The Internet afforded an unprecedented opportunity to decentralize access to information in Bosnia. After months of asking citizens for their opinions and publicizing the results, it appears that Bosnia is in the nascent stages of forming public opinion that could affect the outcome of upcoming municipal elections. In fact, it seems the citizenry may be ahead of the politicians on the issues. This initiative was groundbreaking and once again, a first for the international community. We recognized that both groups within Bosnia itself were the most Internet friendly and most likely to be or become the biggest Internet users.
Journalists play a central role in the dissemination of information to the public.
Gaining access to information that would improve newsgathering and reporting has been enhanced through access to the Internet. We have taken steps to educate the media about using the Internet as a basic tool in their work. We have conducted workshops for journalists about the Web and familiarized the media with the specifics of the Mission web page. Links were also made to a number of refugee websites and think tanks that focus on policy on Bosnia. To make sure that essential information is available to journalists, new OSCE press releases are placed each day on the Web and prior press releases and essential documents of the Dayton Peace Process are archived on our web site.