Other threats to journalists, Snežana Mitrović, Banja Luka, 16.11.2023.

BHJA •︎ 16/11/2023

Other threats to journalists, Snežana Mitrović, Banja Luka, 16.11.2023.

Translations: Sarajevo 

  • Case info

  • Personal info

  • Regional center
    Sarajevo
  • Who was attacked?
    Journalist
  • Gender
    Female
  • Victim(s) name
    Snežana Mitrović

  • Media outlet

  • Name of the media outlet
    N1
  • Type of media platform
    Radio
  • Source of information about the incident
    N1

  • Incident Data

  • Date of incident
    16.11.2023
  • City
    Banja Luka
  • Perpetrator(s)
    Known (suspected)
  • Attacked by
    By public official(s) and/or representative(s) of the executive power
  • Type of incident
    Other threats to journalists
  • Type of threat
    Aggressive, harassing or discriminatory statements

  • Action by the authorities

  • Action taken by the journalists' association

  • Was journalist's association informed by the journalists directly?
    Yes
  • What was the reaction of the journalists' association?
    The association reacted publicly

At the press conference in Banja Luka, the president of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, repeatedly accused N1 television of being “part of the politics that destroys Republika Srpska”, of “lying and deceiving” and of having an “anti-Serb narrative”. Although he repeatedly repeated that his accusations did not directly refer to the N1 journalist Snježana Mitrović, who was reporting from the press conference, Dodik took the microphone from the journalist’s hands, commenting that he was doing it so that “the N1 journalist would not feel bad”. He also said that he has a service “that monitors everything that this media does” and emphasized once again that N1 should be banned because it is a “subversive state element”.

The BHJA condemned the threats and expressed concern about Dodik’s statement about “monitoring” what N1 television and its journalists are doing. BHJA announced that they will request information from state agencies SIPA and OSA about whether they have information about the monitoring and wiretapping of N1 television journalists.