Newspapers in Bosnia and Herzegovina
According to PHARMACYLIB.COM, Bosnia and Herzegovina is a country located in Europe. The spread of newspapers in Bosnia and Herzegovina is limited as a result of the civil war in 1992–95. In 1999, Bosnia and Herzegovina was still divided into a Serbian unit and a Croat-Muslim, with separate media systems. In the Croatian-Muslim Federation, the largest party of the SDA throughout the war and the years since then exerted a strong influence on the media, especially television. After the fall of communism, a large number of newspapers, magazines and radio stations were started. During the war, most were in the war propaganda service for the various groups. However, the Sarajevo newspaper Oslobodjenje became known for its independent attitude during the civil war. The newspaper was published throughout the war despite the fact that the newspaper house was exposed to constant fire.
After the war, the news agency was dominated by state Radio Televizija Bosne in Hercegovine. There is also private radio and TV with good reputation, eg. the independent radio station Studio 99 in Sarajevo, RTV Tuzla and Radio Kameleon. In the Serbian unit in Bosnia and Herzegovina, there are several politically controlled radio and TV stations, mainly in Pale and Banja Luka, as well as there are Serbian-oriented newspapers. Television and radio from Croatia and Serbia can be seen in much of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Democracy support for independent Bosnian media has gone from SIDA. After the end of the war, however, the world’s interest in media support in Bosnia and Herzegovina has diminished, which has created great difficulties especially for the press. There are 243 radio and 111 TV receivers per 1,000 residents (2000).
Culture
According to APARENTINGBLOG, Bosnia has always been at the intersection of different empires, peoples and religions, leaving traces in the culture. Slavic traditions have been mixed with Oriental culture for centuries by Turkish influence and influences from the Central European Habsburg Empire. Sarajevo was the foremost symbol of this multifaceted cultural wealth.
One expression of these intercultural encounters is the traditional Bosnian music form sevdah, a form of romantic ballads. After the Second World War, a Yugoslav culture was added, and eventually a globalized culture also left its mark.
The Yugoslav band Riblja Čorba was formed in the Rolling Stone’s imitation in Belgrade in the late 1970s and became a popular rock band in Yugoslavia. Even today, the band draws audiences in Bosnia.
Due to the long siege and shelling of the capital Sarajevo during the war 1992-95 much of the cultural life was ravaged. The same was true in other parts of the country. The destruction of the indigenous cultural heritage became most evident when Croatian artillery in 1993 shattered the famous 16th-century bridge in the city of Mostar and already at the beginning of the war the old central library in Sarajevo caught fire. During the Civil War, it was generally common for one party to destroy symbols just for the culture of the other parties, such as mosques and churches.
Some of this has been rebuilt in the physical sense, but the atmosphere from the time before the war has not been able to be recreated.
Nobel laureate Ivo Andrić (1892–1975) was born in Bosnia and his work, like the novel Bron over Drina, often takes place in Bosnian environments. Andrić later lived in Belgrade.
There are a significant number of writers who fled Bosnia during the war, but who in their works return to their homeland, for example Alexander Hemon.
The film director Emir Kusturica from Sarajevo has made himself known, among other things, Gypsy’s time, Underground and Black cat, white cat. Kusturica is now a citizen of Serbia.
2015
December
Suspected terrorists arrested
December 22
Eleven men are arrested in Sarajevo, suspected of conspiracy with the Islamist terrorist organization IS. The men are believed to have planned a major terrorist campaign in the capital during the New Year weekend.
No celebration of peace agreement
December 14
The 20th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Agreement in 1995 is almost completely silenced in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although the agreement led to an end to the civil war, it strengthened the ethnic divide of Bosnia and made the country very sluggish.
November
The Constitutional Court rejects “Republika Srpska Day”
November 26th
The Constitutional Court states that the celebration of “Republika Srpska Day” on January 9 violates the Constitution as it discriminates against residents of an ethnic or religious background other than the majority in the entity. The holiday is celebrated at a Serbian Orthodox celebration which is also the date when the Bosnian Serbs proclaimed their own republic in 1992.
Attack on soldiers in Sarajevo
November 19
Two soldiers are killed when an Islamist opens fire with automatic weapons near a barracks in Sarajevo. The man also shoots at the bus and injures four people. He later blasts himself into his home, when police surrounded him.
July
Republican Srpska plans controversial referendum
With a small majority, Parliament in the Republic of Srpska is voting for a proposal by the entity’s president Milorad Dodik who wants a referendum on the national court’s right to judge Serbs. According to Dodik, the court is not impartial but political and often judges the Serbs disadvantage. The proposal is condemned by the US and the EU, among others, but is supported by Russia. Dodik has advocated a referendum on independence for Republika Srpska 2018 unless the entity gains increased autonomy.
The memory of Srebrenica’s victims is celebrated
July 11
Around 50,000 people attend a ceremony in Srebrenica on the 20th anniversary of the city massacre (see Modern History). Serbia’s prime minister, Aleksandar Vučić, is also on the scene, but is greeted with a burp and forced to seek shelter from stone throwers.
June
Scheduled Serbian state visit is canceled
Bakir Izetbegovic cancels what would have been a first state visit by Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolić, after the suspected war criminal Naser Orić was arrested in Switzerland and Serbia requested him extradited. According to a cooperation agreement between the countries, Orić should be extradited to Bosnia. He is suspected of war crimes against civilian Serbs around Srebrenica 1992.
First damages for rape during the war
For the first time, damages are awarded to a rape victim in the 1992–1995 war, a then-teenage Croatian girl. Two men from the then Bosnian Serb army are sentenced to every ten years in prison by the Bosnian National Court and to pay their victim the equivalent of approximately SEK 140,000. Between 20,000 and 50,000 people, mostly Bosnians, are believed to have been raped during the war.
EU agreements enter into force
June 1st
The so-called Stabilization and Association Agreement that Bosnia signed with the EU as early as 2008 will come into force.
April
Suspected Islamist deed in Republika Srpska
A young Bosnian Muslim enters the police station in the town of Zvornik and shoots down a policeman and injures two before he himself is shot dead. The perpetrator is said to have shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is great) before shooting. The authorities in the Serbian part of Bosnia, Republic of Spain where Zvornik is located, therefore see it all as a terrorist act and, according to critics, take it as a pretext for raiding suspected Islamists in the sub-republic.
March
Governments clear in the nation and the Federation
March 31st
At the last moment, before the deadline is set, coalition governments succeed: at national level and in the Bosnian-Croat Federation, which can thus adopt a budget for 2015. New national prime minister becomes Denis Zvizdić from the SDA. However, both government coalitions are fragile, characterized by the bickering that preceded the formation. In the Federation, only seven of the ten cantons have managed to get any government together since the October elections.
February
HD judges are arrested
A judge in Bosnia’s highest court is arrested, suspected of receiving bribes from a former police chief in a canton and his cousin, who was facing trial for organized crime and abuse of power.
First “Bosnian” registered
A nine-month-old boy in Sarajevo becomes the first in independent Bosnia-Herzegovina to be registered as “Bosnian”. Faruk Salaka’s parents, in protest against the ethnic divide in the country, refused to register their child as either “bosniak”, “serb”, “croat” or “other”, the only thing so far possible. With the help of a lawyer, they get right to the state and hope that others will follow suit.
