FENA

The Federal News Agency (Federalna novinska agencija, FENA) is the news agency of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). It was established by a decree of the Federation Government of 19 October 2000, which merged the agencies BH Press of Sarajevo and HABENA of Mostar, and began operating on 22 October 2001. FENA is a public institution based in Sarajevo, with a newsroom in Mostar. It publishes on average about 250 news items a day in the official languages of BiH and in English. Elvir Hadžiahmetović has been its director since February 2025.

Media assets

News agency: general and specialist news services in the official languages of BiH and in English, with photo and video items.

Digital: the fena.ba portal and eu.fena.ba, a portal on the European Union launched in November 2025.

Ownership and governance

FENA operates under the Federation Government’s founding decree, which made it a public institution in 2002 and was amended in 2016. Its Management Board of five members is appointed by the Government for four years. The Board appoints and dismisses the director and deputy director after a public competition, with the consent of the Government, and the director and deputy cannot belong to the same constituent people. The editor-in-chief is appointed by the director with the consent of the Board. According to FENA’s integrity plan, the director is accountable to the Management Board and to the Government.

On 17 January 2025 the Government dismissed the Management Board, citing a loss of confidence, and appointed an acting board. On 25 February it consented to the acting board’s decisions dismissing Elmir Huremović, director since 2016, at the expiry of his mandate, and appointing Hadžiahmetović as director and Ilija Musa as deputy director. Oslobođenje reported that Hadžiahmetović was chosen from the quota of Narod i pravda (NiP), a member of the governing coalition in the Federation, and Avaz that he had once headed the public relations service of the SDA. Istraga had reported in May 2023 that the coalition’s division of public companies assigned FENA to NiP.

On 9 July 2025 the Government appointed a new Management Board for four years, whose members include two employees, among them the editor-in-chief, Dejan Jazvić. In 2017 the Ombudsman found that complainants had rightly pointed to the unlawfulness of appointing FENA’s editor-in-chief to the Board, a dual role that BH Journalists described as a conflict of interest. Jazvić was reappointed to the Board in July 2025 while remaining editor-in-chief. On 10 October 2025 the Government dismissed the Board’s chair and appointed an acting chair.

FENA has been a full member of the European Alliance of News Agencies since September 2017 and is a member of the Association of Balkan News Agencies – Southeast Europe (ABNA-SE), whose members re-elected Musa as president in September 2026, and of the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies. It signed cooperation agreements with Anadolu in November 2018 and with Morocco’s MAP in May 2025.

Source of funding and budget

FENA is a direct user of the Federation budget, from which the founding decree provides for its financing. Its 2021 budget was KM 2.69 million (EUR 1.38 million), against expenditure of KM 2.81 million, and it had 74 employees. FENA also earns its own revenue from contracts with users of its services: its Board adopted a rulebook on own revenues in 2023, and the director raised service prices on 31 December 2024.

The Audit Office of the Institutions in the Federation gave a positive opinion on FENA’s 2019 financial statements and a qualified opinion on compliance. Its follow-up report of September 2025 found that 8 of 12 recommendations had been implemented, that FENA’s work and development plan did not set the annual financial resources needed, and that FENA recorded KM 61,600 in expenditure on correspondents engaged under author contracts; FENA told the auditors that limited budget funds made it difficult to find correspondents. The auditors also called for clarification of FENA’s legal status, organisation and operating arrangements under its founding decree, a recommendation they did not assess because changes required action by the Federation Government. The Government accepted FENA’s report on its work and operations in 2025 on 8 April 2026.

Editorial independence

FENA adopted an ethical code in March 2022 and, according to its integrity plan, is a member of the Press Council. However, no statutory guarantee of institutional editorial independence or independent external oversight body was identified. The Government appoints FENA’s Management Board, approves its work and development plan and accepts its annual reports. FENA carries political parties’ press releases in a separate section from whose content it distances itself.

During the campaign for the general elections of 4 October 2026, Istraga reported on 16 September that Hadžiahmetović was handing out NiP promotional material at a party stand. Izdvojeno reported that Musa, appointed on the proposal of the Croatian Democratic Union of BiH (HDZ BiH), had regularly lectured at the party’s political academies. No response by FENA’s Board or the Government was located.

Local experts and journalists interviewed by State Media Monitor in April and May 2024 said that the Government’s role in appointing the Board and approving the leadership allowed political actors to exert influence over FENA’s editorial line, and that its coverage was sometimes perceived as cautious or aligned with the political preferences of the Federation government.

AI and digital policy

No FENA policy on artificial intelligence was located; its integrity plan of November 2025 does not refer to it. FENA’s 2026 procurement plan lists the planned procurement of Microsoft 365 licences, including a Microsoft 365 Copilot Business licence, and of an automatic transcription service for audio and video content. FENA’s then director, Huremović, was elected chair of the European Alliance of News Agencies’ artificial intelligence committee in October 2024.

Classification rationale

FENA is classified as State-Controlled (SC) because the Federation Government appoints its Management Board, exercises decisive influence over executive appointments and controls its principal financing and institutional plans. Its governance arrangements provide limited structural protection against political interference, while reported party-linked appointments and political campaigning by its director raise additional concerns about independence. FENA’s ethical code does not offset the Government’s institutional control.

October 2026