CALL TO THE MEDIA FOR PROFESSIONAL REPORTING ON THE REMEMBRANCE OF ALL WAR VICTIMS

SARAJEVO, JULY 7 /SRNA/ - The OSCE Mission has called on the media in BiH to approach reporting on events dedicated to commemorating the victims of war professionally and impartially.

Responding to "Srna's" observation that the Public Broadcasting Service in BiH, on the Day of Mourning, July 4, marking more than three decades since the suffering of Serbs in the Middle Podrinje and Birač regions, broadcast a regular program that was not adapted for a Day of Mourning, the OSCE stated that editorial policy remains the responsibility of each individual media outlet. "We call on the media to approach such events professionally and impartially, and to report on them in a manner that does not call into question court-established facts," the OSCE stated. The OSCE provided Srna with a link to a video segment broadcasted in the RTV BiH central news program, which lasts six minutes and 20 seconds. In the text published alongside this segment on the RTV BiH website, "background" information was added noting that the Court of BiH had acquitted Naser Orić and Sabahudin Muhić of charges regarding the suffering of Serbs in the Middle Podrinje. "Srna" also requested an answer from the management of RTV BiH as to whether their programming will be adapted for July 11, which the FBiH Government has declared a Day of Mourning due to the commemoration in Potočari. The inquiry also asked whether there will be a live broadcast from Potočari on that day, considering that there was no live broadcast from Bratunac on July 4. An answer has not yet arrived at "Srna's" address.