Smiljanić: The state takes everything from freelancers. Gives them nothing

The good thing is that a journalist can always say - I don't want to do that, to get out of that and to work at their own discretion.

Brankica Smiljanić is a long-time journalist who worked in several newsrooms in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but in recent months she decided to return to her former status and become a freelance journalist again. Although this means more freedom, being a freelance journalist in BiH is not easy, and even though they pay taxes from the state on the contracts they sign, they do not get anything in return. Brankica also started the Facebook group "Freelance journalists", which has more than 1,200 members.

In an interview for Politicki.ba, Brankica talks about what it's like to be a freelance journalist in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and what are the biggest challenges and problems.

What is it like to be a freelancer in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and what does it actually mean to be a freelancer in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

- I think that a lot of people don't even know what the word freelancer represents, at least in BiH, because they identify it with freelancers abroad or in the region. In our country it is different, because in our country a freelancer is even someone who has a work contract for a month or several months. These are actually journalists from newsrooms where media directors extend their copyright contracts from month to month, and I call them hybrid freelancers. In fact, there are very few who are real freelancers in the true sense of that word: that they are not in the newsroom every day, that they do not work like any other employed worker, but work from their home, coffee shop or any other place where they can work. And of course, to cooperate with other journalists from the region, Europe and the world. There are very few journalists like them, most are hybrid freelancers.

A freelancer is actually an unaffiliated journalist. How free are they really and how much is this freedom limited by those who order the work or donors?

- Those who want to be free are free journalists and that is why they want to do freelance journalism, to be free outside the newsroom and outside regime journalism. However, freelancers have already started to write to order, we can see that on portaloids, on new portals, on journalists who are hired to do all kinds of stories, and their freedom can also be affected when the person ordering the work says - I don't like that interlocutor, take another. The good thing is that a journalist can always say - I don't want to do that, to get out of that and to work at their own discretion. There are no sanctions in terms of contracts, dismissals and the like, unless if they signed a contract to do a one-time job, but even then they have to be careful what they sign.

What is the position of freelancers in BiH?

- Very bad. A few years ago, I was at the conference of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) in Paris and our country was one of the worst in terms of the position of freelancers in Europe and all other countries were in a better position. Their freelancers had collective contracts, they were paid better. We don't have anything in our country, we don't have any rights, we fight any way we can, we look for jobs any way we can. Actually, freelancers do not have any rights and that is the worst thing that is happening in our country. When I was at that meeting, I felt like the worst student among the best students, in the sense that I am a two, everyone else is a five. What a disaster. Before that meeting, I decided to open a group "Freelance journalists" on Facebook and I realized that there are a lot of journalists who want to be in that group. More than 1,200 journalists are in that group from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Serbia, and other countries. People from other European cities join the group as well, and even the directors of some organizations follow the group.

How important is that group?

- At first I thought that this group was not important, people don't communicate, they rarely get involved, but when I look at the statistics I see that there are a lot of clicks. When I post a job, a grant, an invitation... there are a lot of clicks, it shows that people are interested. However, I have a feeling that people are afraid. A lot of them wrote to me and told me - "I'm the one they're going to choose", "I won't apply, but can you help me" and so on. Some are lethargic and stay in newsrooms where their contracts are renewed every month, thinking that they are better, safer there.

Like a vicious circle... What are the biggest benefits of that group?

- The biggest benefit of this group is that people can gather and connect. There were a lot of people who wrote - I need some information, how to get to a source, how to get a job, how to get an additional income, and then they would connect with others. I think that these are benefits that we could all use more of.

What are the biggest challenges for freelancers in Bosnia and Herzegovina?

- I think the biggest challenges and problems are how to earn money. Journalists want to earn money by applying outside of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they apply for some grants, they want to be part of some networks of journalists from Europe and then they come across a situation where these grants rank them according to the country they come from. You are a lower ranked journalist, not in terms of ability and how you do your job, but in terms of earnings. When I applied recently, I received an answer that I was ranked according to the country I come from, so lower. Journalists from other countries earn more for the same work that I do. We are again oppressed in this sense. It is a huge problem that is not being talked about.

Are there any problems in terms of finding work in BiH, payments, contributions?

- For sure. Journalists do not have health and pension insurance. They have nothing. In the contracts that are signed, it is written that we have the right to health care which we have never seen in our lives, and we don't even know why we are paying for it. It is a huge tax and even double taxation from abroad. Clients of our services from abroad pay tax, and then we in Bosnia and Herzegovina also pay tax, but in our country it does not amount to anything. Finding a job is also a problem, because no one will hire you just based on the text, that's a rarity. There are also grants that you can only get if you are a good journalist, so a lot of people give up because they think they are not good enough, people give up and go into PR, marketing, copywriting. It's paid more.

I recently read a text in which it is stated that a TV program on a television station in Serbia was paid 200 dinars, which is not even the value of one burger. I used to work on TV and if I were to calculate it all, the TV program was not more expensive here either. During the month, we produce many articles and texts, and this is not valued as much. Our profession is worthless.

The article was realized as part of the Transition program of the Government of the Czech Republic and with the financial assistance of the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina @CzechiainBiH. The content reflects the views of the interlocutors who are the choice of the editorial staff of Politicki.ba and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Czech government.