On 7 and 8 November, the People to People Programme Directorate General for Enlargement organized a multi-country consultation workshop in Brussels to improve the guiding principles of EU support to media integrity and media freedom in the period 2014-2020. Ms. Borka Rudic, Secretary General of the BiH Journalists’ Association was among the participants and shared her impressions about the event.

What was the purpose of this visit to Brussels and what was your personal goal?

The purpose was to develop assistance strategies to the media in the western Balkans and Turkey from 2014 to 2020. My personal goal was to present problems and possible improvements in the implementation of the right to freedom of expression in BiH. It was to ensure the independence of the media through the involvement of all segments of society – parliament, executive, judiciary, academia, media and civil society. The big challenge was the fact that we were in the EC headquarters, where are policies for direct assistance are made, and that we, the people on the field, can influence the shape and type of assistance in the future. Thus, a key opportunity for me was that I was able to see the local priorities and real problems in the functioning of the media community be incorporated into the strategy of EU assistance to media. I hope that these priorities will be embedded into the conditions of the accession process for our countries. This ‘bottom up’ planning approach has more chances to achieve the desired results through the assistance that will be operational, efficient, accessible to key actors in the media community, our region, and will better guarantee the incorporation of EU standards of freedom of expression and the legal framework and media practice in our countries.

How useful is EU support to media freedom in BiH?

In the last few years, the EU in general and the EU Delegation in BiH in particular have had a clear strategy for providing assistance to the media. They act very proactively and, by their public reactions, show how dedicated they are to the advancement of freedom of expression and strength of media independence. I think that these are the direct results of the previous Speak Up conference held in Brussels. My Association is encouraged by a clear statement from the EU Delegation in BiH headquarters related to public services, the work of CRA and their opposition to physical and other attacks on journalists. In addition, the EU in BiH has clearly presented their expectations from the media, especially public service broadcasters. Also were presented expectations from legislative and executive authorities, pointing to the fact that the EU will be more than ever present in BiH, protecting EU values of freedom of expression through diplomatic and advocacy actions. Joint actions of the EU, OSCE, CoE and the U.S. Embassy are very important as they increase the influence and power of joint action. Great progress can be seen in the inclusion of numerous media organizations and NGOs in the planning assistance strategy for media until 2020. What is lacking is a more direct assistance to the media and media organizations from the IPA funds at national level. It is interesting how the media organizations and associations from BiH are part of regional projects funded by the EC, but that the same organizations in Sarajevo are not identified as sufficiently credible partners and implementers of projects in the national programmes. I’m afraid that there are not enough people involved in putting together the national programme funds for BiH who understand the media scene in Bosnia, problems faced by the media, and also that there exists need for improving the work of the media, particularly the legislative framework. I believe this is the reason why there was no more help for media from the different EU funds available for BiH.

You participated in the workshop with the aim of defining priorities in the protection of and support to the media, in particular, the integrity and freedom of the media in the region. What are the specific issues in the BiH media scene?

BiH has one legislative-legal paradox that no other EU enlargement country has. While BiH has the best media legal framework in the region and formed key media institutions as a guarantee of freedom of expression, there is very bad practice and poor quality journalism. It is a key frame for all that is good and bad in our media community. Thus, the local media actors and the EU’s mandated in the field of media are simply executed in a mood of complacency because of the political leaders who establish European law and who have completely ignored our practice, the level of political interference and pressure on journalists. This false ‘pleasure’ and ‘blind eye’ to badly implemented legislation returns us to a situation where we were during the war or, in the best case scenario, 1997 and 1998, when pro-European media scene was being created. Today, we have problems with the operation of public service broadcasters, the independence of CRA is completely lost, and the judiciary is more protective to attacks on journalists and politicians rather than journalists and editors! Therefore, the situation is very bad and this is the last moment that things start clearing from the start. Staring from restoring the credibility and independence of the CRA – by choosing professional and expert council CRA, by ensuring responsible and more professional operation of public media and the independent functioning of the judiciary in cases of defamation and protect journalists from threats and attacks. A special segment of activities must be dedicated to self-defence and self-regulation of journalists and editors, who must take a proactive role in defending the credibility and integrity of the profession and to also regulate relations between media owners, managers and journalists. Planning in Brussels and this conference convinced me that the problems in BiH will be part of the EU agenda to help improve the media scene in the region until 2020. This period is long enough to resolve these problems in a systematic and effective method, which will include the legal framework and its application in practice.