Slow progress on media reform in Western Balkans criticised by European Commission

Widespread government interference and slow progress on reforms continues to undermine the media environment in the Western Balkans, finds the latest European Commission progress report for the region.

The report, published on 19 October, records the annual progress for six Western Balkan countries who hope to become EU members. This year’s report made for grim reading on the subject of media freedoms for many countries where implementation of promised reforms has seen little to no progress. The result is that issues related to rule of law, corruption and stifling of media freedoms are still present across the region, especially in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH).

Attacks on journalists, control of state-owned entities and public broadcasters, and manipulation of commercial media markets were highlighted as some of the most serious ongoing problems.

In Serbia, the Commission noted that “limited progress” in protecting freedom of expression had been achieved despite adopting a new action plan related to the country’s media strategy in December 2020.

Verbal attacks against journalists by high-level officials was one issue reported to have worsened since 2019. The report further highlighted issues of pluralism and transparency of ownership. State-owned telecommunications and media operator Telekom Srbija was singled out for “alleged unfair competitions practices”, including its “restrictive agreement” with telecoms company Telenor. The report said that governance of state-owned enterprises like Telekom Srbija “remains under strong political influence” and could be benefitting unfairly from avoidance of state aid rules. 

Across the board, lack of progress was so minimal that the report concluded that its recommendations from last year “still need to be implemented and therefore remain valid.”

For BIH, the report recorded that there had been “no progress” on guaranteeing freedom of expression and of the media, nor on protecting journalists against threats and violence. It found that journalists, particularly women, continue to be subjected to attacks and that authorities continue to downplay the issue. Political influence over public broadcasters and advertising practices were highlighted as further issues that still need to be addressed.  

Montenegro also experienced limited progress during the reporting period, with the safety of journalists remaining a severe concern. The report highlights that “more efforts are required to limit the effects of disinformation and online harassment and hate speech while ensuring that such measures do not limit freedom of expression.”

The situation in North Macedonia, which “allows for critical media reporting”, is reported to be more favourable to media freedom. However, further reform was called for to ensure transparency of media advertising by political and to strengthen the independence of the public service broadcaster.

Kosovo was similarly reported to have a pluralistic and lively media environment compared with other countries in the region. However, concerns remain regarding attacks on journalism and a weak market leaving the media vulnerable to political and business interests.

Meanwhile, Albania was commended by the European Commission for achieving “tangible” and “sustainable” results in its commitment to EU-oriented reforms.

The latest European Commission Progress Report shows that while governments are happy to promise reforms, implementation is slow and at times non-existent. Public attacks on journalists by senior politicians still to go unpunished. States continue to manipulate their domestic media through non-transparent allocation of funds and abuse of media ownership laws.  

Media freedom remains an important factor for stability in the Western Balkans, especially in the countries of the Western Balkans. This latest report from the European Commission shows there is still a lot more work to be done. BFMI calls on the European Commission to make complete independence and freedom of the media to be set as a pre-condition for accessing EU funds.

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The full the European Commission reports can be accessed here.

To find out more about the manipulation of commercial media markets in Bulgaria, Serbia and North Macedonia, download BFMI’s latest report: The Invisible Hand of Media Censorship