BH Journalists Write to Schmidt: React Urgently and Ensure Financial Stability of BHRT

(Patria) - The BH Journalists Association has sent a letter to High Representative Christian Schmidt regarding the dramatic and unsustainable situation facing the Radio-Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT).

At the beginning of the letter, it is warned that the public service of the state of BiH is in a state of complete financial collapse, with a real threat of work stoppage and job loss for more than 700 employees.

This situation, the BH Journalists point out, is the result of long-term political blockades and non-implementation of existing legal obligations, including the lawful distribution of revenue from the RTV fee.

"It is unacceptable that the survival of the state public service depends on political calculations and narrow party interests, while citizens are left without the basic right to timely, accurate and impartial information," the Association stated.

They remind that BHRT is an institution of state importance whose survival directly affects political stability, protection of the public interest and the functioning of democratic processes in the country.

The institutional blockade of BHRT, they add, represents an alarming pressure on media freedom and threatens the collapse of the entire public information system in BiH.

"In accordance with Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement and the OHR's mandate to oversee the implementation of the civilian aspects of the peace agreement, and to ensure the stability, functionality and integrity of state institutions, we believe this is an urgent case requiring your intervention.

We kindly but resolutely appeal that you react urgently and call on the Presidency of BiH, the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH and the Council of Ministers of BiH to ensure the financial stability of BHRT and enable its uninterrupted functioning, and that you take a clear stance that the political blocking of BHRT's funding is unacceptable and contrary to the principles of public broadcasting in democratic societies.

If domestic institutions continue to ignore their legal obligations, we appeal that you use your powers to enable a temporary or permanent mechanism for financing BHRT and thus support the establishment of a long-term sustainable, depoliticized and stable model of public broadcasting in line with European standards and recommendations of international organizations.

In addition to the powers under Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Agreement, our request is also based on your decision from July 2025 regarding the settlement of a debt of 120 million marks to the private company Viaduct from the budget of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, although the public was never transparently informed why such a large debt arose and who in the RS is directly responsible for it.

We also remind you of your decision from 2024, by which you demanded that the state and legislative institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina assume the obligations of the founders and 'owners' of seven cultural institutions, including the state's responsibility for their stable financing and sustainability.

Our request for a special decision regarding the survival of BHRT is also based on the fact that the Office of the High Representative was the creator of the first Law on the Public RTV System of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which, among other things, defined the models for charging and distributing the RTV fee among the three public radio-televisions: BHRT, RTVFBiH and RTRS.

For years, we have witnessed how your office silently, without any relevant and legitimate reaction, without institutional interest, observes the violation of the Law on the Public RTV System, although your mandate includes the powers of an international representative, i.e., an 'intervener' in situations where the civilian aspects of the peace agreement are not implemented effectively.

We emphasize once again that your urgent intervention is necessary to prevent the shutdown of BHRT, but also the degradation of the tripartite system of public information as a key source of information for the majority of BiH citizens.

The shutdown of BHRT would be an irreparable collapse of media freedoms in the entire country, which is why responsible and transparent action by institutions and international actors such as the OHR is of vital importance," stated the Management Board of the BH Journalists Association in the letter to the High Representative.