SARAJEVO (Bosnia and Herzegovina), April 20 (SeeNews) – Bosnia and Herzegovina slipped two spots to 68th position in Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) latest freedom of press report, the non-governmental organisation said on Wednesday.
In regional comparison, media Freedom in Bosnia was better than in Moldova (76th), Albania (82nd), Montenegro (106th), Bulgaria (113th) and Macedonia (118th), but worse than in Croatia (63rd), Serbia (59th), Romania (49th), and Slovenia (40th), the World Press Freedom Index 2016 showed.
The report noted that Bosnia has the world’s most liberal media freedom laws, however their implementation is held back by a saturated judicial system.
"Journalists are often the targets of threats and political pressure. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the pro-government media continue to enjoy direct and indirect state subsidies," RSF said.
Defamation was decriminalized in 2003 but lawsuits are still possible.
Published by RSF annually since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index measures the level of freedom available to journalists in 180 countries using the following criteria – pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative environment, transparency, infrastructure, and abuses.