AGK asks Costa to discuss media freedom issue at the meeting with Kurti

The AGK has asked Costa to discuss the need for respect for media freedom and expression on the part of the Government and Kosovo institutions at the meeting with the incumbent prime minister.

Kosovo has marked a dramatic decline in media freedom in recent years, documented by international reports, including the March visit of the Council of Europe Journalists' Security Platform.

Mr. Kurti's government and his political party, Vetevendosje, are engaged in continued denigration campaigns against journalists and media employees because of their work. This has made the climate of becoming journalism in Kosovo the most serious in recent years”.

“Institutions that would have to be independent, such as the Independent Media Commission and the Radio Television of Kosovo, are put under direct political influence by the Government, through the appointment of boards into compromised processes”, the AGK points out in the report.

The AGK emphasises in the report that it hopes Costa will remind Prime Minister Kurti that respect for media freedom is key on the road to membership in the European Union, which the overwhelming majority of Kosovo's people aspire to.

“Gaseters and media in Kosovo continue to do a vital job in providing information in public interest, playing irreplaceable role in preserving a fundamental value of European democracy”, this association says.