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Perpetrators in Documentaries on Genocide

Julian Koch

Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press (2026), 268 pp.

"Perpetrators in Documentaries on Genocide is a wide-ranging comparative study that analyses how numerous genocides and their perpetrators have been presented in documentary film. Spanning seven 20th-century genocides across three continents and combining interviews with filmmakers, distant reading, ... more

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Oral Histories of Genocide in Bosnia, Indonesia, and Rwanda: Symbolic Violence and Social Death

Erin Jessee, Annie Pohlman

Oxford: Oxford University Press (2026), 408 pp.

"Grounded in extensive oral historical, archival, and ethnographic research in the aftermaths of the Bosnian (1992-95), Indonesian (1965-66), and Rwandan (1994) genocides, this book investigates the symbolic meanings associated with spectacular forms of torture, murder, and mutilation that perpetrat ... more

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Eroding Media Freedoms, Eroding Democracy. The Future of the Media in Bosnia and Herzegovina – Facts and Trends

Anida Sokol

Sarajevo; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 37 pp.

"Significant changes in journalism and the media have been unfolding in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), yet these shifts have not been accompanied by adequate policies or interventions. This report outlines key trends affecting journalism, media usage, and democracy, highlighting issues crucial for th ... e future of the profession: • The number of journalism students has significantly decreased over the past decade, a trend which could lead to a shortage of qualified professionals in the long run. • Although unemployment among journalists has declined in recent years, 2023 saw a considerable number of journalists lose their jobs due to the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts or being deemed surplus labour. Unionizing remains unpopular among journalists in the country and without protection mechanisms, journalism in BiH risks becoming even more unstable. • Reports of attacks and violations of journalists’ rights have increased in recent years, reflecting a decline in BiH’s rankings on media freedom indexes. • Despite rapid technological advancements, including the emergence of generative artificial intelligence, the media lack guidelines for their use or studies addressing potential abuses in the media. This absence of regulation and oversight increases the risk of misuse and potential harm. • While regulatory and self-regulatory mechanisms exist, they fail to tackle a core issue in the media: biased reporting, which risks becoming normalized in journalistic practices. • The digital era has brought a proliferation of media outlets, including new television channels. The growth of media outlets does not necessarily improve media pluralism, but could lead to smaller newsrooms, increased workloads of journalists and less quality journalistic content. • Print media has been on the decline, and the country’s major political weekly magazines have ceased publication. Without strategic interventions, print media operations will be difficult to sustain in the future. • Media ownership transparency remains unregulated further aggravating media capture. Media outlets are predominantly owned by companies or individuals with business interests beyond the media sector. • The advertising market has grown slightly in recent years, likely influenced by inflation. However, it remains insufficient to support the growing number of media outlets, posing challenges to financial sustainability. • Television still dominates advertising revenue, but online media’s share is steadily increasing, signalling that digital marketing will become increasingly dominant in the coming years. • Public budgets and donor support remain important for sustaining media operations. Without proper regulation, financing from public budgets, however, bring risks to media independence. • Media primarily serve the interests of the three major ethnic groups, excluding minorities from decision-making roles and positions in mainstream outlets, limiting media pluralism." (Executive summary) more

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Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
Deep Insights

Sanela Hodžic, Sandra B. Hrvatin

Sarajevo; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2025), 57 pp.

