EUROPEAN COMMISSION BIH PROGRESS REPORT 2016
Positive Remark for the Press Council in BiH
The Press Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina received this year as well, for the fifth time in a row, a positive remark in the European Commission’s 2016 BiH Progress Report for the European Union.
“The Complaints Commission of the Press Council in BiH continues to work and mediate between readers and the media, ensuring readers’ complaints are delivered to editors”, states the European Commission Report, Chapter 2.4. Human Rights and Protection of Minorities, page 24.
The Report also states that the political and financial pressure against media continues. Also continuing are reports of cases that mainly include intimidation and threats against journalists, verbal and physical attacks, inciting websites, political, institutional and economic pressure and libel. In the month of March, members of an extremist group registered in the Republic of Srpska and the Republic of Serbia, physically and verbally attacked the crews of TV N1 and FTV. The authorities of the Republic of Srpska did not condemn the attack, while the police only issued two misdemeanor charges against the perpetrators.
Furthermore, the transparency over media ownership should be achieved and the availability of complete information should be ensured, considering that problematic statutory provisions hamper systematic insight into ownership structures. This is a particular problem for online media, which are often not registered as media businesses.
The Report of the European Commission, published on November 9th 2016, can be read here.