SARAJEVO, 15.01.2021. – At least 500 journalists from all over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the past three years have used the services of the Free Media Help Line (FMHL), a free legal service that operates within the BH Journalists Association. In the same period, 165 new cases were reported and resolved through the FMHL, including about 30 cases from previous years for which there are no final decisions or solutions in favor of journalists and media – this was pointed out at the Reporting Assembly of the BH Journalists Association, which was held today via Zoom platform.

In 2020 alone, the FMHL recorded 69 different forms of violations of the rights and safety of journalists and media freedoms. The Association currently represents journalists and media outlets in 5 defamation cases, 2 labor disputes and one criminal case, initiated by a journalist for online threats.

The delegates of the Assembly pointed out that the past year was especially difficult for journalists and media professionals. Many lost their jobs due to the consequences of the pandemic, and freelancers found themselves in a particularly unenviable situation. As announced, next week BH Journalists will send an official request to the entity governments to include journalists and media workers in the list of professions affected by the pandemic, as well as to be placed on the list of priorities for vaccination. The plan is to form a media coalition that will systematically work on eliminating the consequences of the pandemic for journalists and media professionals, both financial and psychological. In addition to the above, a large part of the discussion was dedicated to the need to establish unions at the entity levels that would deal exclusively with the rights of journalists and other media professionals. Delegates agreed to pay special attention to the initiative this year, given the fact that journalists are one of the few professions in a country that does not have its own trade union.

In the last three years, BH Journalists have organized a total of 91 events with 2,446 participants, including 163 representatives of local authorities and 1,470 representatives of international and non-governmental organizations, public institutions and other associations. An important part of the Association’s activities in the past period was the development of amendments to criminal laws in BiH, with the aim of improving the efficiency of judicial institutions in processing attacks on journalists and sanctioning attackers. In May 2019, these amendments were submitted to the authorities at the state, entity and Brcko District levels, but there is still no adequate response to the proposals of BHJA.

In the past year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, BH Journalists were dedicated to services and activities that were supposed to facilitate the work of journalists and the media, among which free psychological support to journalists, bloggers, freelancers and other media workers throughout BiH in cooperation with psychologists’ associations from Sarajevo Canton and Republika Srpska, and with three clinical psychologists – therapists from Banja Luka, Mostar and Sarajevo, was especially important. In the period from May to the end of December 2020, three group therapeutic sessions were held with media employees from Sarajevo and Mostar, as well as 158 individual therapies. The beneficiaries of psychological support were journalists from various media and most of them asked for help due to professional fatigue and stress, as well as the negative consequences of the coronavirus pandemic on mental health.

As a member of the Regional Network of journalists’ associations Safejournalists.net, BH Journalists have created a database within which 179 cases of attacks and threats to journalists and media from BiH have been published so far. In 2020, a total of 20 cases of attacks and threats to journalists and the media were recorded, and 11 regional statements were issued relating to attacks and pressure on journalists and media outlets from BiH.

A significant part of the activities of BH Journalists was aimed at protecting the copyrights of media professionals and strengthening the position of women journalists in the media and their protection in cases of gender-based and online violence. Three years ago the Network of Female Journalists in BiH was established, which today has 170 members from all over the country. The Network’s activities are aimed, among other things, at strengthening the capacity of female journalists to more effectively protect freedom of expression and other women’s human rights in the media, improving the knowledge of journalists, journalism students and other media professionals about gender policies, equality of editorial and managerial positions and raising public awareness of the need to more effectively protect the rights of female journalists. In the reporting period, BH Journalists initiated and participated in a number of other project activities of importance to the media and journalists, including the Media and Public Credibility project, launched to promote transparency of media ownership, then JUFREX project, through which journalists and editors together with representatives of judicial institutions are trying to improve the legal framework and judicial practice when it comes to cases related to the media, Journalism Academy, intended primarily for the education of young journalists through summer and winter camps …

Finally, it should be said that BH Journalists are one of the few journalist associations in BiH and the region that have developed strong research capacities and formed a network of researchers and experts on media freedoms and responsible journalism. Thanks to this, 21 thematic analysis/surveys/ monitoring have been conducted in the past three years, with the participation of at least 3,000 media professionals and representatives of civil society, vulnerable and minority groups.

At today’s Reporting Assembly, the delegates also discussed the work of the clubs of journalists in BiH and the Steering Committee of the Association and approved the plan of work and activities for 2021.

Dragoljub Djordjevic, a lawyer, said on Thursday the police was informed about new threats to N1’s reporter Jelena Zoric after a written message “This will last until it ends. It cannot be avoided” was found outside the door to her apartment on January 2.

The message was left only days after Svetisalv Bojic, the defence lawyer for Predrag Koluvija who was on trial indicted of growing marijuana and skunk on his plant.

Zoric reported on the so-called Jovanjica case, one of the largest marijuana plants in Europe.

The lawyer passed Koluvija’s message to Zoric, saying she was destroying him with her reports, but he prayed for her health.

Adria News legal team demanded the police’s assessment of Zoric’s safety after the repeated threats, asking them to take steps for her protection. The team also filed the request with the Bar Association for a disciplinary measure against Bojic.

Zoric gave a statement to the police which then contacted the deputy prosecutor at the Second Basic Court in Belgrade, Djordjevic said.

“The prosecutor ordered the collection of more information, and it’s up to him whether an indictment will be raised,” he added.

SARAJEVO, January 7, 2021 – The Steering Committee of the BH Journalists Association asked Zeljko Komsic, a member of the Presidency of BiH, to carefully consider and sanction online attacks on journalists and media, incitement, insults and hate speech of his advisor Nihat Hebibovic, which continuosly last for the past year, mostly via social network Twitter.