"The results of the research conducted in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey suggest that the key determinants for the future of our media and democracies are the following: • The poor socio-economic status of journalists and their exposure to ... pressure and attacks, coupled with modest support mechanisms, cripple the ability of journalists to promote the public interest, report on key issues of public interest, and hold power to account. In the most extreme cases, the pressure involves imprisonment, interrogation, surveillance, and lawsuits aimed at silencing journalists. • The lack of consistent monitoring and registration of cases of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) in the region, with dozens of lawsuits against journalists filed by political officials and their affiliates. • A growing number or media outlets, but a declining number of journalism students, highlighting concerns about the future shrinking of staff numbers in media newsrooms and about the growing automatization of journalism. The most drastic drop was in North Macedonia, with the number of journalism students in 2023 amounting to only 11% of the number from ten years ago and 50% of the number from 2000. • The number of media outlets is growing, mostly in the online sector, while print media outlets are becoming increasingly endemic. • A worrying trend of overt concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few media conglomerates, often tied to national or foreign governments, that takes a toll on media freedom and pluralism. • The dominant instrumentalization (through ownership and funding) of media (including private and public) for particular political and/or business interests limits the space for editorial independence and integrity. • Non-profit media are still a rarity in the region, with only a few non-profit radio broadcasters in some countries, and an unknown number of online platforms of civil society organizations with a community-focused mission. • Lack of transparency of the media sector, particularly a lack of accessible and reliable information concerning the media industry and the media market. • Advertising is the main source of revenues in the media sector, with the total revenues ranging between EUR 12 million in Montenegro and over EUR 4 billion in Turkey. • Although it is declining, the TV sector is still dominant in terms of its share of advertising revenues, while social media’s share is increasing, and in Turkey it amounts to as much as 45.7% of advertising revenues. • The tech giants such as Google and Meta are an increasingly dominant competitor for media outlets in the region, jeopardizing the future sustainability of national and local media outlets and potentially curbing political pluralism in public communication. • Public funding for the media, including funding of public broadcasters (declining in four out of seven countries), grants, and subsidies for media outlets and government advertising, amounts to several to dozens of millions of euros per country, taking up an important share of media revenues, but without proactive transparency, effective guarantees of editorial independence, well-defined purpose and evaluation, the opportunities to make public funding for the media an important instrument of media democratization remain under-used. • The representation of different age, gender, ethnic, religious, and other groups in media content and in the newsrooms’ staff is limited. In multiethnic communities some policies promote ethnic diversity of media content, while other identity axes are largely neglected and pluralism in public communication is very limited. Women are an important, and in many countries even dominant, workforce in the media, but remain underrepresented in managerial posts." (Executive summary) more

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Vibrant Information Barometer: Europe & Eurasia
Deep Insights

Washington, DC: IREX; USAID (2024), 357 pp.

"The 2024 Europe and Eurasia Vibrant Information Barometer (VIBE) covers 18 countries throughout Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia. With VIBE, IREX strives to capture a modern and evolving media space where people are simultaneously producers, transmitters, consumers, and actors in the information t ... more

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The Invisible Hand of Media Censorship in the Balkans: A Closer Look at Media Ownership in the Balkans and the European Media Freedom Act

Balkan Free Media Initiative (BFMI) (2024), 80 pp.

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Beyond Molotovs: A Visual Handbook of Anti-Authoritarian Strategies

International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies, kollektiv orangotango (eds.)

Bielefeld: transcript Verlag (2024), 356 pp.

"Authoritarianism operates on a visceral level rather than relying on arguments. How can we counter authoritarian affects? This publication brings together more than 50 first-hand accounts of anti-authoritarian movements, activists, artists, and scholars from around the world, focusing on the sensuo ... more

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‘They blame the messenger’: Re-examining the critique of journalists reporting on genocide in Rwanda and Srebrenica

Caitlin Knight

Journalism, volume 25, issue 10 (2024), pp. 2117–2134

"Reporting on cases of genocide presents distinct complexities and challenges for journalists, who must negotiate practical, professional, and emotional experiences that challenge traditional expectations of their role. Previous research has provided strident critiques of this reporting, arguing Wes ... more

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Evaluation of the BMAP-Forward Activity

Sarah Eissler, Micheal Buehler, Brenda Pearson, Miodrag Bogdanovic, Anida Soko, Arben Qirezi

Washington, DC: USAID; Integra Government Services International (2024), 165 pp.

