Šolsko polje, letnik XX, številka 5-6, 2009: Vloga ... - Pedagoški inštitut

THE VOICE OF AN AGENDA-SETTINGAUTHORITY - CONTENT CHARACTERISTICSOF THE DISCOURSE OF THE OFFICE OF THEHIGH REPRESENTATIVE IN BOSNIA ANDHERZEGOVINADanijela Majstorović1. IntroductionAfter the Bosnian war 1992-1995, the international community (IC) establisheda strong presence in the country and the Office of the High Representative(OHR) was entrusted as the most powerful international body and ‘finalauthority in theatre’ regarding the implementation of Dayton and subsequentaccession of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) into the European Union (EU).The OHR was created under the General Framework Agreement for Peace inBiH (Dayton Peace Agreement) of 14 December 1995 to oversee implementationof civilian aspects of the Peace Agreement. The mission of the HR, alsoa Special Representative of the EU, is »to work with the people of BiH andthe International Community to ensure that Bosnia and Herzegovina (henceforthBiH) is a peaceful, viable state on course to the EU integration.«If press releases’ »only raison d’etre is to be retold...as accurately aspossible, preferably even verbatim, in news reporting« (Jacobs, 1999: xi)and if its function is to compete for the mercy of different journalistic gatekeepers,then OHR’s press releases are quite a peculiar genre. Due to theposition of this institution in BiH, they are guaranteed news and they immediatelyaffect citizens or politicians. As such, they have the full powerof perlocution (Searle, 1975) as they immediately impact the public andpolitical life in BiH. Their newsworthiness is not decided by the BiH journalistsas their audience-directedness is inevitable, but by the concrete powerof the OHR given by the Bonn Declaration 1 and its subsequent interpretation.Their sole production and publication assure their appearingin the Bosnian print and broadcast news; they precede the news, and thisŠOLSKO POLJE LETNIK XX (2009) ŠTEVILKA 5/6 str. 101-132