On 15 December 2022, the European Council granted Bosnia and Herzegovina candidate status for EU membership. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 accelerated the EU enlargement process, Bosnia and Herzegovina has yet to improve its environment for the media to continue on its path towards potential EU accession, as limited progress has been made since submitting its application in 2016.
In this MFRR webinar, speakers will discuss the findings of a recent press freedom fact-finding mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, highlighting the suffocating environment for independent journalists in the country and issues ranging from the criminalisation of defamation in Republika Srpska, hostile rhetoric and denigration of journalists by public officials, the so-called “foreign agent law”, sanctions against the dissemination of “fake news”, and the effect of the financial crisis on media.