The Foundation Dusko Jovanovic representatives presented life and work of murdered Dan editor in the Media Symposium on Investigative Journalism held in London from 5^th to 7^th December 2014 organised by the Logan Foundation and British Centre for Investigative Journalism. Director of the Foundation, Mrs Slavica Jovanovic said that in May of the next year the Second International Award for Contribution in the Development of Investigative Journalism would be awarded. The contest will be opened from March to April 2015 and the prize awarded on 27^th May, on the day of Dusko Jovanovic’s murder.

During the three day Symposium at the Barbican Centre in London, Mrs Jovanovic met director of British Centre for Investigative Journalism Mr Gavin MacFadyen; director of Investigative Journalism Program at the University of California in the USA and a Pulitzer-prize winner Mr Lowell Bergman; journalist of German Spiegel who is also a coordinator of exchange and publishing program for the former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden’s materials Mr Michael Sonthimer, and director of International Organisation for the Protection of Whistleblowers Ms Beatrice Edwards.

Mrs Jovanovic emphasized the importance of the work of the Foundation Dusko Jovanovic, its goals as well as the development of investigative journalism especially in Montenegro. She informed her collocutors about the details regarding the murder of Dan editor. The wife of Mr Dusko Jovanovic reminded participants of the Symposium that editor of Dan was murdered in front of his office in a drive-by shooting. She emphasized that ten years have passed without information who committed and ordered the crime but also said that she wouldn’t allow this murder to be forgotten.

She stated that certain electronic and print media were a part of harangue against her late husband, her and their son.

-          Clear logic suggests that every state in those moments must provide support to the victims of violence but that was not the case in Montenegro. Everything suggests that the state didn’t have any intention of solving Dusko’s murder. Therefore, my mission is that the daily Dan after the death of its editor-in-chief continues the path of truth without participating in harangues against anyone, especially the victims of violence and crime. Of course, from this I exclude the criticism of the Government because it doesn’t work for the welfare of its citizens. Ten and a half years have passed without a final judgment for perpetrators of the crime while the people who ordered the murder have never been identified due to the lack of political and institutional will of Montenegrin state authority. Needless to ask why there is not willingness – Mrs Jovanovic added.

She said that most people in Montenegro think of her late husband as the only opposition to the regime which has been in power for more than two decades.

Mr MacFadyen and Mr Bergman said that every crime against journalists must be solved. They were also interested in the work of the Foundation Dusko Jovanovic and demonstrated support to Slavica Jovanovic for courage and persistence to solve the murder of her husband.

During the debate on the situation in media, with Mr MacFadyen and Mr Bergman as panellists, Dan journalist Mr Marko Vesovic asked to what extent the European journalism society can pressure certain governments, specifically Montenegrin, to solve attacks on journalists.Mr MacFadyen said that a lot of governments in the world were enemies of media freedom and that the attacks on journalists present a major problem. Mr Bergman added that the safety issue of journalists should be solved urgently. He reminded that in the last year 100 journalists were killed in Mexico and added that drug cartels were very much present in the country indexed at the bottom of the media freedom list.

Panel at the Barbican Centre was broadcasted by News Pix Live Television and the Symposium was marked by debates on the role of WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden in the development of journalism. German journalist Mr Sonthimer told the Foundation Dusko Jovanovic director details from Snowden’s documents, emphasizing the importance of these valuable testimonies of NSA conduct. He talked with Mrs Jovanovic about the challenges of media in Europe and the importance of creating safe environment for the work of journalists.

Mr Sonthimer showed interest in the details of Dusko Jovanovic’s murder and the way media in Montenegro function. Mrs Jovanovic stated that Montenegrin state administration with its passivity clearly showed no interest in solving her husband’s murder.

Mrs Jovanovic talked with director of International Organisation for the Protection of Whistleblowers Ms Beatrice Edwards about the issues of free media in Montenegro. Ms Edwards talked about the possibility of starting the work of her organization in our country. Mrs Jovanovic said that journalists who criticize Montenegrin government were in difficult situation and added that a greater attention of the European institutions regarding media freedom was needed.

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Second International Award

Mrs Slavica Jovanovic said that the Foundation Dusko Jovanovic established the international award for investigative journalism which would be given every four years. She reminded that the first prize was awarded in 2011 and went into Andrew Higgins’ hands, the journalist of The Washington Post.

-          The second international award for contribution to the development of investigative journalism the Foundation will award on 27^th May 2015. The award consists of the Charter of the Foundation and the prize fund is 20,000 euros. The first prize will be 10,000 euros, the second 6,000 and the third 4,000 euros. The contest will be open from March till April of the next year – Mrs Jovanovic said.

Mr Gavin MaCFadyen worked on over 50 television programmes.

Mr Gavin MacFadyen, director of Investigative Journalism Program at the University of California in the USA, has been a journalist for more than five decades. He has worked on stories about corruption and organized crime as well as torture of political prisoners. In the USA Mr Gavin MacFadyen has worked on over 50 television programmes about the abuse of public power.

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