Sarajevo, 15.10.2025. – The Sttering Committee of the BH Journalists Association and the Free Media Help Line (FMHL) strongly condemn the discriminatory actions of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) towards journalists and the media, as well as allowing only selected media outlets to ask questions at press conferences. The discriminatory practice is repeated, and culminated during press conferences following the recent visit of Marta Kos, Commissioner for Enlargement of the European Union (EU), and yesterday’s press conference of Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission (EC). Without any explanation, the services of the Council of Ministers allowed only journalists from BHRT and RTV Herceg Bosna to ask questions to high-ranking European officials.
The Sttering Committee of the BH Journalists Association and the Free Media Help Line (FMHL) believe that preventing the majority of journalists from asking questions of public importance at press conferences and illegally creating a group of privileged media represent a brutal violation of the right to freedom of information and the free work of journalists without interference from public authorities. It is also a rigid form of institutional censorship and disproportionate restrictions on the work of the media, which does not exist in democratic states, nor is it regulated by any legal act or protocol of the Council of Ministers.
For the unacceptable violation of journalists’ rights at a public event, The Sttering Committee of the BH Journalists Association and the Free Media Help Line (FMHL) hold Borjana Krišto, the chairwoman of the Council of Ministers, directly responsible, who should know that journalists are not “microphone holders” but professionals who, on behalf of BH citizens, have the right to ask critical questions or less harsh ones, not only to her, but also to the guests – Ms. Kos and von der Leyen.
It is more than absurd that the Council of Ministers chooses only two media outlets and gives them the opportunity to ask two questions at press conferences with two high-ranking EU and EC officials, who not only support the right to freedom of expression, but have dedicated their European mandate precisely to the diplomatic fight for media freedom and the safety of journalists in accordance with European standards.
Also, in Sarajevo, journalists were unable to ask Ursula von der Leyen whether she had discussed with local officials the drastic decline in media freedom in BiH by 23 places in the last two years. The International Coalition for Media Freedom, Freedom of Expression and journalistic organizations requested that Ms. von der Leyen raise the topic of media freedom in talks with leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Western Balkan countries, the day before her arrival in this region. In this context, BH Journalists publicly ask the Delegation of the European Union to BiH whether it could have prevented this incident and the public discrimination against the media and journalists in front of the eyes and in the presence of the EC President, including the ban on asking questions about the EC’s plans to protect freedom of expression and freedom of the media?
The Sttering Committee of the BH Journalists Association and the Free Media Help Line (FMHL) urgently demand from the Council of Ministers of BiH, its information service, as well as the chairperson Borjana Krišto a public statement on the gross violation of media freedoms and the rights of journalists at yesterday’s press conference, as well as the one held during the visit of Marta Kos. The public in BiH must know what the criteria were for selecting only two media outlets whose journalists asked questions, and other media outlets and journalists must receive guarantees from the Council of Ministers that they will never again be treated in a humiliating or less important manner compared to the selected BHRT and RTV Herceg Bosna.
The Sttering Committee of the BH Journalists Association
