Regime media, lacking good moves by the authorities, focus on the opposition - In fear for their own budgets!

By Rasim Belko

Regime media, left without a single serious move by the authorities that could be sold as a success, have returned to their basic craft of obsessively dealing with the opposition. Not out of concern for the state, society, or public interest, but out of raw fear for their own budgets. Because when there are no results, only spin remains. And when the coffers start to shake, nervousness turns into “analysis”.

These are the same media that have lived for years by the slogan: “Let SDA not win, even if it gets worse.” And it did get worse. So much worse that they occasionally had to feign distance, throw in a criticism or two, just to maintain the semblance of professionalism. Essentially, they were the base through which the Trojka government, vertically, disseminated the narrative that we are living well, even though we are poor, that we are stable, even though we are disoriented, and that we are moving forward, even though we are stagnating or moving backward.

When parties began to nominate candidates for the Presidency, the regime orchestra tuned up almost harmoniously. The conductor was clear, the score familiar. In the hope that Semir Efendić’s candidacy would harm SDA, champagne was opened and political observations were shared from the height of victors. And then someone whispered that they were roasting the rabbit while it was still in the woods. After several days of celebration, panic ensued and tactics changed abruptly.

Suddenly, they are no longer interested in Efendić, but whether SDA will have a candidate, whether Bakir Izetbegović dares to run again, whether the party will “risk” it if they nominate someone else. The concern has become almost touching. They calculate endlessly who will, who won’t, what if this one, what if that one, where did Semir come from, where is Denis, whose votes will Slaven Kovačević take. Political astrology turned into editorial policy.

No one with common sense has any doubt that if SDA nominated an angel, the regime media would not approve. Because without control of the Presidency, there is no control of state power, and without that, practice shows, it will be difficult to have a different government at the level of the Federation of BiH. That is why everything comes down to guessing and probing, in a desperate attempt to pull the wrecked Trojka machine through at least this election cycle.

To make the absurdity complete, these are the same media that defended Schmidt’s violation and suspension of the Constitution of the Federation of BiH, calling it a political necessity. The moment the Constitution became an obstacle, and the High Representative a constitution-maker, these media explained it as a responsible decision. Because everything that Trojka supports automatically becomes correct for them.

Following the same pattern, in the first two years of the current mandate, these same media promoted Milorad Dodik as a reformer on our European path. Dodik was then a factor of stability, an indispensable interlocutor, and a reality with whom one had to work. Today, these same media declare him politically dead, while this “dead man” comfortably manages processes at both the state and entity levels, dictates the pace, and makes key moves. But in the parallel universe of Trojka’s media, Dodik has long been politically deceased, it’s just that it hasn’t happened in reality.

The brooms for crime and corruption, with which Trojka’s riders were supposed to clean up the system, have long since dried up. The riders on those brooms have fallen so low that some are already seriously facing prison cells. Instead of the promised reckoning with corruption, we have received scandals, improvisation, personnel chaos, and silence where justice should have been.

Nevertheless, the media crowd, driven solely by fear for their own interests, still believes that Trojka has an eraser for Dodik and a bulldozer that will pave the way to a better tomorrow. Every time they hear their own stomachs rumbling, they flinch in panic and their “independent journalism” kicks in automatically, and they target the opposition. The opposition is to blame for the government’s bad decisions, for concessions, for chaos, for failures. The government makes mistakes, but the opposition is to blame for the government making mistakes.

This only happens here. In journalism where truth and independence depend on regime handouts. Where professional standards are measured by the size of the budget payment, and freedom of writing by the amount of the monthly installment. As long as there are ‘gebire’ (a derogatory term for those who serve the regime), there will be “analysis”.

When the food runs out, they will look for a new boss!