At today’s CoR Working Group session, Borboly Csaba raised a question that was welcomed by all experts present \u2014 and which goes well beyond the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina.<\/p>\n
The context:<\/strong> The question raised by Borboly Csaba:<\/strong> The experts’ response:<\/strong> The political message:<\/strong> At today’s CoR Working Group session, Borboly Csaba raised a question that was welcomed by all experts present \u2014 and which goes well beyond the borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The context: EEAS, OSCE and Bosnian disinformation researchers confirmed that where local media pluralism is weak, external disinformation is most effective. Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,1,84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cor","category-hirek","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1852,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1850\/revisions\/1852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cor.borbolycsaba.ro\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nEEAS, OSCE and Bosnian disinformation researchers confirmed that where local media pluralism is weak, external disinformation is most effective. Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded 42 press freedom incidents in 2025 \u2014 up from 33 in 2024. Opaque public funding of media networks poses a major risk to editorial independence.<\/p>\n
\n“In many local contexts, the threat to independent information does not come from outside but from within. The local authority funds the local newspaper. The regional TV studio only broadcasts the leadership’s events. Independent voices have no platform, no funding and no audience. When this happens, citizens lose access to alternative information \u2014 which creates exactly the gap that foreign disinformation fills. What minimum guarantees \u2014 regulatory, financial or civil \u2014 can protect a basic level of independent local voice when political will is absent?”<\/p>\n
\nThe problem is not specific to Bosnia \u2014 it is a pattern observed across the region. Recommended solutions: transparent regulation of public advertising, direct financial support for independent civil media (through CERV), clear pluralism standards. The European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), applicable from August 2025, prohibits local authority interference in editorial policy and requires transparency in the distribution of public funds to the press.<\/p>\n
\nPublicly funded media must serve all citizens, not a single political option. Where this principle is violated \u2014 whether in BiH or in any other European democracy \u2014 real vulnerabilities to disinformation are created. The CoR maintains that democratic standards in local media are a condition for accession, not an option.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"