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SARAJEVO, February 11 (FENA) - The defamation cases before the courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina are the most common against the media, and one of the main reasons is the lack of understanding of the difference between opinions and facts and the lack of knowledge about journalistic genres, concluded the speakers and participants of a two-day inter-professional seminar on judiciary and media stakeholders and anti-defamation in BiH.
It was also noted that journalists and lawyers, as well as professional advocates of the principles of fairness and justice and the courts through the implementation of the law on defamation, play an essential role in the defense of freedom of expression.
Defamation lawsuits are often deliberately filed as a threat to freedom of expression, freedom of editorial policy and investigative journalism in BiH.
The laws in force imply that the sentence imposed against the media must not be such as to endanger the work of the media, which is still not respected in certain judgments.
One such example is a political magazine "Slobodna Bosna" who was forced to close its print edition due to a large number of lawsuits against journalists, it was stressed at the seminar.
If the media content is singled out as a comment, then it implies editorial rights, freedom, and responsibility.
“The free and fair commentary is an editorial right and part of media freedom, prescribed by press and media codes in democratic countries,” said the Executive Director of the Press and Online Media Council in BiH, Ljiljana Zurovac.
(FENA) S. R.
