October 14, 2015

14/10/2015: BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA – SEEMO CONDEMNS ACTIONS OF POLITICAL OFFICIALS TOWARD MEDIA

Vienna, 14/10/2015

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns recent behaviour of Bosnian Minister of Security Dragan Mektic toward journalists.

During a press conference on 12 October in Banja Luka, Mektic hurled verbal insults at journalists from public broadcaster RTRS, including sexist comments and derogatory phrases, and made accusations against media outlets regarding their political bias. Allegedly, Mektic called RTRS a “so-called public broadcaster” and talked about journalists working for the outlet, mentioning their children.

SEEMO is also concerned by an attack on the car of a journalist in Mostar. On 6 October the vehicle of BH Radio 1 Mostar correspondent Emil Karamatic was set on fire in an alleged arson attack in front of his home in Visici.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East and Central Europe. SEEMO’s press freedom work is supported by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) project, as part of a grant by the European Commission.