The second RAFF Talk of this year featured Aleksandar Trifunović, editor of the Banja Luka-based portal 6yka.com, Silvana Menđušić from Telegram.hr, and Tena Perišin from the Faculty of Political Science in Zagreb. The discussion centered on the topic “Disinformation as a Source of Information.”
Aleksandar Trifunović highlighted how the 6yka.com newsroom frequently receives threats, both from the political elite in the Republika Srpska and from unknown individuals. As an example, he mentioned a recent case where an anonymous person called the newsroom and threatened to come with a bomb. In response, they sought the reaction of the EU Office in BiH, but the reply they received was unclear and lacked a concrete stance, which Trifunović pointed out as an example of unnecessary neutrality from EU institutions when it comes to press freedom.
All the speakers agreed that the grants focusing on specific themes, often initiated by EU institutions, are not sufficiently effective in combating disinformation. Instead, they suggested that a better approach would be to direct financial resources directly into newsrooms that nurture independent journalism, thereby ensuring their financial independence, and consequently, their essential journalistic and media independence.
