In the light of recent happenings regarding Duska Jurisic‘s dismissal from the position of editor-in-chief of the News Program on FTV, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in B&H – HCHR, particularly condemns the last statement that Fahrudin Radoncic stated for Kalman radio, where he used a chauvinistic vocabulary to disqualify and discredit now, a former editor of FTV news program, Mrs. Jurisic.
“We have the situation in which a lady , who is not Bosniak, is the editor in chief of a public broadcaster. Believe me, we are happy to be a multiethnic country and this is a unique case in the countries of the region that someone who is not Serb, Croat, who is not, I do not know, Montenegrian, shortly – someone who belongs to the smaller ethnic group, can be the editor of a public broadcaster. But, we cannot permit that that person, who is not Muslim, is an editor in our Islamic community“, said Radoncic, leader of the newly created political party – The Union for a Better Future, and owner of Dnevni Avaz, prestigious newspaper in B&H.
Radoncic insisted on the fact that only members of Bosniak people in Bosnia and Herzegovina, should have a monopoly on the editorial positions in public houses. HCHR condemns this statement as one of the rhetorics based on racial, ethnic and religious prejudice.
"We believe that the entire democratic public will recognize this extremely dangerous phenomenon and condemn it in order to protect the fundamental values of democracy and human rights in our country", said Srdjan Dizdarevic, the president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights.
– No official reasons
After two years of political pressure on the Federal television’s news program, which is according to many polls – the most viewed program in B&H that has been publishing daily stories about crime and corruption of B&H officials, the chief editor of news programs Duska Jurisic was dismissed.
Since the official explanation of her dismissal was still not announced, it left room for many speculations on what is the real reason for her dismissal: subjecting to political pressure in an election year, disturbed interpersonal relationships in the media house or the editor’s conflict with the editor of the most popular political magazine "60 Minutes", Bakir Hadziomerovic, who had complained to other media, that Jurisic censors his work, because she refused to publish his response to the offensive graffiti that appeared in FTV media house.
Fahrudin Radoncic, founder of Dnevni Avaz
One potential reason for the dismissal, it is speculated to be, the complaint of Fahrudin Radoncic against Duska Jurisic as editor in chief of the news program, and Dzemal Sabic, as Director General of the Federal Television, in the amount of 250.000 EUR.
The lawsuit was filed for causing the alleged business damages for Dnevni Avaz, due to published reports in the news programs FTV.
– Jurisic: Pressures are coming from outside
Duska Jurisic, in the first comment after she heared about her dismissal, said that she has consistently been exposed to the external and internal pressures, but she resisted them by remaining professional.
"It’s been a while since these pressures are expressed and are coming ‘from the outside’. Unfortunately, I’m already used to having my blood cells counted. However, fortunately, this encounters on disapproval of the majority of B&H public and professionals. I think that Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the Federal Television which advocates for multicultural B&H, will resist this kind of pressure and reject the destruction of B&H society", said Jurisic.
