Sarajevo, 26.7.2024. – The Board of Directors of the BH Journalists Association and the Helpline for Journalists express their concern about the security threats and the campaign against the magazine Slobodna Bosna and the journalists of this media, which have been conducted through social networks and the media in our region for several months, and especially intensively the last one three to four days.

Because of the author’s texts about political relations in the region, especially the activities of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and his influence on events in neighboring countries, as well as the announcement that the Serbian authorities (allegedly) finance the media in Kosovo and in one of the BiH entities – the Federation of BiH,  journalists of Slobodna Bosnia are faced with political pressures, insults, threats and unsubstantiated qualifications that put this media and its employees in a professionally and security delicate and dangerous situation.

For the Board of BH Journalists, it is completely unacceptable that the author’s texts of Slobodna Bosna are used to label this media as “Islamist” or “jihadist”, as Serbian politicians and the media under their control have been doing for months. The manipulation of Slobodna Bosna’s texts by Kosovo politicians for their own political battles “for” and “against” the government of Albin Kurti, as well as the attempts of certain media from Pristina to call into question the professional credibility of journalists from Slobodna Bosna due to allegations of possible financing of two Kosovo media with Serbian money.

The Management Board of BH Journalists strongly emphasizes that no media or journalist should be persecuted or suffer criticism and insults because of their author’s texts. In this context, we remind you of the standards of the Council of Europe that protect the right to freedom of expression and freedom of political debate on topics of public importance, even when we as individuals or groups do not agree with the published content or such content disturbs and shocks us.

The Management Board of BH Journalists fully supports the journalists of Slobodna Bosnia and strongly condemns attacks and pressures on them, and calls on all those who are not satisfied with the published content to use legitimate and legal means of reacting to this media, including denials, complaints to (self)regulatory bodies and/or defamation claims.

Board of Directors of BH Journalists