PSB System of BiH
The public service broadcasting (PSB) system in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) can be quite confusing for an outsider. It was established with foreign assistance after the 1992–1995 war and consists of three public service media outlets designed to ensure coverage of the country’s main ethnic groups. Many experts, however, argue that this complex model was unnecessary for a country with a population of just over three million and an already heavily politicized media sector.
In a widely cited study, the organizational structure of Bosnia’s PSB system was described as “a prime example of the failure of an ideal model in practice.” The system consists of one state-level and two entity-level broadcasters:
a) BHRT (Radio and Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina): the state-level public broadcaster in Bosnia and Herzegovina operates one television channel (BHT) and one radio channel (BH Radio1).
b) RTVFBiH (Radio-Television of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which operates one television channel (FTV) and two radio channels (Radio FBiH and Radio 202).
c) RTRS (Radio-Television of the Republika Srpska, which operates 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
Ownership and governance
The PSB System of BiH is legally conceived as an umbrella organization for the three broadcasters. According to the law, a Corporation was supposed to be established to manage technical equipment, develop strategy, coordinate human resources, and centralize revenue collection from advertising and license fees. In practice, however, this body was never created due to political resistance, particularly from parties fearing that a unified structure would dilute their influence.
As a result, the three broadcasters operate independently and often in competition, despite being nominally part of the same system—an arrangement that remains highly unusual compared to other European PSBs. Attempts to revive the Corporation model have resurfaced periodically, including in 2023–2024 under EU pressure tied to BiH’s candidate status for EU membership, but no concrete progress has been made.
Governance is shared across Supervisory Boards. The PSB System Board is composed of 12 members, drawn from the Supervisory Boards of the three broadcasters. Each Supervisory Board has four members—one Bosniak, one Serb, one Croat, and one representing “others.” Members are formally appointed by the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH based on nominations from the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA). In practice, political parties exert strong influence over appointments, which undermines independence. RTRS and RTVFBiH follow the same procedure.
BHRT’s General Director remains Belmin Karamehmedović, who has led the broadcaster since 2014. RTVFBiH underwent a leadership change in May 2025 when Džemal Šabić was removed as general director. The Board appointed Svjetlana Živanov as acting general director while a competition for a permanent director was pending at the time of writing. RTRS is led by Dijana Milanković, appointed General Director in December 2021 after serving in an acting role. She was included on the U.S. sanctions list in January 2025.
Source of funding and budget
The finances of the PSB system remain the sector’s deepest structural problem. Public financial reports have not been regularly released since 2012, and the system is funded by a mix of advertising revenue and a license fee. However, revenues have been declining steadily. Advertising income is weak in BiH’s small and fragmented market, while license fee revenues have almost collapsed. As a result, the government has repeatedly intervened with ad-hoc subsidies, increasing its leverage over broadcasters.
Conflicts over revenue distribution are recurrent. By law, half of collected revenues should go to BHRT and the remainder split between RTVFBiH and RTRS. Yet RTRS and RTVFBiH have often failed to transfer their share to BHRT, which maintains the main transmission infrastructure.
The public broadcasting system in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in a state of severe financial distress, primarily impacting the state-level broadcaster, BHRT. In the past year, BHRT has been on the brink of collapse due to a dysfunctional and politically manipulated revenue system. The core problem is the failure of the broadcaster in Republika Srpska, RTRS, to transfer the legally mandated 50% share of the RTV license fees collected in its territory to BHRT, a practice ongoing since 2017. This has created a massive debt, crippling BHRT’s ability to operate.
While BHRT faces potential closure, RTRS remains financially stable, benefiting from both the withheld funds and strong political backing from the government of Republika Srpska. The entity broadcaster for the Federation, RTVFBiH, is in a more stable position than BHRT but is also entangled in disputes over revenue sharing.
Recent court rulings have sided with BHRT, but enforcement of the debt collection from RTRS remains a significant challenge.
Editorial independence
The law formally obliges public broadcasters in BiH to provide accurate, balanced, and diverse programming, and each broadcaster has statutes and internal rules to safeguard editorial independence. In reality, these provisions are weakly enforced, according to local journalists interviewed for this report in April-May 2024 and in March 2025.
They emphasized that all three broadcasters remain heavily politicized. Governing structures are party-controlled, and financing arrangements provide additional avenues for influence. Political bias in editorial policy has been repeatedly documented, especially at RTRS, which has been accused of serving as a mouthpiece for the ruling SNSD.
Although Editorial Councils are legally mandated to represent ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity and to contribute to programming oversight, in practice they are marginalized and lack real authority.
Recent years have seen further deterioration. In 2023–2024, BHRT journalists staged protests over unpaid wages and political interference. In Republika Srpska, opposition parties and media watchdogs have accused RTRS of pro-government propaganda. RTVFBiH, meanwhile, has struggled with internal divisions and financial instability, limiting its editorial capacity.
As of 2025, the system’s independence remains under serious threat: politicized appointments, chronic underfunding, and unresolved governance disputes prevent BiH’s PSB from functioning as a genuinely independent public service.
September 2025