Mass media in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Television, radio, magazines and newspapers are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues.
The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina guarantees freedom of speech, although political and business pressures - coupled with administrative fragmentation - still hinder the independence of journalists and media outlets.
[8] Due to the failure of authorities in both Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure the creation of the necessary legal framework that would enable journalists to work professionally and independently in their environment, in 1999 the High Representative passed the Decision on Freedom of Information and the abolition of criminal penalties for insult and defamation.
This initiative raised some concerns, as it was expected to include limitations such as permits and licences[5]: 28 Professionalism and quality journalism are rare in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Journalists receive relatively lower salaries, despite holding higher degrees, and these are often not paid regularly due to financial difficulties of media outlets.
[20] Moreover, state officials on all levels of government, members of political party bodies, and those linked to telecommunications operators or electronic media, are barred from being appointed as CRA Director General.
[3] The Press Council of BiH has been established as an independent, non-governmental, non-political self-regulatory body, comprising all journalists' associations and responsible for self-regulation of online and print media content.
It aims to solve disputes among media and readers through professional tools such as the right to response, correction, apology and rebuttal, but it cannot impose sanctions in terms of fines, suspensions, or closure.
Market research agencies in 2006 reported as the mostly read dailies Dnevni avaz (36%), Blic (10%), then Glas Srpske, Večernje novosti and Večernji list (4% each).
[28] Radios are often vertically integrated in media groups that also control TV stations, cable operators, internet providers, and even marketing agencies.
The most influential broadcasters are the public radio and TV stations operated by the Bosniak-Croat and Serb entities, the RTVFBiH and RTRS, which are under effective control of ruling national parties in each one.
Sarajevo is home to some TV-stations such as Al Jazeera Balkans, an offshoot of the Qatar-based pan-Arab news network, broadcasting in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian.
[17]: 192 The TLC operators are still mainly state-owned and there is strong resistance to privatisation, with 90% of BH Telecom and 50.1% of HT Eronet owned by the Federation of BiH.
As these cases are often not followed by proper investigation, journalists feel unprotected and so they may not be willing to cover certain topics, hindering reporting on issues of public relevance.
[35] Experiences of journalists working in the newsrooms in Bosnia and Herzegovina gathered by the Media Centar Sarajevo, suggest that editorial policies are often influenced by political and economic elites.
According to RS general prosecutor Mahmut Švraka, journalists "overreact to threats and make unsubstantiated claims", only to then lose interest in the cases since the procedure is very lengthy.
[38]: 36 A BH Dani journalist denounced several attempts by Sadik Ahmetovic, vicepresident of the SDA party in Srebrenica, to prevent the publication of her articles before the 2014 administrative elections, up to threatening her with deportation to her home country Poland.
They requested them to surrender the source of a wiretap in which the RS prime minister Željka Cvijanović is caught saying to have bought two MPs to ensure a majority for her party, the SNSD, in the Assembly.
[1] The editorial independence of BiH's public broadcasters has been questioned repeatedly by authoritative observers such as the European Parliament and Freedom House, due to their close affiliations with political parties.
Pro-governmental media outlets are reported as receiving a disproportionate share of advertising space, whose allocation is not transparent, and even direct subsidies through ad hoc projects.
[1] BiH laws stipulate liability for defamation in case of wilful or negligent dissemination of false information causing harm to natural or legal persons.
Journalists and editors defined civil lawsuits as a strategy of politicians and businessmen to keep them busy and impede them to spend time doing their own job of investigative journalism, since they often do not have money to hire lawyers and need to defend themselves personally - or to push them to self-censorship.
[38]: 46 Cyber-attacks against investigative journalism websites have increased in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the May 2014 floods, when journalists started questioning the official responses to the crisis.
[41] According to some experts, Bosnia and Herzegovina official institutions have never showed any interest and commitment in regulating the issue of media ownership transparency and concentration.
[42][43] This situation can have negative implications also from a judicial point of view, since if a website with no clear information regarding ownership, violates the law, it will be difficult for the authorities to find out those responsible.
[42] Expert Lejla Turčilo stresses the fact that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, non-transparent media ownership contributes to strengthen a negative characteristic of this society, namely clientelism.
[33] According to the South East Europe Media Observatory, the "ownership patterns include some foreign owners, major business actors, and affiliations with political parties".
The major newspapers in Republika Srpska, Nezavisne novine and Glas Srpske, as well as radio station Radio Nes (Banja Luka) have a common ownership, the company NIGD DNN Ltd.[33] According to a report by the South East Europe Media Observatory, there are close relationships between one of the owner, i.e. Željko Kopanja and the leader of SNDS and this allegedly guarantee extra profit to the media outlet through government funding.
[33] The two major newspapers in the Federation of BiH, namely Dnevni avaz and Oslobođenje are two prominent cases of media in which owners are business tycoons having political affiliations.
[33] During the past years, the two dailies Oslobođenje and Dnevni avaz acted as instruments in the clashes between the two respective moguls, namely Radončić and Selimović family, and their political affiliates.
