A BIRN exhibition examining the role of media in the violent breakup of Yugoslavia opened on Wednesday at the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, drawing a diverse audience of members of the public, civil society organisations, diplomats, academics, and journalists.
Reporting War: The Role of the Media in the Collapse of Yugoslavia explores how segments of the media in the former Yugoslavia moved beyond reporting events to actively shaping the conditions for conflict.
Through curated materials, the exhibition highlights how narratives rooted in historical grievances were amplified to fuel fear, deepen divisions and normalise violence.
Rather than portraying journalists as neutral observers, the exhibition presents a more complex and at times troubling picture, one in which media outlets contributed to the polarisation of society and the erosion of multiethnic coexistence. It frames propaganda not as a byproduct of war, but as a precursor that helped make violence appear both justified and inevitable.
Alongside this, the exhibition offers a contrasting perspective through the work of foreign correspondents who reported from the region during the 1990s. Using contact sheets and field notes, it captures fragments of their daily lives and professional routines, reflecting a generation of reporters some of whom described the Yugoslav wars as “our Vietnam”.
Set against today’s global media environment, marked by algorithm-driven information flows, declining trust in traditional outlets, and increasing hostility toward perceived “outsiders”, the exhibition raises questions about the power of media narratives and their capacity to shape political realities.
The exhibition is open to the public every day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the History Museum in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
*The exhibition is implemented as part of the project Reporting Culture: Connecting Communities for Change, supported by the Regional Office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation in Tirana. It is carried out by BIRN Hub under the “Culture and Creativity for the Western Balkans” (CC4WBs) grant scheme, a European Union-funded initiative aimed at fostering dialogue and strengthening the cultural and creative sectors across the region.