With the session of the Complaints Commission held today in Sarajevo, the Press and Online Media Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and with the financial support of the European Union, launched the implementation of a three-year project titled “Building Trust in Media in South East Europe: Support to Journalism as a Public Good.”
The project aims to open a dialogue with the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the importance and necessity of conducting ethical audits in cooperation with the Ethical Journalism Network, as well as to encourage the reporting of all violations of their freedom of expression on social media to the Press and Online Media Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a body whose mission is to protect media from political, economic, and all other forms of pressure.
For that purpose, an online form will be created on the Press Council’s website through which media outlets will be able to report all issues they encounter on social media platforms. In addition, a series of meetings with editors and journalists from across Bosnia and Herzegovina is planned, along with three sessions of the Complaints Commission and a social media campaign to increase the project’s visibility.
The project’s objectives include strengthening the self-regulatory mechanism and improving professional media reporting standards; enabling a free mediation process for all those harmed by inaccurate reporting, disinformation, or hate speech; increasing audience engagement in responding to unprofessional media coverage; and expanding the Press Council’s membership.
In addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the project will also be implemented in Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo (under UN Resolution 1244), North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey.