en
    cg

    Media Landscape

    The beginning of journalism in Montenegro is considered January 23, 1871, when the first copy of the paper for literacy and politics called “Crnogorac” was published. Its distribution was banned in the neighboring territories that were under the control of Austria and Turkey in 1893. As of April of that year, the paper “Glas Crnogoraca” started to be published, and from 1895, it became the official part of the Montenegrin Government, published in the Old Royal Capital of Cetinje until 1915, when its printing was moved to France. This paper had been published for 51 years without interruption, together with the add-on “Službena djela,” which served as an Official Gazette for the publication of laws, regulations, and other official materials.

    The Principality of Montenegro got its first Law on Press, together with its first written Constitution in December 1905. Upon entering into the force of the Constitution and the Law, besides “Glas Crnogoraca,” three additional papers started being published – “Ustavnost” in Cetinje, “Narodna misao” in Nikšić and “Slobodna riječ” in Podgorica - with at least having a critical editorial stance towards the Government.

    TV
    Radio
    Print
    Online

    On August 3, 1904, the first radio-telegraph signals from this part of Europe went out into the world from the Volujica Hill near Bar. On August 8, 1914, a gunboat of the Austro-Hungarian fleet destroyed the station at Volujica. On the twenty-seventh of November 1944, in the newly liberated Cetinje, Radio Cetinje broadcasted news and reports from the WWII battlefield, where fierce battles were fought for the final liberation of the entire country. At the beginning of 1949, Radio moved to Titograd (today Podgorica).

    The official start of Television of Montenegro, then Television Titograd, was on May 4, 1964.

    Radio Titograd, which in 1990 became Radio Montenegro, together with Television Titograd in 1991, has been operating in a unified public broadcasting service under the name Radio-Television of Montenegro (RTCG).

    The only newspaper that was published in Montenegro until the end of the 1990s was “Pobjeda”. The first edition was issued in the liberated city of Niksic on October 24, 1944. “Pobjeda” achieved gold circulation - between 30 and 40 thousand copies a day, until the advent competition, primarily “Vijesti” and “Dan”.

    Today, the Montenegrin media market, although small, is very pluralistic. Currently, there are 182 officially registered media, while the number in reality is higher due to additional portals that exist but are not obliged by Law to enrol in the media register. With one national public broadcaster, several local public broadcasters, three daily newspapers, four national frequency televisions, and dozens of radio stations, portals, and regional TVs, Montenegrin citizens are able to consume a variety of information and data. However, many media claim that the media market is not sustainable without significant support from the state.

    The majority of the most influential media in the country are owned or controlled by the foreign owners.