AGK: Media in Kosovo suffer from direct, indirect political intervention

The Kosovo Journalists' Association has assessed data published by “Border-free Reporters” about the state of the media in Kosovo.

The AGK considers that this report reflects the real situation in the country as it expresses concern about the difficulties facing Kosovo journalists during the exercise of their profession.

The prestigious journalists' organisation stresses that Kosovo media suffer from direct and indirect political intervention, financial pressure and concentrated ownership.

“Gazeters criticising Kosovo authorities are often accused of being “traitors” or Serbia's “patitisan”. A few days after his coalition government was confirmed, in September 2017, Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj described reporters as <x5thandalphabet” and advised them to return to school. Two investigative journalists were physically attacked because in their articles they criticised government members and close allies. ” , says the report on “Reporters Without Borders” , where Kosovo has noted an easy progress in the world press freedom index compared to last year.

In this year's press freedom barometer, Kosovo has been sentenced to 78th or four positions higher than in 2017, where it ranked 82nd.

The World Journalists' Organisation stresses that the current government seems more willing to talk to journalists and the media as a whole, unlike the previous two governments, which were much less open to dialogue.

The Kosovo Journalists' Association seeks from central institutions to consider the findings of this report and commit to creating a safer environment of journalism and a hostile environment with journalists.