Numerous BiH and international experts, who participated in the conference, discussed the topics related to media freedom, freedom of expression and media ethics, copyright, as well as the challenges brought by new technologies and the transparency of media ownership and media financing. 

FENA's General Manager, Elmir Huremović, opened the conference and pointed out that the conference intended to open a discussion on important issues because Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a relatively young democratic society, needs media it can trust and knows how to resist propaganda and recognize misinformation.

The conference represents an opportunity, says Huremović, to exchange experiences and redefine the way products are consumed that publish content in the general social interest of society, stating that freedom of expression is a fundamental human right that must never be equated with hate speech and propaganda.

President of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) and CEO of the Austrian news agency APA, Clemens Pig, in his address, assessed that the topics covered by the conference are very important for Europe and the world, but especially for news agencies and the media.

He emphasized that media freedom does not only include the right of journalists to do their work without restrictions or threats but is also strongly related to the safety of journalists, the transparency of media ownership, the regulatory framework for media, as well as media ethics.

He also talked about the latest generation of generative artificial intelligence, mainly Chat GPT, which already makes it difficult even for professionals to distinguish real news and information from computer-generated disinformation in all formats, and that artificial intelligence systems are getting better and the challenges associated with them are getting bigger.

Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ingrid Macdonald, addressed the conference, stressing that media freedom is a topic of central importance for the United Nations not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but around the world.

Concerned about the situation in which the media and journalists are at the global level, she stated, the UN has established a comprehensive Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists to end impunity for crimes committed against them. She also pointed out that the latest developments on the political scene in BiH, especially the proposed criminalization of insults and slander, cause concern.

"The frequent use of defamation lawsuits is a way to silence journalists, along with an increase in threats directed at female journalists. When it comes to lawsuits, they are not only directed against the media and journalists, but also environmental activists, NGOs, and some people have even had to mortgage their houses to pay legal fees, and this discourages people from telling the truth," Macdonald said.

Journalists and the media must be more active advocates of media freedom, it was said at the "Media Freedom" panel held as part of the conference, where Secretary General of the BH Journalists Association, Borka Rudić, also spoke.

Executive Director of the Press Council in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dženana Burek, said that the Council receives mostly complaints about online media. This means that citizens are increasingly consuming online media.

She also spoke about the fact that politicians and public officials are very aware of filing appeals and "they use their right to file appeals against possibly unprofessional media reporting, as they call it".

Šejla Maslo Čerkić, a legal advisor at the Human Rights Department at the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, called for the protection of freedom, adding that the problem is also the large amount of content that is on the borderline of what is permissible and which both regulators and international and regional organizations struggle with.

Executive Director of the International Media Institute in Vienna, Frano Maroević, who participated in the conference via video link, stated that they recently hosted more than 300 journalists from all over the world in Vienna when they discussed the topic of artificial intelligence and journalism, how journalism should benefit from technology, but also what are the disadvantages.

One of the conference participants was the Secretary General of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), Alexandru Giboi, who opened the second panel within the conference "Media Freedom and Shaping the Future of Media" which was dedicated to copyright in the media.

He underlined that media freedom is not just a phrase that is used but is based on important foundations, and one of them is copyright protection, which enables the media to achieve financial independence, which at the same time leads to increased media freedom.

Giboi thinks media literacy is a long-term solution because legal regulations cannot solve problems in the media by themselves since laws are often not respected and the citizens do not understand them and do not see their purpose. 

He concluded that the laws are useless without media literacy, which should be part of the education system to ensure that in 10 years, there will be no current topics about disinformation, fake news, and manipulation of the public. 

It is extremely important to educate young people about copyright protection, as well as those who are already in the system, and to raise the level of public awareness about the importance of copyright protection, which was highlighted at the panel "Copyright in BiH".

Vesna Vuletić Bebek, Assistant Director of the Institute for Intellectual Property of BiH, said that they are currently working on amendments to the Law on Copyright and Related Rights, which would improve the situation in that area.

"But even if we have the best laws that are not implemented, a problem and a legal gap arise, the matter remains unapplied, and that is why the general public and professional associations of journalists must get involved in raising awareness about the importance of copyright protection," she added.

Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Sarajevo (UNSA), Iza Razija Mešević, says that they organize a school of media law that is open to all students of public law schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and participate in an international simulation and trial competition in the field of media law, where the students achieved enviable results.

"We are planning and currently working on a specialized program that will be dedicated to the topic of media law from the angle of intellectual property rights, copyright, and in this segment we always touch on copyright in the media on photography and texts," said Mešević.

Co-founder, CEO, and attorney at the Eterović Law Firm Sarajevo, Vedran Eterović, said that the ideal legal solution may not be necessary when it comes to copyright protection.

"Implementation of the existing law through the misdemeanor procedure, through tourist and trade inspections, would be a much more adequate solution, to ensure better protection, i.e. the implementation of the law and therefore the rights of authors," said Eterović.

The moderator of the panel was FENA's Deputy General Manager, Ilija Musa, who expressed his belief that this gathering, through the discussion of panelists, journalists, students, and everyone else, questioned the current state of media activity in BiH, analyzed the impact of the IT industry and convergence on the quality and distribution of media content, and that opened up some new topics that future FENA's conferences would deal with.

"The media will exist, but the future of the media will be different, the digital transformation imposes certain trends and BiH, like all other countries, has no choice but to adapt to it," said Assistant Director for Broadcasting at the Regulatory Communications Agency (RAK), Amela Odobašić, speaking at the panel on the future of media in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Odobašić believes that the regulatory framework will be different in the future. What is a good guideline is the legislative framework of the European Union, directives that must be incorporated into the domestic legislative framework.

Artificial intelligence and its use were often mentioned on all three panels, and from the regulator's point of view, Odobašić believes that education about the use of artificial intelligence is necessary and that it is something that is part of media and information literacy.

The owner of Kameleon Radio Tuzla, Zlatko Berbić, believes that the transformation of all forms of society is happening today. He cited an example of change in tourism, which has changed globally through several platforms, and believes that such changes are also taking place in the media.

The moderator of the third panel entitled "Future of media in BIH" was FENA's General Manager, Elmir Huremović, who recalled that one of the topics from the previous panels was the so-called digital transformation.

One of the panelists, EANA Secretary General Alexandru Giboi, spoke about the application of copyright legislation and how individual countries react to the issue of copyright through news agencies.

"The members of our alliance did an analysis and the general results are that this is a positive progress that will lead to positive results. On the other hand, one word that describes situations in the implementation of regulations is inconsistency," said Giboi.

Moderator Huremović gave his review on artificial intelligence, pointing out that he does not see it as something harmless and believes that it is a revolution bigger than the Internet, and the negative consequences of the mass application of artificial intelligence will only be felt.

Huremović concluded that by organizing the conference, the Agency demonstrated its role as a responsible media that proves its social responsibility by publishing unbiased, accurate, and timely content every day, and this conference should not be just a one-time event, but the beginning of a long-term process.

(FENA) A. B.