The PSB System of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) can be very confusing for an external observer. Built with foreign assistance in the aftermath of the 1992-1995 war in BiH, the PSB System of BiH is a conglomerate of three public service media, which were created to ensure coverage of the main ethnic groups in the country. Many experts say that this complicated structure was not needed in a country of three million people, with an extremely politicized media sector.
A study from a local research institute referred to the organizational structure of the PSB system in BiH as “a prime example of the failure of an ideal model in practice.” PBS System of BiH includes one national and two entity broadcasters as follows: a). The state-level public broadcaster in BiH (BHRT) runs one television channel (BHT) and one radio channel (BH Radio 1); b). Radio-Television of the Federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina (RTVFBiH) runs one television channel (FTV) and two radio channels (Radio FBiH and Radio 202); c). Radio-Television of the Republika Srpska (RTRS) runs one television channel and one radio channel.
Media assets
Television: BHT 1 (Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BHRT), Federalna televizija FTV (Radio-Television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, RTVFBiH), Televizija Republike Srpske (Radio Televizija Republike Srpske, RTRS)
Radio: BH Radio 1 (Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT), Radio FBiH, Radio 202 (Radio-Television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, RTVFBiH), Radio Republike Srpske (Radio Televizija Republike Srpske, RTRS)
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
The PSB System of BiH is an umbrella organization for the country’s three public broadcasters. According to the Law of the PSB System, a fourth unit, the Corporation, was supposed to be established to manage the group’s technical equipment, adopt the group’s development strategy, coordinate human resources of the three broadcasters, and collect the revenues from ad sales and license fees to distribute them among the three broadcasters. The Corporation, however, was never established, mainly because of obstruction by political parties, which feared that a unified Corporation would leave less room for political or economic interference. As a result of this organizational gap, the three broadcasters act like competitors rather than partners although they belong to the same organizational structure, a situation hardly seen anywhere else. Measures to bring the broadcasters under one corporate umbrella are underway, according to the latest data from our local experts, but it’s not clear when that will happen.
The PSB System of BiH has a System Board, consisting of 12 members: four from the Supervisory Boards of each of the three broadcasters. Each of the three broadcasters – BHT, RTRS and RTVFBiH – has its own Supervisory Board as a main governing body, which consists of four people – one from each of the three constituencies of BiH (the groups of Serbs, Bosniaks, Croats), and one representing “others”. The Parliamentary Assembly of BiH appoints these members based on nominations from the Communications Regulatory Agency, BiH’s broadcast regulator whose leadership is also appointed by authorities. RTRS and RTVFBiH have the same bodies and appointment procedures.
Source of funding and budget
The broadcasters part of the PSB System of BiH have not published a financial report since 2012. The broadcasters are funded through a combination of advertising revenues and financing generated by the license fee (a tax imposed on all the households in BiH). It is not clear how much funding the PSB System of BiH has used in recent years. It is known though, local journalists say, that both advertising revenues and revenues from the license fee declined dramatically, the former because of the market conditions, the latter because of the badly implemented license collection process (according to a system that was, in fact, discontinued in 2016).
As a result, the government regularly steps in and covers the PSB System’s budget deficit, gaining significant leverage over the broadcaster’s operations and editorial coverage. On top of these problems, the broadcast groups that are part of the PSB System of BiH are often mired in clashes over the division of the budget. Because some of the revenue from the collection of the license fee was allegedly not shared within the system as required by the law, BHRT announced in Q1 2022 plans to sack a number of its journalists.
Editorial independence
The legislation in BiH obliges the PSB System broadcasting outlets to fulfil a public service role consisting of accurately informing the population, ensuring balanced radio and television programs and diversity in their programming. The broadcasters were also envisaged by law to have editorial independence. However, in practice, they are highly politicized, the influence from politicians being exerted through the appointment of the governing structures and financing.
There are numerous internal policies at the PSB System of BiH and each broadcaster has its own statute. These documents consist of principles regarding the PSB programming that the media outlets under the PSB System should produce. However, these provisions are rarely enforced as the government exerts significant control over the editorial policy of the three outlets. Overall, there is no specific statute that would guarantee the editorial independence of the media operating as part of the PSB System.
The public broadcasters part of the PSB System of BiH are required by law to establish Editorial Councils, which should reflect the ethnic, cultural and religious character of their audience. These councils, which are supposed to participate in the content co-creation process in each broadcaster, have been routinely marginalized and effectively play no role in overseeing the editorial independence, according to experts.
October 2023