"Activity Description: The Balkan Media Assistance Program to Foster Organizational Readiness While Advancing Resilient Development (BMAP-FORWARD) is a $13 million regional Activity (2022-2028) that aims to strengthen the independence and resilience of media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo ... , Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Evaluation Purpose: USAID/Europe and Eurasia Bureau requested a mid-term performance evaluation of BMAP-FORWARD to understand which approaches, tools, and interventions are successfully contributing to planned outcomes according to the Activity’s three key objectives: 1) Increase strategic business practices of key media partners to operate as viable enterprises and better understand their markets and audiences; 2) Reinforce the ability of content producers to produce data-driven content, engage wider audiences, improve digital security efforts, and expand reach across the region; and 3) Foster stronger partnerships between media outlets and the technology, commercial, and entrepreneurial sectors to advance solutions on common challenges in the information space. Evaluation Design: Mixed methods and non-experimental evaluation design approaches, including Expert Consultations and Outcome Harvesting, were employed to collect and analyze primary and secondary data, including reviewing 140 documents, conducting 51 key informant interviews with experts, 47 in-depth interviews with recipients of assistance, an online Expert Survey (n=63), and conducting 13 interviews and an online validation survey (n=48) to substantiate outcome stories. All data were triangulated to inform the evidence base to develop each finding and conclusion. Key Findings: BMAP-FORWARD’s tailored and localized approach is a key strength of its ability to provide effective, useful, and timely assistance, which has strengthened Key Media Partners’ (KMPs’) shift towards strategic planning, ability to pursue diversified revenue sources, improve content production and technology use to engage wider audiences, produce data-driven content using new software, and engage in cross-border collaborations. BMAP-FORWARD assistance has strengthened KMPs’ digital security practices and protocols, although with room for improvement to sustain this support. While BMAPFORWARD has made inroads to foster partnerships between media and non-traditional actors, key factors inhibit progress towards this Activity Objective (Objective 3). Key Recommendations: BMAP-FORWARD should: 1) continue to employ the highly tailored approach to learn KMPs’ needs, co-create solutions and action plans, identify resources to implement solutions, and present new ideas; 2) consider providing more opportunities for intentional engagement for peer-to-peer learning for newsroom staff from different outlets, including non-KMPs and different media across the region; 3) consider investing in strengthening in-house expertise capacity or identify long-term solutions for each KMP to navigate the evolving digital security challenges; and 4) consider designing and marketing sessions at forums geared towards facilitating potential partnerships between private sector actors and KMPs, which can be followed by ongoing assistance to support KMPs in navigating how to structure partnerships." (Abstract) more

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Digital Rights Violations: Annual Report 2023-2024

Ena Bavcic, Tijana Uzelac, Adina Florea et al.

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) (2024), 153 pp.

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Mapping of Actors: Identification of Potential Cooperation Partners for Media Outlets in the Western Balkans

Amra Kapo

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ); Internews; Deutsche Welle DW Akademie (2023), 59 pp.

"In this study we identify and elaborate at least six components of the digital media ecosystem: (1) content creators and distributors; (2) consumers/users; (3) monetization channels; (4) advertising networks, (5) data analytics and insights and (6) social media, streaming and e-commerce platforms. ... Qualitative findings have revealed four major traits of the digital media ecosystem in Western Balkans: (1) market underdevelopment (the market significantly lags behind the developed countries); (2) financial constraints (media outlets are not resourceful enough and lack funding to use advanced services digital media ecosystem offers); (3) media dynamics and technological uptake (traditional media outlets recognize the opportunity in digital media and mostly possess digital channels as secondary screens to their main formats, with larger media also utilizing the opportunities of YouTube and podcast format); (4) driven by donors or media outside of WB (independent media outlets are mainly driven by donors and external investments. Furthermore, the main reasons for slower progress in the media landscape and with media outlets in Western Balkans are identified in the study, namely: (1) economic challenges, (2) lack of infrastructure, (3) regulatory environment, (3) media ownership and control, (4) lack of training and skills and (5) monetization challenges. Each of these reasons are elaborated, with the support of arguments from the primary study. Comprehensive maps of media outlets and IT companies in the Western Balkans are created, with detailed lists of both categories provided. Here, it can be concluded that there are plenty of actors in both sectors as well as the sector is growing. The study further groups media outlets into three main categories, taking the level of digital transformation and technology adoption: (1) advanced media outlets, (2) media outlets undergoing transformation, and (3) traditional media outlets. In terms of IT companies, and general in the IT sector, which is very prolific in the region, the study selected ones that demonstrate innovativeness and an advanced assortment of services and products, positioning them as potential collaborators for media outlets seeking to improve their digital presence, engagement strategies, and content delivery mechanisms." (Executive summary, pages 1-2) more

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Harmful narratives during elections: Smear campaigns, gender stereotypes and hate narratives. 2022 General Elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Marija Arnautovic, Mladen Bubonjic, Belma Buljubasic et al.

Sarajevo: Mediacentar (2023), 265 pp.

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Digital ecosystem country assessment (DECA)

Anela Kadic Abaz, Troy Etulain, Sadik Crnovršanin et al.

Washington, DC: USAID; American Institutes for Research (2023), iii, 93 pp.

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Representing Gender-Based Violence: Global Perspectives

Caroline Williamson Sinalo, Nicoletta Mandolini (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2023), xvii 314 pp.

"This book focuses on the politics, ethics and stereotypical pitfalls of representational practices surrounding Gender-Based Violence (GBV) from a global perspective. The originality of the volume is linked to its cross-disciplinary perspective as the topic of representing GBV is analyzed across the ... more

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Vibrant Information Barometer: Europe & Eurasia
Deep Insights

Washington, DC: IREX; USAID (2023), 355 pp.

