The Press and Online Media Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina has started the third year of the three-year regional project “Building Trust in Media in South East Europe: Support to Journalism as a Public Good”. The project is implemented in cooperation with UNESCO and with the financial support of the European Union.
The key objective of the project is to strengthen media self-regulation and raise professional journalistic standards, by providing a free mediation for all parties aggrieved by inaccurate or unprofessional reporting in the press and online media in BiH, the regular sessions of the Council’s Complaints Commission, and the amendments to the Press and Online Media Code of BiH.
In the context of rapid technological development and the increasing impact of artificial intelligence on daily journalistic work, there is an evident need to adapt the existing ethical Code to new challenges, emphasizing the necessity and importance of editorial responsibility in the creation of all media content.
A particular value of this project is its regional component and the continuous cooperation with self-regulatory bodies from Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey, which will continue at the Regional meeting in Sarajevo at the end of June this year. In addition to exchanging experiences on ethical challenges and mechanisms for improving daily work, a significant part of the Meeting will be dedicated to the role of self-regulatory bodies in the digital ecosystem, as well as the process of aligning national legislation with the new European media legislation.
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/99 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of independence