Media Literacy: The Real, Interactive Way and Being Ethical Within Post Conflict Non-Catharsis Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Who is responsible for the media’s current state of affairs? Is there any greater freedom of expression today, or is it a greater repression, or is it two sides of the same coin? The so-called “libertarian society” has come to the place of the desired “healthy society”, and thus we appear to have moral anarchy. Above all, the interests of big capital and politics, technological unpreparedness, and non-compliance with ethical and professional standards prevail and overcome all. There is also the problem of over-production of too many young people in the media field who possess poor skills, the result of the lack of a good education and monitoring of contemporary trends in journalism, as well as too many media outlets for such a small space such as Bosnia and Herzegovina (everything written about this country relates as well to Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia and Kosovo*). It is not questionable that there is freedom of speech, but its application is mostly abusive or inadequate. Media owners, journalists and editors are not difficult to pay for slander punishment and similarly when they have met the goal — to smear someone, spin real problems, etc. —BiH’s libertarian society (if we can call it that) should be seen in the context of a non-free, captive and imprisoned society, a society that is chained to poverty, existential fear, subject to an epidemic of ignorance coupled with the absence of elemental courage and curiosity.