SURVEY RESULTS Although the socio-political context in which this year’s survey was conducted has not changed significantly com­pared with the previous period- primarily in terms of economic stagnation, demographic decline, the impact of global developments, the weakening of institutions and, in particular, political influence and control over almost all spheres of life, the survey findings also point to several new trends, which will be addressed in this report. What has remained unchanged compared with previous surveys are the differences in responses to most questions between respondents from Republika Srpska and the Fed­eration of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is already evident in the responses to the first question:“Who do citizens of BiH find most trustworthy?” In 2026, citizens of BiH expressed the highest level of trust in the media, followed almost equally by government insti­tutions and religious communities, which is similar to the 2025 data. These were followed by the international com ­munity and the NGO sector. Political parties and politicians enjoy the lowest level of trust among citizens of BiH. Compared with 2025, there was a general increase in trust, particularly in the NGO sector and in government institu­tions. In the FBiH, the media enjoy the highest level of trust, followed by government institutions and religious communities. In the RS, religious communities are trusted the most, followed by government institutions and the media. Trust in these institutions is generally higher among resi­dents of the FBiH than among those in the RS. Trust in political parties and politicians, however, is higher in the RS than in the FBiH. Compared with 2025, trust among citi ­zens of the RS in NGOs and the international community has increased, which can be attributed to the weakening of the campaign led by part of the political and media estab­lishment against the OHR, certain embassies and non-governmental organizations in 2025. This is also likely connected to this year’s increase in trust in the media com­pared with the previous year, when as many as 80% of respondents in the RS were completely dissatisfied with their work. In the FBiH, the share of respondents dissatis­fied with the work of the media increased by 10% compared with last year, but this entity still shows a higher level of trust in media outlets and journalists than is the case among respondents in the RS. According to two thirds of respondents in BiH, or 68,9%, media freedom in the FBiH is partially present; 9,4% believe it is fully present, while 12,2% believe it is not present at all. Regarding media freedom in Republika Srpska, 31,1% of respondents at the BiH level believe it is partially present, while 37,2% believe it is not present at all. In the Federation of BiH, 44,1% of respondents believe that media freedom in the RS is not present at all, while 24,5% of respondents in the RS share this view. In the RS, slightly more than half of the respondents believe that media freedom is partially present. The main obstacles to the free work of the media in BiH are political dependence, the overall political climate in the country, financial dependence, and insufficient profession­alism. Compared with last year, the only notable increase recorded was in relation to the overall political climate, where there was a 7% rise, largely because the share of respondents in the FBiH who believe that this factor nega­tively affects the work of the media also increased by around 8%. In Republika Srpska, there has also been an increase in the share of respondents who see the overall political climate in BiH as a more significant factor affect­ing media freedom in 2026 than in 2025, as well as in the share of those who consider an inadequate legal frame­work to be a serious factor negatively affecting the work of the media, at 20%. Politicians and political parties are perceived as having the greatest influence of the options given on the media, a view shared by 74,1% of citizens of BiH. The share of respondents who believe that the OHR and the interna­tional community influence the media has decreased, primarily due to the results in Republika Srpska, where citi­zens in the previous period had identified the OHR and the international community as the main factors influencing the media. In both entities, the perceived influence of poli­ticians and political parties has increased, while in the FBiH the perceived influence of media owners has declined. Two thirds of citizens of BiH believe that the criminalization of defamation and the possibility of criminal prosecution of journalists and editors have affected media freedom in the RS, while one quarter of residents of Republika Srpska believe that they have had no effect at all. A constant finding in last year’s survey, as well as in earlier surveys on media freedoms in BiH, is the belief among citi­zens that politicians and political parties are the leading violators of journalists’ rights and freedom of the media. 4 Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.