It was a great honor for me to participate in a conference in Sarajevo on March 27, 2025, to present the publication “Local Media and Social Media in the Election Campaign: Local Elections 2024 in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, which contains a comprehensive analysis of how local media reported during the 2024 Local Elections and how candidates used social media. The event was held through the project Raising Political Literacy and Monitoring Harmful Narratives that Can Affect Free and Fair Elections in BiH, supported by the Government of the United Kingdom.
At the invitation of the organizer – Mediacentar Sarajevo, I was one of the panelists on the topic “Journalists’ Experiences and Improving the Legislative Framework”, and had the opportunity to talk to the most prominent media professionals in BiH, including representatives of agencies/organizations that monitor, analyze, and control the work of the media, such as the self-regulatory Press Council and Online Media in BiH, and the Communications Regulatory Agency of BiH.
I am immensely proud of the fact that after only three years of existence, the Plural.ba portal has been recognized at the state level, and that it currently stands out, in competition with an ever-increasing number of media outlets in BiH, as a positive example of working in the public interest while respecting professional standards, codes and journalistic ethics. Unfortunately, this cannot be said for the majority of local media in our country, as indicated by the presented publication, and which we touched on in more detail during the panel discussion.
Great political influence
I think the main causes of the problem are: (non)transparency of media ownership, unstable and limited sources of funding, which makes it much more difficult for editors/journalists to achieve their freedom and independence in their work.
Also, numerous information and examples from practice indicate that political parties and certain powerful figures, in addition to their previous indirect influence on the editorial policy of the media, now also through direct editorial and financial influence create content that is placed in the public, with the aim of personal and party promotion on the political scene.
This seriously violates professional and ethical journalistic standards, codes and norms of media reporting, creates a very negative image of journalism in the public, and grossly violates the basic democratic rights of citizens to truthful, objective, verified and complete information about all events of public interest! This especially applies to media that are fully or mostly financed by public funds, regardless of their legal and formal status.
Attack on media freedoms
Likewise, practice shows that there is a large number of unregistered, anonymous media and citizen journalists in BiH, especially at the local level, which is why a huge amount of false and unverified information appears in the public space, which is also reflected in the increased number of private defamation lawsuits, and creates unnecessary additional work for investigative bodies and judicial institutions, as these are processes that can take several years.
Therefore, it is necessary to legally regulate this area, with the aim of creating a better and more efficient framework for regulating, controlling and monitoring the application of professional standards, respecting the code of conduct and journalistic ethics, and the basic norms of media reporting and public information for all citizens.
If we want to live in a truly democratic country, the current practice must be urgently stopped, because it is also a major blow to media freedoms, which is one of the priorities in fulfilling the conditions and recommendations on Bosnia and Herzegovina's path to joining the European Union.