BRUSSELS — Media freedom advocates and European journalism groups are warning that Bosnia and Herzegovina’s state-level public service broadcaster, BHRT, is on the verge of shutting down due to severe financial and institutional blockages.
The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and its local affiliate, the Bosnia-Herzegovina Journalists’ Association (BHN), issued an urgent appeal to domestic authorities and European Union officials to intervene before the network collapses. BHRT’s bank accounts, the EFJ and BHN said, have been frozen for over a month, forcing the network to cut programming and leaving more than 700 journalists, producers, and technical staff facing potential job losses and unpaid salaries.
Calls for EU Intervention
In a letter sent to Davor Ivo Stier—a Croatian Member of the European Parliament representing the centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and chair of the EP Delegation for Relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo—EFJ Director Renate Schroeder urged direct EU intervention.
Schroeder requested that European lawmakers submit formal inquiries to the European Commission to hold Bosnian authorities accountable.
“In a country like Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a vulnerable democratic infrastructure and an immensely weakened information ecosystem, we truly believe that maintaining BHRT is essential, as well as an important response to the immense amounts of disinformation and foreign influence,” Schroeder stated.
Threat to Regional Public Media
Press freedom groups warned that a shutdown would make Bosnia and Herzegovina the only Western Balkan country without a state-level public media organization.
“Closing BHRT would not mean the disappearance of only one television and one radio programme, but the collapse of the entire public broadcasting system,” the BHN said in a statement. “Bosnia and Herzegovina could become the only country in the Western Balkans without a state-level public service media outlet.”
EFJ President Maja Sever added that public service media cannot maintain editorial independence when forced to operate under persistent financial threat. Media organizations are calling on Bosnian lawmakers to resolve the account freeze, ensure the lawful collection of RTV license fees, and establish a long-term funding structure aligned with European Media Freedom Act standards.
Launching a campaign for funding on 26 September, BHRT said it needs financial support to preserve broadcasting as state institutions and international organizations are “unwilling to provide us with stable, systemic funding.”
“BHRT is not merely a broadcaster. We are defending the signal that has connected this country for decades, in good times and bad,” the broadcaster said.