Nezavisne novine

What is Nezavisne novine?

Nezavisne novine is a daily newspaper published in Banja Luka. The footer of its site names the publisher as NIGD “DNN” (Dnevne nezavisne novine). It states that by decision of the Ministry of Information of the Republika Srpska, number 01-45/95, “Nezavisne novine” were entered in the register of public media under number 118.^[1]

The impresum gives the address as Braće Pišteljića 1, Banja Luka, 78000, and names Željko Kopanja as “osnivač NIGD 'DNN'”. It gives Diana Radić as executive director and Sandra Gojković-Arbutina as “Glavni i odgovorni urednik”; those are the positions on 24 September 2026. It names no sport editor.^[2]

The Media Ownership Monitor Bosnia and Herzegovina 2023, run by BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina, includes Nezavisne novine in its print sample and Nezavisne.com in its online sample. It lists Dnevne nezavisne novine among the media-owning companies it analysed.^[3][4][5] The site is in Latin script, and its sport coverage sits on a path of its own domain, nezavisne.com/sport.^[6]

What does Nezavisne novine cover?

The sport section lists Fudbal, Košarka, Rukomet, Tenis, Atletika, Zimski sportovi, Sportovi na vodi and Ostali sportovi. It adds two further headings, “Izbor sportiste” and “eSport i igrice”.^[6] The section therefore covers winter and water sports separately from the team sports.

On 24 September 2026 the section carried an item on the ABA League, the regional basketball competition: “ABA liga: Početak sezone pod znakom pitanja zbog spora sa sudijama”.^[6] It also carried the UEFA president's remarks on trust in world football and Finland's win over Italy at the volleyball European Championship.^[6]

Domestic club sport appeared the same week. On 23 September 2026 the section reported “KK Igokea poziva navijače: Besplatan ulaz na četiri utakmice uvodnog dijela sezone”. On 22 September it previewed European handball under the headline “EHF kup: Borac napada PAOK, Sloga putuje u Azerbejdžan”, beside an interview headed “Mikić za 'Nezavisne' o PAOK-u: Atraktivan rival, ali vidimo svoju šansu”.^[6]

No list of the paper's sports correspondents was retrieved. No broadcast rights held by the paper were retrieved, and none is asserted here. The description rests on the site's own pages and the monitoring body's pages.

How large is Nezavisne novine's audience?

No audited readership survey for Bosnia and Herzegovina was retrieved from an audience-measurement body. What exists is a monitoring body's reading of research-agency data.

The Media Ownership Monitor 2023, reporting IPSOS data on newspaper readership, places Dnevni avaz first and Glas Srpske second. It then states: “Treće mjesto pripada EuroBlicu, čiji je vlasnik ured Ringiera u Beogradu, dok su Nezavisne novine četvrte najčitanije dnevne novine.”^[3] The page gives no readership figure for the paper and no period for the IPSOS data.

The same monitor rates readership concentration in the print market at 69 per cent for the top four and audience concentration online at 67.7 per cent.^[7] Those are market figures, not figures for this paper or its sport pages.

The paper's marketing page states that “Nezavisne.com ostvari preko 2.600.000 jedinstvenih posjeta mjesečno”, and that “Oko 50 odsto posjeta registrovano je iz BiH, a 50 odsto iz inostranstva”. It names no measuring body or period for either figure. The same page states that 84 per cent of visits come from mobile devices and 16 per cent from desktop computers, and refers to a “20 godina dugom tradicijom profesionalnog novinarstva”. These are the publisher's claims, attributed and not adopted.^[8]

Since when has Nezavisne novine existed?

The site's footer reads “© 1995 - 2026” and gives the 1995 registration decision, number 01-45/95.^[1] The impresum carries the same line.^[2] Both run from 1995, and the registration number carries the same year.

Those are the publisher's own statements, and no independent source for a first issue date was retrieved. No founding date is adopted here beyond what the publisher states. No launch date for the sport section was retrieved.

Why does Nezavisne novine matter in Bosnia and Herzegovina's sport?

On the monitor's reading of IPSOS data, Nezavisne novine is the fourth most-read daily in the country, after Dnevni avaz, Glas Srpske and EuroBlic.^[3] That is the monitor's statement for its 2023 edition.

Its sport section gives separate headings to winter sports, water sports and esports, and on the build date it carried the regional basketball league's dispute with referees.^[6] Reporters Without Borders describes the country's media landscape as “very fragmented”, with “several daily newspapers and news agencies”.^[9]

The paper states its registration with the Republika Srpska's ministry by number and year, and names its founder and editors on its own pages.^[1][2]