Institution Building 3. Media sector reform After a violent conflict had come to an end, the media sector was characterized by a small number of outlets with limited information. To address the need for information, one of the OSCE’s first acts was to establish an independent public broadcasting service through a temporary institution that helped regulate the media sector. This temporary institution was succeeded by an independent media commission, which the OSCE monitored, advised, and trained as required. In the early days after the conflict, news and programmes in the two official languages were only broadcast for a few hours per day. Later, the broadcaster expanded its programming to include minority languages. This process concluded with legal provisions obliging the channel to broadcast in other non-majority languages. The OSCE provided and maintained support for the public broadcaster to address various challenges, such as independent financing, professional training for editorial staff from non-majority communities, outreach to all communities, freedom of the media, and safety of journalists. The OSCE facilitated a series of roundtables to address long-term financing and assess applicable regional models. Additionally, it hired a media expert to improve production and storytelling, in particular for staff from minority groups. The public broadcaster has contributed significantly to building sustainable peace by engaging majority and non-majority stakeholders—both locally and across the region—and by organizing inter-ethnic debates, re-broadcasting foreign news in 31

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