman to the Public Service Council: We will argue more

AUTHOR: M.J.
After the cancellation of the third contest for the RTCG ombudsman election, three candidates for the position were announced: Danijela Popović, director and former ombudsman, and journalists Žarko Božović and Vesna Pejović.
The letter was addressed to the Office of the European Commission in Montenegro, the rapporteur for Montenegro Tonina Pizzula, the Program Office of the Council of Europe in Podgorica, the OSCE Mission in Montenegro, the director of the media program of the OSCE Mission in Montenegro, Evan Eberle and the EBU - Radka Betcheva and introduced them to the current situation in the Public Service.
We are transcribing their speech in its entirety:
The RTCG public service has been without an ombudsman for more than 3 months - the protector of the rights of viewers, listeners and readers, more precisely citizens from whose pockets considerable sums of money are taken. He is absent by the will of the Council of that house.
The third competition for this responsible position was canceled, apparently automatically, and the explanation is that none of the candidates received enough votes.
To be honest, the only candidate who remained in the competition, after two candidates withdrew their candidacies and did not meet the conditions (Stijepović was rejected due to a technical error), is Vesna Pejović, a long-time editor of that house, who is also the initiator of the establishment of self-regulation, the first in Montenegro and one of the author of the Code of Journalists of Montenegro.
The shameful Council does not have the courage to publicly announce that it is not to their taste, so the alleged vote, if there was any at all, was carried out without the presence of journalists who were informed that the Council session remains open. We also know the reason why they don't want Pejović because her hiring would quickly debunk the false idyllic image of the supposedly most watched medium with balanced reporting, which is constantly being marketed from that house. The enigma remained, did any of the members of the Council have an iota of sense not to join the majority?
Thus, the public service, without any hesitation or fear, can make fun of you citizens, accuse you of anything without hindrance, extract words and edit sentences, according to one's will, without any fear that anyone can call it out or sanction it.
So the hymn passed in silence without a tone. The questions and comments of the professor and former member of the Council were mutilated. The show "Our Decades, Satellite Program" also passed without reaction when the two former editors of that company were ridiculed because their appearance was meaningless by drastically shortening the entire story.
The list is long, and in all probability it will be even longer because the shameful, arrogant Council will prolong the election until it finally manages to push in a predetermined friend of the Council president, because of whom the conditions and even the Law, which completes this tragicomedy, without an iota of shame, by applying and by withdrawing the application.
Our first public address, after the withdrawal of the candidacy of the business partner of the President of the Council, was not met with any kind of reaction from the competent institutions in the country, with the exception of Ombudsman Bjeković, who declared himself incompetent, even though we did not ask him to protect us, but the rights of citizens.
The president of the country probably did not understand our Montenegrin, and the prime minister got tired of dealing with changes to the law.
We can also find justification for the relevant Ministry due to the occupation of the minister.
The only thing is that there is no justification for the Media Directorate, which is headed by our former colleague, who believes that he redeemed himself by publicly announcing that he was against changes to the Law, but that did not prevent him from keeping the chair, which is more important than personal and professional reputation.
We can tell the shameful Council in their language: "We will fight again" and we will not give up. In the meantime, it would be good if some of its members, in addition to figuring out how to squeeze a friend, also study grammar, because the interview for the general director showed serious gaps-craters in their education.
Such characters are given the right to decide and unlimited power to play with the reputation of the public service.