OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina discusses role of media in combating violent extremism

KONJIC, 6 April 2016 – More than 50 media professionals, law enforcement agencies’ spokespersons and prosecutor’s offices’ public relations personnel from BiH convened in Konjic today in a conference on the role of media in countering violent extremism to discuss the challenges they face in reporting on violent extremism and terrorism. The conference was organized by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, in co-operation with the BiH Security Ministry.

“The media has a vital role in helping combat violent extremism,” said the Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH Jonathan Moore. “This applies to both offline and online work. We are grateful to journalists for using their influence to mitigate extremist propaganda and for avoiding sensationalism.”

The use of language is very important. “At the BBC we have editorial guidelines on reporting on violence, extremism or acts of terror. We try to avoid the word terrorist, although we quote other people who refer to terrorism,” says Nick Thorpe, BBC Central Europe correspondent. “The guidelines include withdrawing if our presence might be inflaming the situation. Never giving a platform to perpetrators. Finding a balance between the demand for information and accurately informing the public without either sensationalizing or sanitizing the situation.”

Columnist for Aljazeera Balkans Muhamed Jusić says the media can inadvertently aid in spreading the fear of terrorism among millions of people. “We should not fall in this trap if we want to play our part. We are here to inform and educate the public, not scare them and create panic.”

The conference was organized as part of the OSCE Mission’s project on supporting the dialogue for preventing violent extremism in BiH. This project contributes to the Organization’s wider campaign “OSCE United in Countering Violent Extremism” (#UnitedCVE), which highlights the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to preventing violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism.