BH Journalists: New legal solutions in USK must not restrict freedom of expression

(Patria) - The Steering Committee of the BH Journalists Association calls on the Government and the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Una-Sana Canton
(USK) to involve the journalistic and media community of that canton in the Working Group for the drafting of the new Law on Information, which the cantonal authorities intend to adopt to regulate the media space of the USK, as well as to limit hate speech, fake news, and other harmful content spread through new media and social networks.

According to BH Journalists' information, the goal of adopting this law is to innovate the Law on Information from 1998, with a focus on the expansion of internet media, and the need to prevent the spread of hateful content via the internet.

The new legal solutions will oblige media to self-regulate and remove certain content from portals, and give the competent Ministry the authority, through its Inspectorate, to impose fines on media if they do not remove problematic content within the prescribed period.

The law plans to give operators and local internet providers the ability to ban certain websites and individuals if the Ministry determines that they have published false news that is contrary to the public interest or could endanger security.

BH Journalists remind that the spread of hate speech and fake news, as well as the moderation of hateful content on the internet, which the USK authorities want to regulate by law, have not been successfully resolved anywhere in the world, as it is not easy to find legal mechanisms and a balance between freedom of expression and its legitimate restriction in the public interest. Also, some of the issues that the new Law in USK seeks to regulate are already covered by the competencies of regulatory and self-regulatory bodies in BiH, or should be legally defined through the actions of the state Parliament, i.e., state-level authorities.

From the perspective of BH Journalists, excessive (self)regulation and legal norming are not always effective, and can cause harm to media freedoms, perhaps even greater than those caused by the lack of legislation.

BH Journalists point out that at the beginning of 2024, the amended Law on Digital Services of the European Union (Digital Services Act – DSA) came into force, which applies to all internet platforms and the prevention of the spread of potentially harmful content. Since BiH as a country will soon start negotiations on all chapters, including Chapter 10 "Media and Information Society", we believe that activities related to the new law in the Una-Sana Canton should be harmonized with the EU DSA law, but also synchronized with the activities of state bodies of BiH in the pre-accession negotiations.

For all the above reasons, the Steering Committee of BH Journalists demands from the Government and the competent Ministry of USK to conduct the process of preparing the new Law on Information in a transparent and inclusive manner, and in accordance with the provisions of the EU Digital Services Act. Also, the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports must include representatives of the media and journalistic community of this canton in the work of the Working Group for the preparation of new legal solutions in the field of information, which, when and if adopted, will most strongly reflect on the work and future actions of media and journalists in the Una-Sana Canton.