Kosovo alone country in region without printed newspapers, little hope for their return

Not long ago there are no newspapers printed in our country. Over this issue for Dukaagjini Portal, executive director at the Kosovo Media Council has discussed ( KMKK), Imer Mushkolaj, professor of journalism at Pristina University “Hasan Pristina”, Faton Ismajli and assistant professor at the Department of Journalism at Pristina University “hasan Pristina”, Hydije Mehmeti.

Kosovo is the only country in the region that does not have printed newspapers. Before the pandemic were several newspapers printed in Kosovo, “Koha Ditore”, “New age”, “Zer” and “Bota Sot”

Although the Padremy of Coddy-19 passed, these newspapers stopped printing.

Imer Mushkolaj, executive director at the Kosovo Media Council ( KMKSK, in an interview with Portal Dukaagjini, has said that the lack of newspapers has discredited some of the older citizens, who have had information sources, and that problems in online access have led them to be excluded in some form from the traditional way of information.

Mosskolaj has said that the key causes affecting the “distribution of” of these newspapers are financial problems and the intense spread of online media.

According to him, newspaper publishers have not been able to continue publishing them even after the pandemic situation, which led to their closure.

He suggests that two newspapers are now published online in the PDF version, but that is not enough, according to him.

“Gazet are an important part of each nation's national memory, so their absence leaves great emptiness even in this regard”, it is expressed.

KMSK executive director adds that online information is faster and more real time, notes that work in the paper is more comfortable and the greatest available time causes less mistakes to be transmitted.

According to him, the priority of online newspapers in this case is that concessions can improve quickly so that the public can be informed quickly and correctly. He has suggested that public interactive is “much more expressed in online newspapers”.

For the return of printed newspapers Mushkolaj has said no concrete steps have been taken because according to him, there seems to be no financial account for such a thing. He points out that adapting to online newspapers has not been difficult, but, naturally, homesickness for the printed paper remains.

Online “Gages should not set speed before accuracy. More information care would do better than that”, finished Imer Mushkolaj.

Professor at Pristina University Journalism Department “hasan Pristina”, Faton Ismajli has said that internet journalism, portal journalism offers much more opportunities to make journalism in “cial, faster, more accurate, deeper, more documented”.

Well, the lack of newspapers for a society like ours is in the first place harmful in relation to history. Because journalists are the first to write what happens today and it's published tomorrow. For example, if we take the fact that what happened in 2008 we go to the archives, we find the newspapers and we can use it as arguments, we can study that period”, Ismajli said about the Dukajini Portal.

According to him, this also affects the profession because newspapers had established a tradition in Kosovo, the Renaissance newspaper began to continue with newspapers from the 1990s, then newspapers after the end of the war.

The new journalism has created greater opportunities for professional journalism on one side, but newspaper journalism continues to maintain the preeminence of professional, deep, argued and ethical reporting in relation to new media”, Ftaon Ismajli said.

Professor at the Journalial Department has said that the two factors affecting “the loss” or “the production of” of printed newspapers are lack of readers and the lack of business interest in getting newspaper ads.

“Add here the third cultural factor. So Kosovo differs from European cultures when the first newspapers have emerged more than 300 years ago, there is a shorter tradition of newspaper ownership. Let's go back to both the first factors, the lack of readers and the ecomical aspect. When newspapers in Kosovo are closed, the number of Tirazhi has not exceeded 1 specimens. So there's been a lot of readers. Seen by this perspective, the media have found no way to overcome this problem. Public advertising and media revenues have also declined. As a result, they have been able to survive in a market where most advertising, if not, the vast majority of advertising had only gone to new media, portals and social networks”, Faton Ismajli has said.

Ismajli has said that newspapers printed despite lack of reading, despite problems have offered a deeper depth than portals. According to him, the media have always targeted speed, but at this time, that is, at the time of the new media <x0).

Faton Ismaili has stressed that the cause of tradition, of working, of the newspaper's way of organizing, the reader has entrusted more to printed journalism.

He further emphasises that internet journalism in Kosovo is continuing to develop, and there is an increase in standards, reporting mode and to the use of all the opportunities the internet provides to deliver the news in the most professional way. But according to him, it takes time, investment and commitment to achieve higher standards even in online journalism.

Ismajli has not expressed optimism about the possibility of returning printed newspapers because, according to him, it is difficult to find someone who makes such an investment.

Perhaps, both NGOs and ultimately the state could invest in a printed paper, with a small circulation that could serve as a memory of events happening. The same newspaper would have to be stored in the National Library as did newspapers when they appeared in the press. So, I think as a society we should think about getting at least one newspaper and finding ways. My idea of a newspaper documenting daily events is just my idea. There may be even better, more creative ideas to turn into one form or another at least one newspaper”, the Ismajli posts.

He has shown that when journalists who used to work in printed newspapers have started working in online newspapers, they realized they must have more skills.

“should have photo knowledge. They should know how to make videos. They should know how to use social media. They must be prepared linguistically far more than in newspapers. It seems that online journalism is easier, in fact, journalism at the portal requires much more skill, much more recognition, much more competence for all that we discussed even higher”, the professor at the UP's Department of Journalism, Faton Ismajli, has declared.

Ishmael has shown that online portals or newspapers should offer much more reports of text, photo, video and graphics as world portals report.

The second “, portals should be important to the professional aspect, to balance the news, to take the positions of the parties involved in reporting, to use neutral language in reporting, to have a critical approach in reporting to all who use offensive languages, hate languages, and languages of racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual failure. In a word, portals must follow the professional standards that were once posted in newspapers, television and radio”, Ismajli said.

Despite the fact that we originally had the newspaper, then the radio, then the television, and at the end of the portals, professional and ethical standards just stood up and there was no consensus among professionals, nor among academics that with the coming of new media, the standards should be reduced. The opposite has happened. Just look at the last trend, when the media in Kosovo and the world, have also created verifiators of facts, created a new form of writing, when reports of incorrect reporting”, have concluded Faton Ismajli.

The professor's assistant at the Journalism Department at Pristina University “Hasan Pristina”, Hydije Mehmeti, has said that the beginning of the pandemic in our country -- March 2020, respectively -- has been the last month when our market has had daily newspapers.

“After this month, printed newspapers have completely disappeared, which should not have happened”, Mehmeti said, adding that one of the main problems related to the closure of newspapers concerns the financial issue.

Mehmeti has added that the Kosovo Assembly would have to at least establish legal grounds for returning a newspaper to the market as a public newspaper.

Mehmeti has indicated that the disappearance of daily newspapers has been especially problematic for those whose use of technology is more difficult and for some impossible. The same problem she said was for journalists who worked on it.

“Daily Games preserve the criteria and standards of journalism. Moreover, what is missing from daily newspapers is linked to the credibility of the news that has been conveyed through them to readers. Such a lack has made even more difficult the difference between false news and truth”, said assistant professor at the Department of Journalism at Pristina University “Pristina”, Hydije Mehmeti.

Mehmeti has indicated that online newspapers should take on the role of printed newspapers and that “particularly” should add some features that have had newspapers, such as reactions, long interviews and others.