Over the last decade, media freedoms in the Western Balkan countries have deteriorated. Political and business elites exercise various forms of direct and indirect pressures against critical media and journalists. Therefore, freedom of expression became one of the top priorities in the enlargement strategy of the European Commission which developed a long term (2014—2020) assistance approach to support the achievement of political goals in the fields of freedom of expression and media integrity.Journalists’ associations (JAs) from the Western Balkan countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Serbia), with the support of the European Commission, have been developing a cross-country mechanism for monitoring and advocating media freedoms and journalists’ safety at local, national and regional levels.
