enjoy the highest level of trust, although slightly less than in the period from 2018 to 2022, when more than 70% of citizens of BiH trusted them. Satisfaction with the work of the media and journalists When assessing satisfaction with the work of the media and journalists, respondents were offered the following options: completely satisfied, somewhat satisfied, some­what dissatisfied, completely dissatisfied, and do not know. On this scale, the largest share of respondents, 49%, said they were somewhat satisfied, while 22,9% said they were somewhat dissatisfied. A total of 17,3% of respondents were completely dissatisfied with the work of the media and journalists, which is almost half the share recorded last year, when it stood at 31,4%. The share of respondents who were completely satisfied remained the same as last year. In the RS, 63,5% of citizens were either completely or somewhat dissatisfied with the work of the media and jour­nalists, although this is still far lower than last year’s 96,2%. Compared with 2025, the share of citizens of BiH satisfied with the work of the media in the RS increased from 9,9% to 16,7%. The share of respondents in the RS who are satisfied with the work of the media in their own entity is also increasing, reaching 25,8%, although the share of those dissatisfied remains high, at 70%. In the FBiH, the share of respondents dissatisfied with the work of the media in the RS stands at 54,3%. The analysis of comparative data for the period from 2017 to the present shows a continuous increase in satisfaction with the work of journalists and the media in the Federa­tion of Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the national level. This satisfaction peaked in 2025, largely due to responses from residents of the larger entity. In the same year, resi­dents of Republika Srpska expressed extremely high dissatisfaction with the work of the media in the FBiH. In 2025, media outlets from Republika Srpska received the lowest rating from residents of the Federation in the observed eight-year period, while residents of Republika Srpska themselves were also dissatisfied with the media in their own entity at that time. This has been somewhat mit­igated this year. Media freedom The survey results on the level of media freedom are also related to the previous findings. When asked to what extent media freedom is present in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 78,8% of respondents at the BiH level assessed that it is either partially or fully present, which represents a decrease of around 13% compared with the previous year. In the FBiH, 85,3% of respondents believe that media freedom is fully or partially present in their entity. Respondents from the RS also rate the state of media freedom in the FBiH relatively highly: 64,5% believe that it is partially or fully present, although this is still a decline compared with last year’s 83,2%. As regards the state of media freedom in Republika Srpska, respondents continue to express a more negative view. In the perception of its residents, the lowest levels of media freedom were recorded in 2021 and 2025, while a continu ­ous decline has been recorded since 2018. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as many as 35,6% of respond ­ents do not know what the state of media freedom is like in Republika Srpska. Obstacles to the free work of the media For the majority of citizens of BiH, the greatest obstacle to the free work of the media is political dependence. This view is held by 66,9% of respondents. In the FBiH, this share is as high as 72%, while in the RS it stands at 56,6%. In the RS, the main obstacle to the unhindered, free and professional work of the media is identified as the overall political climate, cited by 64,8% of respondents. A total of 41,4% of respondents from the FBiH believe that financial dependence negatively affects the free work of the media. In the RS, only 8,8% see this factor as dominant. Respond ­ents in the RS consider the inadequate legal framework to be a much greater problem, at 25,8%, which differs signifi ­cantly from the views of respondents in the Federation, where only 4,2% consider this a major obstacle. When it comes to the impact of insufficient professionalism among the media and journalists themselves on media freedom, this factor is considered important by 27.6% of respondents from the FBiH and 9,4% of respondents from the RS. Looking at the period from 2018 to the present, it can be observed that, at the BiH level, there is a growing belief that political dependence and the political climate repre­sent the greatest obstacles to the free work of the media. The largest fluctuations in the observed period are seen in relation to financial dependence, whose perceived impor­tance declined between 2020 and 2022, then increased in 2023, declined again in 2024, and has risen somewhat again over the past two years. A similar pattern can be observed in relation to the legal framework, which respondents at the BiH level do not per­ceive as a particularly important factor, but which fluctuates in importance from year to year. In the FBiH, however, the legal framework has been ranked lower on the scale each year, while political dependence has been increasing. In the RS, we first observed a continuous increase in the perceived impact of political dependence on the unhindered work of the media in BiH between 2018 and 2022, followed by a sharp decline in 2023, while over the past three years this factor has again recorded growth. The same applies to the influence of the political climate. It is also interesting that respondents from RS considered the inadequate legal framework to be a more serious obstacle to the normal work of the media in 2019 and 2020, 6 Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.