The “Media Ownership Monitor” (MOM) has been developed as a mapping tool in order to create a publicly available, continuously updated database that lists owners of all relevant mass media outlets (press, radio, television sectors and online media).

MOM aims to shed light on the risks to media pluralism caused by media ownership concentration (for more information: Methodology). In order to grasp the national characteristics and detect risk-enhancing or risk-reducing factors for media concentration, MOM also qualitatively assesses the market conditions and legal environment.

Media pluralism is a key aspect of democratic societies as free, independent, and diverse media reflect divergent viewpoints and allow criticism of people in power. Risks to diversity of ideas are caused by media market concentration, when only a few players exert dominant influence on public opinion and raise entrance barriers for other players and perspectives (media ownership concentration). The biggest obstacle to fight it is lack of transparency of media ownership: How can people evaluate the reliability of information, if they don´t know who provides it? How can journalists work properly, if they don´t know who controls the company they work for? And how can media authorities address excessive media concentration, if they don´t know who is behind the media´s steering wheel?

MOM thus aims to create transparency and to answer the question “who eventually controls media content?” in order to raise public awareness, to create a fact base for advocacy to hold political and economic players accountable for the existing conditions.

MOM doesn’t make normative statements – it doesn’t suggest how to control media ownership. Which form of media concentration control can work, depends on the country context, the existing legal and market conditions, the ownership landscape.

MOM provides a transparency tool to enforce a democratic discussion on that issue as well as good governance: decisions are likely to be of higher quality and to better reflect the needs and wishes of the people if they have access to adequate information and broad consultations, with views and opinions freely shared.

Preferably, official data sources, and/or sources with a high level of reliability and trust are used.

Whenever not publicly available, information was directly requested of media companies, political representatives and research institutes.

We used mainly data made available by:

• Media outlets/companies
• Court registries
• Agency for intermediary, IT and financial service
• IPSOS agency
• Audience measurement agency
• Financial Intelligence Agency
• Register of business entities

The main question is: which media outlets influence the opinion-forming process? In order to scan all relevant media, we included all traditional media types (Print, Radio, TV, Online). 

The media were selected according to the following criteria:

• MOM focused on media with the highest reach, measured by audience share. At most 10 media outlets per media type (TV, radio, print, Online) were selected.
• The news worthy and opinion content. The study focuses on general information with a national focus. As such, media with specific thematic focus (music, sport), social networks, search engines and advertisement were excluded.

According to the methodology, the 40 media were supposed to be chosen based on audience figures. Obtaining reliable audience figures however posed several problems in Bosnia and Herzegovina, having just one agency being able to provide data for TV. Also, there is small number of printed media outlets in the country, so only seven daily printed media are on the list and one weekly edition.

TV

The audience data for television channels are based on Audience measurement agency, the only agency in the country being able to provide there figures; these are figures for period March 2022 to March 2023. Television N1 was added additionally because of its informative content and regional aspect.

Source : Audience measurement, TV Viewership in Bosnia and Herzegovina 2022/2023

RADIO

The choice of radio stations is based on the audience data from IPSOS. Data present average audience share in period March 2022 - March 2023.

Source: IPSOS BiH

Print

The print outlets were selected based on the data provided by IPSOS BiH. There are only seven daily print edition in the country and based on consultation with our Advisory group one weekly edition was added (STAV) because of it's influence.

Source: IPSOS BiH

Online media

The websites were chosen based on the data provided by IPSOS BiH. The data covers period March 2022 - March 2023, based on the visit share.

Source: IPSOS BiH

Bosnia and Herzegovina has robust laws and regulations designed to safeguard freedom of expression and access to information, along with solid regulatory and self-regulatory frameworks. However, the effective implementation of these legislative, regulatory, and self-regulatory measures has been lacking. Increasingly regressive measures which encroach on media freedoms in the country have been adopted in recent years, with more slated for adoption in the near future. 

Media ownership transparency and concentration are not subject to regulation. Although ownership information can be obtained through business and association registries upon request and for a fee, this information is not proactively disclosed. Notably, details about online media outlets not registered as businesses remain inaccessible.

The MOM is based on a generic methodology that can be applied universally. The pilot phase was conducted in 2015 in Colombia and Cambodia. By 2023, the MOM was implemented in over 26 country world wide. In the region, MOM has been implemented in all Western Balkan countries: data for Albania and Serbia has been updated, while BiH, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia will have their first edition of MOM databases.

No economic data: There are no exact figures on the economic market for all media outlets.

Lack of active transparency: Over 90% of the contacted media didn't reply on BIRN BiH request for information. More than 23 percent or almost every fourth media among 39 the most watched TV and radio stations, online portals or printed editions are lacking impressum on their websites.

Hiding owners: Six media in total or 15 percent lack any information on owners on their website, while only seven of the media on our list were ready to publicly state their owner even if this information is available in official registries.

This database:

• allows citizens and anyone else to learn about the media system in BiH and to know the owners of the media they follow. It also encourages awareness about the importance of ownership and transparency;
• creates a database and discusses issues related to diversity and transparency of the Bosnian media sector, which can be used by civil society organizations in their lobbying, by the government to strengthen diversity and by regulatory bodies to better fulfill their mandates.

This database presents the current state of the media in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project aims to generate a public debate and changes, particularly on the following topics:

• Media transparency
• the economic situation
• Political affiliations

• The Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom (CMPF) at the European University Institute (EUI) conducts the “Media Pluralism Monitor” (MPM). The EU-funded MPM identifies threats to such pluralism based on a broader set of indicators, covering legal, economic and socio-cultural considerations, taking media ownership concentration only as one of six dimensions. It assesses risks for media pluralism in the EU Member States.
• Mediapedia