OSCE Mission to Montenegro publishes Manual for Moderation of Online Users' Comments
On 6 June 2022, the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and the Technical Working Group for Self-Regulation published a document Manual for Moderation of Online Users' Comments, which is a guide for moderators of user comments on portals on how to identify controversial and harmful content, providing an adequate response.
The Manual aims to ensure a fair, impartial and respectful approach to moderation, as well as to minimize the risks of commenting – both legal risks for the media and users, as well as risks of inadequate contextualization of primary content.
It elaborates the legal framework, purpose, risks and rules of moderation and commenting, types of moderation and procedures, but also provides practical advices on how to improve moderation. What the legally protected rights that the moderator must take into account are, how to recognize the content posted by bots, how to recognize trolling and distinguish offensive speech from satire and criticism – these are some of the questions that the Manual provides answers to.
On the occasion of document’s publication, Dominique Waag, Head of the Mission, met with representatives of the Technical Working Group on Self-Regulation Ranko Vujović, Executive Secretary of the Media Council for Self-Regulation, Mihailo Jovović, Programme Director of daily Vijesti; Paula Petričević, Ombudsperson of daily Vijesti and weekly Monitor, Ilija Jovićević, Ombudsperson of daily Dan and Ljiljana Minić, Editor at daily Dan.
Ambassador Waag said that the Mission has a long-lasting co-operation with self-regulatory mechanisms in Montenegro and nurtures it through the Technical Working Group, which has so far worked on a number of documents of great importance to Montenegrin journalists.
“In the times when all countries fight hate speech and misinformation, mostly in the online sphere, it is important that we are all on the same page and join forces to fight this phenomenon. Let’s not forget the importance of media literacy, because due to the lack of knowledge in this area, we face the problem of unverified information, disinformation and hate speech today“, said Ambassador Waag.
Participants of the meeting also exchanged ideas on combating growing hate speech in on-line sphere and steps to be taken. It was concluded that further work on documents of the type of the new manual is needed, which would facilitate the work of journalists in Montenegro, especially when it comes to how to respond on hate speech.
In 2019, the Mission supported development of Guidelines for applying section 2.8 of Montenegrin journalists’ Code of Ethics, which elaborated rules, ethical standards and guidance on how to moderate readers’ comments on internet portals.