The Board of Directors of the Association of BH Journalists and the Helpline for Journalists strongly condemn the inappropriate statements of Elmedin Konaković, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the targeting of journalists and the media at the press conference yesterday in Sarajevo, the Association of BH Journalists announced.
By abusing the public space of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of BiH and his own ministerial position, Mr. Konaković tried to criminalize a number of media and journalists without argument and without evidence, calling them “part of the media-judicial mafia” just because they wrote about the police-judicial action of arresting persons who are suspected of various criminal offenses and connections with the “Tito and Dino” drug cartel. Konaković said that certain media and journalists are trying to “make connections” to him with the mentioned criminal group, and that with their inscriptions they are “endangering the European path of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, they stated in a statement.
“The minister additionally gave lessons to the media on how they should report on persons who were arrested in a police operation and later heard in court, thereby resorting to unacceptable political pressure on journalists and direct interference in their work,” BH journalists note.
“The Board of Directors of BH Journalists reminds us that for years, Mr. Konaković, with various positions in the public authorities, verbally and brutally deals with the media every time, attacking especially those journalists who write critically about his decisions and the ways in which he performs his public duties. At the same time, Konaković politically deceives the public, especially through social networks, interpreting the criticism addressed to him as a public official as an attack on the state institutions and/or the state of BiH and its European path”, stressed the Association of BH journalists.
As they pointed out, for the Steering Board of BH Journalists it is particularly significant that Konaković did not use legal and legitimate means in any reaction to the unprofessional work of journalists and the media, such as denials, requests for publication of corrections, filing complaints with independent (only) regulatory bodies or through a lawsuit for defamation.
“The Management Board of BH Journalists once again publicly condemns Konaković’s behavior yesterday, considering it an inappropriate attack on media freedoms and the professional integrity of journalists, staged with the aim of criminalizing the media and ruining their reputation in the public, including minimizing the contribution of the BH media in exposing this, international criminal. In this context, BH journalists warn Minister Konaković that a system of legal protection will be launched in order to violate the right to freedom of expression, if his pressure on the media and journalists is not stopped,” the statement of the Board of Directors of the BH Journalists Association concludes.
