Media and Judiciary Annual Meeting

The aim of the December meeting was to discuss progress made and draw attention to the existing obstacles to cooperation between the media and the Court and Prosecution of BiH.

BIRN BiH Director Nerma Jelacic and Konrad Adenauer Foundation Director Christina Krause moderated the meeting.

The participants included representatives of the BiH media, non-governmental organizations, judicial institutions, academia and the international community in BiH.

AIS members Mirela Hukovic-Hodzic, a BH Radio 1 journalist, and Erna Mackic, Justice Report journalist, presented their views on the relations between the media and judiciary, as well as the ways in which the media reports on the processes against war crime indictees and the existing problems in the relations between the Court, the Prosecution and the media.

During the discussion on existing obstacles, the AIS members drew attention to the transparency in the work of the court and prosecution organs, i.e. the accessibility of information and public documents to the media and public in general.

Suggestions were made as to how to improve cooperation between the media and these institutions, and to make their work more transparent.Manuela Hodzic and Boris Grubesic, representatives of the PR sections of the Court of BiH and its prosecution department, addressed the participants and presented their views on the cooperation with the media and their openness to the public in BiH.

Both stressed the importance of cooperation and the presentation of work and processes conducted before the judicial institutions, and concluded that the openness of these institutions to the public, BiH media and international media and academic community had significantly improved during 2007.

Meddzida Kreso, Chairwoman of the Court of BiH, and Milorad Barasin, Deputy Chief Prosecutor of BiH, also addressed the participants. They said they would invest as much effort as possible over the coming months in order to provide the journalists and the public with all the necessary pieces of information concerning war crime processes and cases.

They also stressed that, when looking for information, the media should bear in mind the press code of conduct, as well the regulations and laws governing the work of these institutions.

Emir Habul, Editor in Chief of BH Radio 1, and Mira Lolic Mocevic, Editor of RTRS Informative Programme, represented the media at the meeting. They both highlighted the fact that journalists still face problems in obtaining information on the work of the Court and Prosecution of BiH.

It was also noted that reporters sometimes receive outdated information, which is inadequate for accurate daily reporting on the work of these institutions.

They also said that, despite the fact that special shows featuring their work are made, the judges and prosecutors very often refuse to appear in front of cameras.

The editors agreed that there was a need to design a weekly special on war crimes processing, as suggested by BIRN BiH, which would offer a review of the happenings at the Court of BiH, as well as enable the public services to continuously inform the public on the work of the Court of BiH and Prosecution of BiH when it comes to war crimes processing.

Renate Frech from the OSCE and Alma Dedic of UNDP spoke about the importance of the openness of the Court of BiH and its prosecution department towards the public and media, and presented their programmes related to transitional justice, which could lead to improvement of transparency of war crimes processing.

Following a constructive discussion, the participants concluded that it was necessary to continue to improve cooperation between the journalists and PR services of the Court of BiH and Prosecution of BiH.

It was also determined that there was a great need for regular meetings between journalists and representatives of the Court of BiH and its prosecution department, which might be arranged in a form of weekly press conferences, as well as a need for making and publishing of a list of documents available to the public.

The meeting also concluded that the media was responsible for educating its journalists on the importance of respecting the press code of conduct as well as the regulations and laws applied in court and prosecution processes, but also on the importance of reporting on war crime processes conducted before BiH judicial institutions.

It was therefore agreed to undertake certain activities in the upcoming period that would increase the number of reporters covering war crime cases, and help avoid unprofessional and inadequate reporting.

The Association of Court Reporters was established in 2005 in order to acquaint the public, through coordinated activities, with the work of the Court of BiH and its prosecution department. AIS is financially supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation as part of the BIRN BiH project on “Media, Civil Society and War Crime Trials”.