Sarajevo, March 9 – The BH Journalists Association awarded the “Champion of Gender Equality 2022” to the Direct Portal from Trebinje in the “media” category, Nikola Vučić, journalist of N1 television from Sarajevo, in the “journalist” category, and prof. dr. Zilka Spahić Šiljak for public and academic contribution to gender equality. The award was given on the occasion of the International Women’s Day within the global campaign “Media for Women 2022” (Media4Women), which BH Journalists Association are conducting with the organization Free Press Unlimited from the Netherlands and journalists and media organizations around the world.
Direct portal from Trebinje is one of the few media in BiH that founded women, manages it, produces and edits news. Their editorial policy is entirely gender sensitive – in all its segments it supports and promotes women and their contribution to BiH society, emphasizes the importance of women’s human rights, and reports professionally and objectively on gender-based violence through the media.
Journalist Nikola Vučić is publicly recognized as an advocate of women’s human rights and a fighter against masculinized narratives and prejudices about women, and his work confirms the importance of the joint struggle of men and women for gender equality and equality.
Recognition of prof. dr. Zilka Spahić Šiljak is awarded for her many years of struggle for gender equality from the perspective of academia and civil society, and for the systematic empowerment and education of young girls for leadership, better position in society and professional advancement, it is stated in the explanation.
The BH Journalists’ Association is awarding this recognition for the second year in a row in BiH with the aim of encouraging journalists and media to promote women’s human rights and gender equality, and to report in a fair, objective and professional way on women, their achievements and public, social and political engagement.
BH Journalists is the only association of journalists in the Western Balkans region within which the Network of Female Journalists operates and which systematically deals with the protection of women’s human rights in the media. At the same time, BH journalists carry out numerous activities with a focus on improving the knowledge and skills of journalists reporting on gender-based and domestic violence without prejudices and stereotypes about women, and creating a positive environment for equal advancement of women in public and private sectors not limiting them on the basis of gender.
“Gender equality and gender policies have been part of the values of BH journalists since the founding of this association. In the last few years, and after the establishment of the Network of Female Journalists, we have created an internal mechanism for more effective protection of women’s human rights in the media through a better and more equal position of journalists compared to men, but also through media content. We consider it our mission, as well as our contribution to the integration of the values and goals of the Istanbul Convention into the daily work of journalists “, says Borka Rudić, Secretary General of BH Journalists. She emphasizes that the election of a champion of gender equality in BiH is one of the ways to give public recognition to fighters for women’s human rights, but also motivates others to build a society with zero tolerance for discrimination against women, especially gender-based violence.
The two-week global campaign “Media for Women” emphasizes the importance of gender equality in the media, and this year the campaign focuses on the safety of female journalists. The Association of BH Journalists, the Network of Female Journalists in BiH and the Free Media Help Line are contributing to this campaign through a series of activities aimed at promoting and more effectively protecting the human rights of journalists and other media workers in BiH.
