The primary limitations of this study lie in the lack of updated data from broadcasters. It was also difficult to gain access to interviews with those in high-ranking managerial and editorial positions in the PSBs, which to an extent demonstrates the lack of appreciation of the importance of this topic. There is also a lack of comprehensive monitoring of PSB content, which makes it difficult to assess whether or not they fulfill their remit and responsibilities.[199] However, our interviews with key players in the PSB system, as well as those who monitor PSB content (albeit not systematically) offered an almost unanimous view on the key issues facing the PSBs as well as the public’s view of them: failed implementation of an external model, a lack of collective legitimacy, an unsustainable funding model, institutional inertia within public broadcasting institutions, and the inability of PSBs to adapt to new technological innovations.

 

The PSB system in Bosnia and Herzegovina is now the closest it has ever been to collapse. The internationally introduced model failed in practically all of its core aspects: legitimacy, remit, independence, financial sustainability, structural coherence and digitalization. While BiH struggles to implement a PSB system modeled on the BBC of the previous century, the very same model is currently being questioned and altered in the country of its origin. Throughout the attempt to implement a functioning PSB model in BiH, no incentives have been offered to local elites to foster independent public media. Over 20 years after the war, and almost 30 years after the fall of Yugoslavia, politicians, and many journalists, are still prone to see public media as in the domain of the government.

 

The failed transformation of Bosnia’s state broadcaster to public service broadcasting reflects the stagnation and ‘unfinished transition’ plagued by state capture by ethno-nationalist political elites and crony capitalism.[200] In effect, BiH’s PSB system closely fits into the ‘atavistic’ model suggested by Hausner and Marody,[201] where a partitocratic system reigns and public life is captured by political parties. The ruling ethnic oligarchs who control the political parties render political influence over PSBs pervasive at the legislative, managerial, editorial, and journalistic levels. Constructive conversation on the topic is avoided, and the main debates on PSB in the country center on political questions rather than those of how PSB can fulfill its remit, become financially sustainable, and adapt to new modes of production and media.

 

At the same time, international actors such as the EU generally stop short of demanding accountability from local politicians, leaving the PSBs’ compromised independence unchallenged. Many scholars consider that international interventions to create public service broadcasting result in institutions which are merely ‘forms without substance’ – what some authors refer to as ‘isomorphic mimicry’: an imitation of Western models without their actual implementation.[202]  Indeed, Jakubowicz notes that one of the most important factors in a functional PSB system is the quality of democracy in that particular country,[203] and BiH’s malfunctioning PSB system mirrors its low levels of democratic values and practices.[204] The lack of international pressure and low involvement of the EU in PSB in BiH means a lack of external incentive for local elites to foster independent public media. 

 

The question of public broadcasting in BiH lacks true public debate and as a result, lacks collective legitimacy. Many of our interlocutors believe that there is no public dialogue (or consensus) on the role of PSBs in BiH, or a shared conceptualization of the public interest in general. Voltmer considers that without collective deliberations, public media “institutions remain isolated, without legitimacy and ultimately unprotected,”[205] which can be seen in BiH.  The public sphere in BiH is considered ‘plural’ only where ethnic identity is concerned. Other forms of difference and other bases for the creation of communities are marginalized and underrepresented. Many supporters of PSB underscore that the broadcasters’ existence should never come into question, but generally avoid critical questions as to whether PSB as a whole fulfils its goal.[206] The media critics we spoke to all agreed that the lack of public trust in PSBs and/or a lack of understanding of their importance is due to low-quality programming and perceived political dependence. According to viewership measurements, fewer citizens are watching BHRT than commercial TV stations.[207]

 

Financial instability has been one of the defining debates of modern PSB, and in BiH this question remains unsolved. While many of our interlocutors worried that switching from license fees to direct RTV taxes may push PSBs into dependence on governing structures, all of them agree that the current funding system is unsustainable. Questions of how state funding might distort the media market have generally been unaddressed, and there is no form of public value test which would evaluate the economic efficiency and social value of PSBs.

There is recognition on the part of BiH’s PSBs that the internal governance of public media needs substantial reforms. With reference to the Council of Europe’s recommendations,[208] BiH’s PSB must first obtain independence from the government if it is to serve its role properly – it not likely that this will happen soon. On the level of management, the politicized processes of appointment and dismissal seem to have severely limited PSB management’s ability to maximize efficiency, hampered additionally by bloated workforces. Our own field research confirmed that by and large, the internal culture of the PSBs is not defined by “transparency, openness, responsiveness, and responsibility,”[209] but rather by self-censorship and unprofessionalism.

In terms of new media and digital convergence, BiH’s PSBs are failing with regard to the three key challenges identified by the Reuters Institute[210]: they are not organized for digital production, and they do not use mobile platforms and social media effectively. There are very few initiatives for the creation of informative, sustainable, and interactive PSBs online.  However, it can be said that BiH’s PSBs are failing ‘digitally empowered’ youth across the board, not only through technological obsolescence but through the lack of interactivity in their content. Media policies are very much focused on the past and are not responding to new technology and new social values

The unsustainability of the PSB system and its dependence on political decision-making makes it very difficult to predict its future. It is difficult to imagine an optimistic scenario without a new, sustainable funding model, a collective deliberation on what and who PSB is for, political autonomy of PSBs, internal restructuring (including more members on the System Board of PSBs, and selection of candidates based on expertise and professional experience rather than ethnicity), as well as more attention paid to this issue by EU enlargement actors. In the absence of these conditions, it is very likely that BHRT will eventually have to stop emitting due to a lack of funding (the consequences for its 800 employees would likely be dire), and that entity broadcasters will increasingly receive their funding from entity budgets, which could additionally imperil PSBs’ independence and further divide the broadcasters.