In March 2024, the Office of the High Representative (OHR) imposed amendments to the Election Law requiring online media wishing to report on elections to publish information about their ownership. This did not prevent at least 46 anonymous portals from actively reporting on the elections for President of Republika Srpska in more than 850 articles.
Photo: oatawa, Freepik In March 2024, the OHR adopted a decision imposing several amendments to the Election Law. Among other things, these amendments included changes to Article 16.1, which, in accordance with the imposed amendments, stipulates that online media outlets “that decide to report on the election campaign” must ensure public and transparent information about their ownership. Compliance with this provision of the Election Law would essentially mean that online portals that do not publish information about their ownership should not be allowed to report on election campaigns. In addition, the amendments also require that online media reporting on the campaign adhere to the principles of “balance, equal access, fairness, and impartiality,” in accordance with Article 16.2 of the Election Law. Since these amendments were imposed, two election campaigns have taken place, and these provisions were violated in both. In an analysis published in October 2024, Raskrinkavanje established that dozens of completely anonymous online portals actively reported on the campaign for the Local Elections held in Bosnia and Herzegovina at that time. As explained in detail in that analysis, anonymous “media outlets” not only reported on the campaign in violation of the law, but also participated in it significantly. These portals regularly published biased content. On the one hand, anonymous portals were used to provide open support to certain candidates, as well as to spread hate speech, criticism, attacks, and insults directed at other candidates. Thus, both of the aforementioned amendments to the Election Law were violated on these portals, as they reported on the campaign despite lacking publicly and transparently published ownership information, and because some of them violated the principles of “balance, equal access, fairness, and impartiality” prescribed by the law. The Same Practice Continued During the Campaign for the Early Election of the President of Republika Srpska
Early elections for the President of Republika Srpska were held on November 30, 2025. The elections were called after the Central Election Commission adopted a decision terminating the mandate of Milorad Dodik following a final verdict of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentencing him to one year in prison. The winner of these elections was SNSD candidate Siniša Karan. Raskrinkavanje monitored reporting on these elections, and analyses related to the campaign are available in the “Razabiranje” section at this link. Portals that do not publish ownership or editorial information in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been active for years, and the media database evaluated by Raskrinkavanje since 2017 includes more than 1,500 such portals. By analysing the reporting of these media outlets during the period from the start of the election campaign on November 8 to election day on November 30 this year, we once again found that dozens of these portals published campaign-related content, despite the provisions of the Election Law. Of the 1,500 portals without editorial or ownership information in the Raskrinkavanje database, a significant number no longer exist. Among those still active today, the names of the portals and their content do not reveal where they are based or which linguistic area of Southeast Europe they focus on. Nevertheless, prior to the campaign, Raskrinkavanje managed to identify 80 portals in its database that, based on certain indicators, such as the portal name, domain, or section titles, could be assumed to focus their reporting on Bosnia and Herzegovina. Monitoring these portals involved identifying articles published during the specified period that addressed the election campaign, candidates, and elections. We found 46 portals that published one or more articles on these topics between 8 and 30 November. All 46 portals published more than 850 articles on elections, the campaign, and candidates during the observed period. This number of articles clearly shows that campaign reporting was not a “random” reposting of news, but that these portals actively wrote about topics related to the early elections for President of Republika Srpska, thereby violating the aforementioned provision of the Election Law. The largest number of articles was identified on the portals Etto (92), Crna Hronika (82), and Banjalučke priče (80), while all others published fewer than 50 articles. That anonymous portals once again this year did not merely report on the campaign but actively participated in it by favouring certain candidates is best illustrated by the example of the Banjalučke priče portal. The majority of articles on this portal promoted SNSD and Siniša Karan, while there was almost no coverage of other candidates during the campaign. For eight of these portals – Banjaluka (.com), Bijeljina press, Crna Hronika, Press media, Glas regije, Info birač, Hercegovina press, and Tuzla live – Raskrinkavanje had already recorded election-related reporting during the previous campaign. This means that violations of the Election Law were repeated on these portals. Jurisdiction Over the Implementation of These Amendments Remains Unclear
When these amendments were imposed in March 2024, the High Representative’s decision did not specify which authority was responsible for their implementation. Additionally, it did not define the sanctions for those who violate the provisions, nor how those to be sanctioned would be identified, given that the core of the problem lies in the fact that these are anonymous entities. Thus, from the very moment the amendments were imposed, it was unclear who would sanction whom, how, and on what basis. Online media in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not subject to a regulatory system, unlike electronic media. The Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA) is responsible for regulating television and radio, while online media fall within the domain of self-regulation. The body responsible for implementing self-regulation is the Press and Online Media Council (Vijeće za štampu i online medije – VZS). After Raskrinkavanje identified the aforementioned violations during the previous campaign, we contacted the OHR as well as the institutions responsible for conducting elections and overseeing media campaigns: the Central Election Commission (CEC) and the Communications Regulatory Agency. The CEC told Raskrinkavanje that it has no jurisdiction over media, stating that the Election Law prescribes that “the Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is competent for electronic media, while for print and online media the Election Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina recognises the Press and Online Media Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” The CRA responded that implementation of these provisions in practice is very challenging, “particularly due to the absence of a register of online media and adequate legal regulations on media ownership transparency that would contribute to resolving the issue of anonymous portals outside the election period as well.” They additionally emphasised that, “in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 16 of the Election Law and the Rulebook on Media Representation and Public Advertising of Political Subjects during the election period, the Press and Online Media Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina is responsible for conducting proceedings related to content published on online portals.” In line with these responses, we forwarded our inquiries to the Press and Online Media Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the body responsible for “conducting proceedings” in these cases, but we did not receive a response. We also received no response from the OHR, which imposed these amendments. Even after violations of the Election Law provisions were identified during the previous campaign and the competent institutions were informed, the situation did not change. Anonymous portals actively reported on the very next election campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, the same portals that were included in the list Raskrinkavanje submitted to the aforementioned institutions once again violated the same legal provision. It is therefore clear that the amendments to the Election Law aimed at regulating part of the activities of anonymous online media in Bosnia and Herzegovina remain a dead letter, without real application and without a clear willingness to implement them. (Marija Ćosić, Raskrinkavanje.ba)
