EC Report before MPs: Public Service Broadcasting Boards under Political Control, Media Owners Hidden!

The European Commission's 2016 report on Bosnia and Herzegovina will be on the agenda of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Special attention is paid to freedom of expression and the state of the media and public service broadcasters. As stated in the report, political pressures and intimidation of journalists, as well as physical and verbal attacks, continued, but no judicial measures were initiated for these. Furthermore, there were no attempts to resolve the lack of transparency in media ownership.

The EC recommendations are that Bosnia and Herzegovina must ensure adequate protection of journalists and appropriate application of regulations in response to cases of threats against journalists. It must complete the reform of the public RTV system, ensure funding for public broadcasters, harmonize relevant entity regulations in the field of broadcasting at the state level, and ensure the political neutrality of management boards.

At the same session, members of the BHRT Management Board will be elected, and the Collegium of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina proposed a different list from the one compiled by the Council of the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thus, for the member of the Management Board from the Bosniak people, according to the RAK assessment, Edin Hadžimuratović was ranked best, but the Collegium changed the list, placing the third-ranked Mufid Memija in first place. It is obvious that these recommendations of the European Commission will not be respected, as public service broadcasters are under strong political influence.

Given the complicated situation with the FTV Management Board, which for years has had only one member whose mandate has expired, the role of the Management Board is completely devalued, and this public broadcaster is in a certain legal vacuum. FTV Director Džemal Šabić has held this position since 2008, and his five-year mandate expired in August 2013. Since then, due to the non-existence of the RTVFBiH Management Board, Šabić continues to perform the function of director without any legitimate election. Incidentally, by law, the mandate of the general director lasts five years, and a member of the same constituent people cannot be appointed general director for two consecutive terms.

- Due to the lack of a politically independent management board, the RTV service remains subject to political influence – the report concludes.

The third public broadcaster, RTRS, through amendments to the Law on RTRS, has distanced itself from the state-level law and hinders the functioning of three public broadcasters within the Public RTV System in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

- RTRS remains under firm political control of the ruling party, which threatens editorial policy.

The European Commission also questions the independence of RAK from politics.

Furthermore, shortcomings in the Law on Freedom of Access to Information were noted, and journalists are often denied information.

- Institutions do not conduct a public interest test before restricting the right to access information, and they interpret legal provisions in a way that protects private, not public, interest – the report states.

A special part of the report concerns media ownership, and it is criticized that "due to problematic legal provisions, a systematic insight into the ownership structure is hindered." Another criticism relates to the advertising practices of public enterprises and marketing agencies that are connected to political parties, thus affecting the integrity of the media.