Sarajevo/Mostar, 30.01.2025 – The Steering Committee of BH Journalists and Free Media Help Line, give full support to the Istina media portal and other media houses based in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton (HNK) on the public release of information about the non-transparent award funds to the media in this canton. The publication of information on the allocation of funds from the budget of the HNK Government represents the public interest and the media had the right to publish that information through a critical approach and analysis of the actual reach and influence of media houses that received public money.

Steering Committee of BH Journalists and FMHL simultaneously condemn the attempts of the HNK Government to exert political pressure on the media that published critical reviews of the current allocation of funds to selected media, declaring them unprofessional and manipulative and accusing them of “breaking the ruling coalition in the HNK”. In the denial it published, the Government of the HNK actually confirmed what the independent Mostar media wrote, and made the entire list of media grant winners available to the public only after the portals Istina media, Hercegovina.info and others drew attention to the non-transparency of the award and the problematic criteria.

BH Journalists consider it inadmissible that taxpayer funds in HNK, but also in any other canton or administrative unit within BiH, are allocated to the media without clear and publicly available criteria, a transparent way of decision-making and public announcement of the decision on who has been allocated budget funds. The non-transparency of the distribution of public money has been repeatedly criticized by the European Commission in its reports on BiH’s progress in the European integration process, reminding local authorities that they must adopt clear, publicly available criteria and conditions for the distribution of money to the media.

BH Journalists remind that the public criteria and transparent allocation of budget money represent the main conditions of honest and responsible support for the preservation of independent media and information in local areas, and contribute to the strengthening of pluralistic media content necessary for citizens. A different approach inevitably leads to “paying” for media support and political propaganda and does not in any way contribute to the protection of the public’s right to accurate and honest information.

Steering Committee of BH Journalists