The Steering Committee of the BH Journalists' Association has asked B&H Presidency member Željko Komšić to consider and sanction online attacks on journalists and media, incitement, insults and hate speech of his advisor Nihad Hebibović, that, as they stated, has lasted for the past year, mostly via social network Twitter.
In a letter sent to Komšić, the BH Journalists' Committee demands that legal measures be taken against advisor Hebibović, as his comments and posts on social networks turned into a "targeted, organized and long-lasting chase against certain journalists and media for their professional discredit, destruction of personal dignity and endangering their safety".
-The content of most of these comments is contrary to the rules of professional, decent public communication, which should be respected by a person in the position of advisor to a member of the Presidency of B&H. Not only does he use inappropriate vocabulary, but advisor Hebibović also writes the most mundane lies and insults about journalists and their work, using discriminatory rhetoric, verbal violence and hate speech- warns the Steering Committee of BH Journalists.
-As there was no reaction from Komšić’s office, as evidenced by the undiminished chase of advisor Hebibović on journalists and media in B&H, the Steering Committee of BH Journalists decided to request an institutional reaction and his sanctioning. Your advisor is abusing the public position and IT resources of the Presidency of B&H in order to carry out online violence against certain journalists and media- BH Journalists point out, noting that “similar public action of persons in positions paid by citizens’ money would be unthinkable in normal, democratic countries“, and such person would be immediately relieved of duty.
The Steering Committee of BH Journalists concludes that it rightly expects Komšić to seriously consider the inappropriate and illegal conduct of his own advisor and to take the measures prescribed by BH laws and internal acts of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they announced.