"The 2023 Europe and Eurasia Vibrant Information Barometer (VIBE) covers 18 countries throughout Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia. With VIBE, IREX strives to capture a modern and evolving media space where people are simultaneously producers, transmitters, consumers, and actors in the information t ... hat influences their lives and environments. This year’s edition focuses on the media and information space across the countries in the study during calendar year 2022, capturing the impact of the Kremlin’s February full-scale invasion of Ukraine. VIBE looks at four principles of information vibrancy: Principle 1: Information Quality; Principle 2: Multiple Channels: How Information Flows; Principle 3: Information Consumption and Engagement; Principle 4: Transformative Action: How Information Drives Behavior. VIBE includes 20 indicators that capture the most important elements of these four principles, and it relies on information from country experts who complete a VIBE questionnaire, provide scores for sub-indicators that support each of the 20 main indicators along with evidence to justify their scores, and then contribute to a panel discussion led by a moderator [...] For countries in Europe and Eurasia (E&E) included in this year’s publication, country-level scores were, again, mainly split into two VIBE classifications: Somewhat Vibrant (North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Armenia, Moldova, and Ukraine) and Slightly Vibrant (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Russia, and Serbia). Azerbaijan and Belarus held the lowest scores in E&E, putting them in the Not Vibrant classification. In Central Asia, this year’s study put Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in the Slightly Vibrant category. Turkmenistan’s score of 1 put it in the Not Vibrant classification. At the overall score level, some countries--including Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, and Moldova—saw increases in their scores. Others such as Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Montenegro received the same country-level scores as they did in the 2022 VIBE study. Finally, other countries—including Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, and Russia—experienced a decline in their country-level scores. Principle 1’s (Information Quality) lowest scores tended to fall in the indicator examining insufficient resources for content production and harmful information. Rapidly evolving models for financing media, declining advertising in traditional print and broadcast media, international tech giants siphoning off advertising funds, and local and global inflationary pressures, have all contributed to a financing desert for media. Many media are reliant on political or business benefactors for livelihood, while others look to international funding agencies for their survival." (Executive summary, page 7) more

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The Media as a Tool of International Intervention: House of Cards

Nidžara Ahmetaševic

New York: Routledge (2023), xiv, 116 pp.

"This book explores the role of external powers and international organisations in media assistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through analysis of key documents, media reports and interviews with key participants it examines the main actors, their roles and the way in which they influenced the media ... more

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Media Systems in Balkan Countries: Context and Dynamics of Changes
Deep Insights

Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska, Jelena Kleut

Lausanne et al.: Peter Lang (2023), 290 pp.

"We selected ten post-communist countries for this research. Eight of them are located on the Balkan Peninsula, from a geographical point of view. We added Romania and Slovenia for historical reasons. The main aim of research is to provide a model of the media system in each of them. We are interest ... more

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Denial of Genocides in the Twenty-First Century

Bedross Der Matossian (ed.)

Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press (2023), xvi, 400 pp.

"Throughout the twenty-first century, genocide denial has evolved and adapted with new strategies to augment and complement established modes of denial. In addition to outright negation, denial of genocide encompasses a range of techniques, including disputes over numbers, contestation of legal defi ... more

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Blurring the Truth: Disinformation in Southeast Europe
Deep Insights

Christopher Nehring, Patrick Gensing, Gordan Akrap (eds.)

Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) (2023), iii, 281 pp.

"This is neither the first nor the last study of disinformation. Yet it differs significantly from others in many regards. Firstly, it is the first and only study summarizing the state of disinformation in Southeast Europe. While regional studies abound, none so far has looked at all countries of th ... more

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Good models, limited implementation: Media self-regulation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Anida Sokol

Sarajevo; Ljubljana: Mediacentar; Peace Institute; South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM) (2023), 44 pp.

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview Deep Insights

Vibrant Information Barometer: Europe & Eurasia Deep Insights

Vibrant Information Barometer: Europe & Eurasia Deep Insights

Media Systems in Balkan Countries: Context and Dynamics of Changes Deep Insights

Blurring the Truth: Disinformation in Southeast Europe Deep Insights

Our Media, Our Democracy, Our Future. The Future of the Media in the Western Balkans and Turkey – Facts and Trends. Regional Overview
Deep Insights

Vibrant Information Barometer: Europe & Eurasia
Deep Insights

Vibrant Information Barometer: Europe & Eurasia
Deep Insights

Media Systems in Balkan Countries: Context and Dynamics of Changes
Deep Insights

Blurring the Truth: Disinformation in Southeast Europe
Deep Insights