In democratic and free societies, BH states. journalists from police structures and security agencies should use legitimate means of responding to journalistic reports
The Board of Directors of the Association of BH Journalists directs a public protest to the Minister of the Interior of the Herzegovina-Neretva County, Marije Marić, as well as to other leading people of the Ministry of the Interior of the Herzegovina-Neretva County (MUP HNŽ) due to the intention to change the Law on Public Order and Peace and enable police control of media content and post on social networks. “Minister Marić and his colleagues from the MUP announced this possibility at a press conference in Mostar, accusing the media of spreading false news and endangering the safety of citizens in HNŽ through reports on an event from two months ago. For the Management Board of BH Journalists, it is completely unacceptable that the MUP of HNŽ decided to create legal possibilities for media censorship and restricting the right of journalists to freely and objectively create media content, without first filing complaints with the competent (self) regulator or taking legal measures against those who, as it was said at the press conference, “created a climate of insecurity” for the citizens of Mostar with their media announcements, BH journalists announced.
Problematic statements of the minister
In democratic and free societies, they say, police structures and security agencies should use legitimate means of responding to journalistic reports, and not resort to new legal provisions that lead to censorship and restriction of freedom of expression in the media and on social networks. “For the Management Board of BH Journalists, the statements that the media in Mostar will not be allowed to publish information before and beyond the official announcements of the MUP are particularly problematic, since they suggest the potential closure of this institution towards the media and the public, as well as limiting the free flow of public information of importance to citizens. “, state BH journalists. They add that Minister Marić’s announcement that the media and social networks will be declared “external media space” through the announced changes to the Law on Public Order and Peace is on the same level of inadmissibility. They believe that the announcements that the police “ex officio” will initiate investigations against journalists, media and people on social networks are unacceptable.
Control is not a European standard
“BH journalists remind Minister Marij Marić and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Herzegovina-Neretva County that the creation of legal provisions for police supervision of publications in the media and on social networks is not a European standard of legitimate restrictions on freedom of expression, nor can it be a solution to the publication of security-problematic content or fake news,” state BH journalists. Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the Herzegovina-Neretva County, they add, have adequate criminal sanctions for all acts of endangering security, and the Regulatory Agency for Communications and the Press Council as bodies responsible for responding to unprofessional media writing. “It should be a legal and institutional framework for everyone, including the Mostar police, to respond to publications in the media and on social networks, not censorship or police surveillance of freedom of expression,” they stated in the press release. Let us remind you that at the media conference of the Ministry of Interior of the HNŽ, it was stated that false, planned affairs were created with the need to spin and create a climate of insecurity in the area of Herzegovina-Neretva County. READ MORE There were carefully planned lies at work in HNŽ, the police are starting to “clean up” the Internet? The Minister of Internal Affairs of HNŽ, Marijo Marić, said that it is intended to “amend the Law on Public Order and Peace when the definition of a public place will be extended to social networks and media. “It happened that during media reporting in the past two months, certain information was presented in a different way, adapted to certain needs, spun, without saying that this was fake news. The fact is that a climate of insecurity has been created,” said Marić, stressing that security was not threatened at any moment.
Forged affairs
He said that some media “went to the extreme and in a very ugly and disgusting way led to that situation”. “Time has shown what happened here,” said Marić. He added that he intends to “amend the Law on Public Order and Peace when the definition of a public place will be extended to social networks and the media, because in recent times it is a self-imposed space within which such attacks and insults take place…”. As he said, it is mostly about changes in the amount of penalties that are threatened for certain crimes. The changes would extend the definition of public place to “outdoor media space”. He announced that the Ministry of Internal Affairs will “take serious action and, on official duty, undertake activities to determine responsibility and gather facts regarding individual perpetrators”. He said that this is to narrow down the problem of manipulations.
Source: blesak.info
