Threats to media outlets and organizations: Appointment of the Steering Board of the Radio-television of the FBiH, Sarajevo, 12.04.2025.

BHJA •︎ 12/04/2025

Threats to media outlets and organizations: Appointment of the Steering Board of the Radio-television of the FBiH, Sarajevo, 12.04.2025.

Translations: Sarajevo 

  • Case info

  • Personal info

  • Regional center
    Sarajevo
  • Who was attacked?
    Organization

  • Media outlet

  • Name of the media outlet
    Radio-television of the FBiH
  • Type of media platform
    Radio
    Radio
    Online Media
  • Source of information about the incident
    Media

  • Incident Data

  • Date of incident
    11.04.2025
  • City
    Sarajevo
  • Perpetrator(s)
    Not known
  • Attacked by
    Authorities - institutions
  • Means of incidents and attacks
    Other means of incidents and attacks
  • Type of incident
    Attacks on media outlets and organizations
  • Type of attack
    Other attacks

  • Action by the authorities

  • Police action
    N/A
  • Public prosecutor's action
    N/A
  • Court action
    N/A
  • Legal status of the case
    The procedure is in the phase of gathering information about all the circumstances of the case
  • Type of violation
    Other

  • Action taken by the journalists' association

  • Was journalist's association informed by the journalists directly?
    No
  • What was the reaction of the journalists' association?
    The association reacted publicly

Steering Board of the BHJA invites the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) to return the selection and appointment of members of the Steering Board of the Radio-television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina within legal provisions and align it to the values of the public broadcasting system in a way that is defined by standards of Council of Europe and European Union. It is unacceptable that House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament elects four members of the Steering Board of the RTV FBiH against the rules and procedures of the Law on Public Broadcast Service of the RTV FBiH, especially its articles 24, 25 and 65, making the entire election process political and neglecting the legal obligation of electing the best candidates in a “just, open and transparent” way. Also, there was no discussion on expertise and experience of the selected candidates, their political independence, understanding of the mission of public broadcasting, as well as their guarantees that they would manage this media outlet in a responsible way and in public interest, opposed to political interests.

The BHJA Steering Board deems especially concerning the meddling of the ruling coalition parties in this entire process, as well as political bargaining of the selection of the candidates with political arrangements on other legal solutions and decisions. This kind of approach led to insults and hate speech towards one of the candidates, Zoran Krešić, first in the Parliament and later on in public discourse and social media. The BHJA Steering Board condemns insults towards journalist Krešić and invites all those who consider his comments on “Herceg Bosna” anti-legal and harmful, to react according to the laws and media regulatory rules and procedures.

Having in mind the existence of politically independent and professionally responsible public service of the FBiH, the BHJA SB invites the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament to bring the entire process back on its legal track, during the final decision on appointment of the members of the Steering Board of the RTV FBiH, and put the focus on discussion of professional achievements of all four candidates, their expertise and capacities to manage this media outlet in the interest of all the peoples and citizens of this entity.

Update: Both houses of the FBiH Parliament have adopted the proposal of the Commission and appointed the members of the Steering Board of the RTVFBiH, violating the existing Law on Public Radio-television of the FBiH.