By: Admir Muslimović
Sarajevo, 20.01.2020. – It is the end of 2019 and assaults, attacks on journalists and violations of rights regarding freedom of expression in Bosnia and Herzegovina were, once again, a traditional practice in the society of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This year was marked by open political pressures, brutal verbal and physical assaults and attacks on journalists and biased and non-professional media reporting. Pressures, assaults and attacks on journalists and obstruction of journalists during their professional assignments, duties and tasks were occurring throughout the whole year and it was humiliating that, apart from condemnations by foreign embassies and their diplomats, including the representatives of non – government associations, these occurrences in 2019 were even justified by local political powerful figures in this country.
Approving assaults and attacks
One of the most outstanding cases last year was the case from March 2019, when Huso Cesir, president of the Municipal Board of Novi Grad Municipality of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) physically assaulted photographer from Zurnal, a local web site.
This photographer was performing his task and making photos of entrance of Cesir’s factory facilities and at this particular period he was taking photos from the pavement on the other side of the street, that is, opposite to factory entrance gate; in other terms, at the time he was standing on a public surface. Despite this and apart from previous assaults and attacks, it was the representatives of foreign embassies and their diplomats that were constantly reacting and responding to these attacks. On the other hand, local governing official authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina failed to react, reply and respond in most appropriate ways.
It is really amazing that instead of condemning this assault, Cesir’s political leader Bakir Izetbegovic tended to “ease” this case. During the press conference, Bakir Izetbegovic thus stated in front of media representatives that Cesir actually assaulted camera, he, according to Bakir Izetbegovic did not assault a man, did not assault a journalist and at the end Cesir did not assault a photographer?!
The case of Mirza Gacanin once again displayed arrogant underestimating of professional journalism by the governing official authorities when Mirza Gacanin publically threatened another Zurnal journalist and directed his threats through video recording shooting on the internet. This threat was directed against Zurnal journalist who had been writing about Tito and Dino, two drug cartels. These two organizations have been, according to evaluations and estimate conducted by the DEA, recognized as one of the largest and most influential drug cartels in the world. Local governing officials, including powerful political figures, remained silent about this case as well.
Apart from political pressures, interfering into professional reporting and apart from the fact that many international and local media experts have been warning about this for years, local journalists may have considered themselves partially guilty and responsible for their poor status in our society, since they have for decades (just as in 2019, according to author view), been tagged as political “information providers (informers)”, claimed the representatives of the academic society in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Journalists should (to wide extent) blame themselves for the difficult and unpleasant position they have been in, because they, since the war time period, accepted to be political informers, which, under war circumstances, could have been considered as common sense and partially justified. Still, 25 years after the end of the war, this must not be the case respectively. And then, when the political pressure emerged, including assaults or attacks, controlling journalists’ independent views or attitudes, they suddenly become to wander why this happened. In many, significantly more rigid societies, journalists have managed to get away from political assaults, attacks and chains, while in our country and in 2019, assaults, attacks, censures have been common occurrences This has been rather devastating”, stated dr. Mirza Mehmedovic, senior lecturer at the Journalism Department of the Faculty of Philosophy with the University of Tuzla.
This was exactly the reason why professional journalism in BiH, according to relevant international reports, regarding the index of media sustainability, was constantly declining. This index for 2018 and 2019 reached the lowest standard since 2006. Media in Bosnia and Herzegovina were in 2019 (almost according to copy – paste based scheme) not criticizing governing official authorities and negative social occurrences. They were mostly characterized by non – objective reporting, non – critical reporting and biased reporting which was clearly visible in private media houses. The close ties between media entrepreneurs (owners) and political parties and political leaders were also a common occurrence in media field.
Most of the existing media houses in Bosnia and Herzegovina represent political party bulletins and serve as political party spokespersons, claimed Enes Osmancevic, a reputable communication expert and professor at the University of Tuzla.
“Leading political parties have for years been trying to take over public media houses, have been trying to have them controlled and were successful in their quest. Present interference by political factors and dismissing of managers and editors on public RTV broadcasting services and Entity broadcasters, was intolerable if we wanted to have the establishing of non-biased and independent RTV system whose true owner would be general public audience that after all financed their work, since they should also serve public interest and broadcast programs that must be the very best of their own kind. Unfortunately, public RTV services and especially RTRS, as the Entity public service broadcaster, have for years been serving particular political party and agitating biased reporting through curved and distorted diopter of the ruling and political short – sights. Reproach could be addressed to RTV FBiH as another public service Entity broadcaster that, before anything else, have been favoring ruling political parties”, claimed Mr. Osmancevic.
Public mistrust
The fact that the number of citizens justifying the assaults and attacks on journalist has increased (according to public poll) should be taken into serious consideration, as it seemed very worrying. Most BiH citizens (subject to survey), that is, some 79% of examinees reckoned that “any assaults and attacks on journalists and media representatives should not be acceptable”, while at the same even 27% of examinees in Republika Srpska and 17% in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina justified the violence, that is, agreed with assault and attacks on journalists.
In comparison with 2018, the results represented a concerning increase amongst citizens (by 14%) that justified violence over journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
This was just a little part of the result of survey and research conducted by the BH Journalists and Friedrih Ebert Foundation.
Even 63% of examinee citizens questioned the objectivity of BiH media and the reasons for this could be sought in systematic line of factors that have been influencing the work of media in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Financial independence is one of the great problems of media houses in our country. There are very few media houses in BiH that manage to ensure and provide their own financial means required for normal functioning. Their existence and work often depend on the will of local officials and decision makers, regarding direct financing of allocation of financial grants aimed for media houses. The position of financial dependability that always contain the requests of political loyalty and serving certain political, ethnic, national, economy or other kinds of lobbies, instead of serving the public, question the public reputation of such media houses their reliability and authenticity and public trust in media programs and contents they broadcast.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, or let’s say in a non-democratic environment, a single and independent journalist ends up as a collateral damage, since his voice cannot be heard and his rights to freedom of media reporting are ran over in front of political party officials, in front of real believers and firm members of exalter – based political collectiveness. This is a trend that had negative influence and impact on professionalism in media; it has enforced non – sovereignty of professional journalism comparing to politics and it has limited every attempt of public reasoning or critics through threats, pressures, scaring and suffocating of freedom of expression during 2019, the year that we shall son say farewell to.
(The author is a journalist at Balkan Investigative Reporting Network-BIRN BiH; this article was published in E-journalist bulletin no.72/73)