Improvement of Cooperation Needed

The meeting participants pointed out that the relations between the media and judiciary had to be improved with the aim of apprising the public about war crimes cases and other issues related to judicial sector, but they said that they faced numerous problems in their work.

In fact, representatives of judiciary said that journalists, who report from courtrooms, were often not adequately dressed for such reporting, while also being inclined to sensationalism and distortion of information.

At the same time, the journalists said that courts and prosecutions were often reserved and sceptical in their dealings with journalists.

Besides the journalists and judiciary representatives, the meeting was attended by members of “Vive zene” and “Forum of Tuzla Citizens” NGOs from Tuzla and an OSCE monitor in Tuzla, who stressed the importance of judicial institutions’ opening towards the public and informing it about the processes conducted by courts and prosecutions.

All meeting participants, starting from court representatives to journalists, agreed that the key problem was the non-existence of spokespersons at the Cantonal Court in Tuzla and District Court in Bijeljina.

Indira Hadzimehmedovic, President of the Court, said that she had to respond to questions from journalists on her own, adding that this was taking a lot of her time.

“Media cannot do without us, but we have to work with them in order to build a partner relation. This is particularly important in terms of war crimes cases. We shall deal with such cases in the future. For that reason, we have to build capacities and relations in order to ensure uninterrupted flow of information towards the general public,” Hadzimehmedovic said.

Representative of judiciary said that, in case of “big interest” by the media, they would issue public statements or organize press conference in order to share information about certain cases. However, it was pointed out that they could do this more often.

Media representatives said that judicial authorities in Tuzla and Bijeljina should follow the practices of the State Court and Prosecution, or the Hague Tribunal in order to achieve better cooperation with the public.

All meeting participants agreed that judicial institutions should take a more proactive approach in dealing with the media, because, by being reserved, they generate a wrong impression on their work among the general public.

One of the meeting conclusions said that courts and prosecutions should proceed with and improve their activities related to publishing of news on web pages, as this would made journalists’ work and access to information easier.

Journalists coming from local communities said that judicial institutions often failed to provide them with information, because they considered their requests unimportant.

Hence, they stressed the importance of institutionalization of practices, which would be equally applied to everyone.

Among other participants in the Tuzla meeting were representatives of the Cantonal Court and Prosecution in Tuzla and District Court in Bijeljina, journalists from Dnevni Avaz, TV Zivinice and Institute for Reporting in Peace and War and representatives of “Vive zene” and “Forum of Citizens from Tuzla” NGOs and OCSE.

During the course of this year the Association of Court Reporters, in collaboration with BIRN and with support from the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, will hold meetings on “Transparency of judiciary and responsibility of the media” in Bihac and Sarajevo/Eastern Sarajevo.