Online media in Bosnia and Herzegovina often face difficulties when it comes to distributing their content on social media platforms.
Namely, certain platforms such as Facebook, which serve as an irreplaceable channel for content distribution, sometimes label specific content as unwanted or inappropriate, without clear explanations or logic, thus reducing the reach of posts and the overall visibility of media outlets on social networks. Ultimately, this causes economic harm to the media.
To help media outlets address this problem, the Press and Online Media Council in BiH yesterday in Sarajevo presented a form for reporting violations of media freedom on social media platforms to journalists.
“The Press and Online Media Council in BiH has established an online form, available on our website. The form is intended for all media in BiH that experience any kind of problem related to social platforms. In our communication with the media, we have learned that these platforms often restrict access to media content,” from the Press Council stated.
Media Facebook pages have most frequently faced various types of restrictions, for example, being unable to pay for additional promotion of certain posts. The media themselves have repeatedly tried, unsuccessfully, to resolve these issues directly with the platforms.
“We have therefore sought to use the Press Council’s role as a mediator between the media and dissatisfied readers, through the self-regulation mechanism and the Press Council’s complaining procedure, specifically through decisions of the Complaints Commission, which analyses each reported violation and determines whether a particular media outlet’s right to freedom of expression has been violated,” explained from the Press Council.
Such decisions, they noted, will serve as an additional argument in communication with social media platforms. The Press Council hopes that this mechanism will help media outlets better address challenges related to social platforms and reduce the number of situations that ultimately cause them financial losses.
The form is available on the official website of the Press and Online Media Council in BiH.