Banja Luka based outlet eTrafika.net successfully implemented their business plan to open the first photo exchange platform, Foto Baza, in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The long-awaited project finally saw the light of the day thanks to the Media for All (MfA) project.
Namely, the idea for the photo exchange platform was not created especially for the MfA project. As the editor-in-chief of eTrafika, Vanja Stokić, points out, for several years her team was trying to find the money to start the project.
“We have not been able to do that so far because no donor was ready to support the development of commercial activity. Fortunately, the Media for All project is focused exclusively on such activities and we immediately applied with our idea,” Stokić said.
The idea behind this photo stock is to be the place where local media will download photos for their publications. So far there are more than 1300 photos from 95 photographers hosted on Foto Baza.
“Part of the stock will be free to use and will function on the principle of photo exchange, while the other part will be available by subscription and will offer high quality photos from all areas – illustrations, portraits, landscapes, panoramas, events…,” Stokić said, adding that so far, photographers have reacted very nicely. “We have talked to a number of journalists and photographers, and all of whom agreed that the photo stock is extremely needed by the domestic media.”
The situation in the world of photography in BiH is especially alarming. Because the citizens believe that everything on the Internet is free and open to use, it is often impossible to determine the source and the author.
“Particularly worrying is the fact that a large number of journalists believe that everything found online is free to use,” Stokić said.
eTrafika.net was founded in 2011 in Banja Luka and operates within a citizens’ association with the same name. The idea came from a group of journalism students with a single goal to create space for practice. Since then eTrafika has grown into one of the well-respected outlets in Banja Luka, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