In a letter sent to Komsic on Wednesday, BH Journalists demanded that legal measures should be taken against adviser Hebibovic, as his comments and posts on social media turned into a “targeted, organized and long-lasting chase against certain journalists and media in order to discredit them professionally, undermining their personal dignity and endangering their safety“.

“The content of most of these comments is contrary to the rules of professional, decent public communication, which should be respected by a person in the position of advisor to a member of the Presidency of BiH. Not only does he use inappropriate vocabulary, advisor Hebibovic writes the most mundane lies and insults about journalists and their work, using discriminatory rhetoric, verbal violence and hate speech”, warns the Steering Committee of BH Journalists.

The Association reminds that they previously reacted with a public statement to similar actions of advisor Hebibovic, expecting that he himself would stop abusing his public position and violating media freedoms and journalists’ rights, or that Komsic would take legal and other institutional measures available to him as a member of Presidency of BiH. They also allege that online violence against journalists, carried out by Komsic’s advisor, is a serious crime, defamation and insult, and at the same time destroys the reputation of the highest state body.

As there was no reaction from Komsic’s cabinet, as evidenced by the undiminished chase of advisor Hebibovic on journalists and media in BiH, the Steering Committee of BH Journalists decided to request an institutional reaction and his sanctioning.

BH Journalists state that their request is based on the BH legal framework, which protects the professional rights, safety and dignity of journalists and prohibits any kind of violence, even through social networks. They emphasize that Hebibovic pursues journalists via Twitter and other social networks during working hours, which practically means that “he threatens journalists from the premises of the Presidency of BiH, slanders them and sends inflammatory and insulting messages.”

“Your advisor is abusing the public position and IT resources of the Presidency of BiH in order to carry out online violence against certain journalists and media,” BH Journalists point out, noting that “similar public action of persons in positions paid by citizens’ money would be unthinkable in normal, democratic countries“, and such person would be immediately relieved of duty.

The Steering Committee of BH Journalists concludes that it rightly expects Komsic to seriously consider the inappropriate and illegal conduct of his own advisor and to take the measures prescribed by BH laws and internal acts of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

PODGORICA, 05.01.2021. – The Council of the Radio Television of Montenegro has announced a public competition for the appointment of the RTCG Ombudsman, which is open until January 24, 2021.

The Council announced the same announcement on December 1 last year, but they did not specify why the competition was repeated.

The Ombudsman Institute was introduced by the latest amendments to the Law on the National Public Broadcaster of Radio Television of Montenegro from August last year and implies a new form of self-regulation in the public service.

Pursuant to that regulation, the Ombudsman, among other things, considers petitions and complaints of listeners, viewers and users of the RTCG portal, considers human rights violations and discrimination of any kind in broadcast programs, monitors respect for program principles, monitors citizens’ rights to freedom of speech, rights to media availability, the right to accurate and verified information, the right to deny, make recommendations to the editorial board and represent the mediator between the media and the public.

“The ombudsman will be appointed for three years, and the candidate needs to have at least VII-1 level of education qualification, at least ten years of work experience in audiovisual media, citizenship of Montenegro and residence in Montenegro,” the ad reads.

The deadline for submitting applications with the necessary documentation is January 24, 2021. years until 6 p.m.

Brussels, December 30, 2020 – The year 2020 will go down in history as the year of an unprecedented global pandemic crisis, but also as the year of the resurgence of murders of journalists and media staff around the world. With 60 murders in 2020, the macabre statistics are on the rise again compared to 2019 (49).

The year 2020 will go down in history as the year of an unprecedented global pandemic crisis, but also as the year of the resurgence of murders of journalists and media staff around the world. With 60 murders in 2020, the macabre statistics are on the rise again compared to 2019 (49).

IFJ records show that the current number of killings of media professionals are at the same levels as in 1990 when the IFJ started publishing annual reports on journalists and media staff killed, which show peaks of death tolls in the mid nineties and mid-2000s.

Organised criminal cartels, extremists’ insurgencies and sectarian violence continue to strike terror among journalists, scores of who have paid the ultimate price for independent reporting in the four corners of the globe.

In this regard, 2020 has been no exception. The ruthless reign of crime barons in Mexico, the violence of extremists in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Somalia as well as the intolerance of hardliners in India and the Philippines have contributed to the continued bloodshed in media.

In particular, this year’s list features the killing of Russian journalist Irina Slavina, a case which perhaps exposed the level of despair and utter despondency in the face on unrelenting onslaught against media professionals. The Editor of Koza Press set herself on fire in the city of Nizhni-Novgorod to protest against the intimidation and harassment campaign to silence her. In the end, this led to her fatal act but not before she had blamed the authorities as bearing responsibility for her action.

“The trends in our publications over the last 30 years, but also in 2020, make it clear to all that there is no room for complacency. Instead, they are an urgent call to redouble our efforts to mobilise for greater protection of journalists and commitment to the safe practice of journalism“, said IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger.

As of 31 December 2020, the IFJ lists Asia Pacific as the most dangerous region with 27 killings, followed by Latin America with 17 murders. The Middle East and Arab World posted 8 killings, followed by Africa (6) and Europe (2).

In its 2020 ranking per country, Mexico tops the list for the fourth time in five years with 14 killings, followed by India (8), Afghanistan (7), Pakistan (7), Philippines (4), Syria (4) while Iraq and Nigeria recorded 3 killings each. There were also two killings in Somalia.  Finally, there was one journalist killed in Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, Honduras, Paraguay, Russian, Sweden and Yemen.