Media in Kosovo face financial challenges, market dependence on editorial independence

These concerns were raised at the “Media co-operation conference in Kosovo: Dialogue, co-operation and the future of Independent Media”, organised by Hibrid.info, stressed that the lack of sustainable funding models and difficulties in ensuring human resources are endangering the functioning of independent media.

Kosovo's chief editor-in-chief 2.0, Besa Luci, said the media should review funding patterns, as reliance on the free market alone makes it difficult to preserve editorial independence.

And as far as financial sustainability is concerned, I think we're in a situation where we need to reconsider funding patterns and media economic sustainability patterns. For a very long time, it also continues to be that way, that is, the media rely on the market, is the idea of the media relying on the free market today as well as we are seeing that this support in the free market alone makes it very difficult even to be then independent in an editorial way”, she said.

Luci added that market dependence has also affected the decline in the quality of journalism.

This support only on the free market at the same time has contributed to what we know today is that it's a far more sensational journalism, a journalist who aims to be the first, aiming at being the first you have to make a lot of mistakes, maybe sometimes on purpose, sometimes without purpose. This idea that depending only on the market has a bearing on the decline in the quality of journalism itself. So with a maintained editorial independence, I think today is the biggest challenge”, she said.

Chief editor of the KoSSev portal, Tatjana Lazarević, said she would not continue working if editorial independence was violated.

When we can't do our work editorially independently, I'm saying in my personal name, I won't do this anymore. The moment everyone interferes with my editorial work. Now I'm talking exactly about these small editorials; I call them, I don't know what the word is, I repeat, guerrilla media, when we talk about our little editorials in the Serbian language trying to work as hard as possible, however possible”, she said.

It warned that small Serbian-language editorials endanger survival due to lack of finances and human resources.

The problem list is not long, it is short. There are only two problems. And these two problems are at risk of soon stopping working. So this is the first time I publicly say that, if anything is not resolved urgently, I do not believe such a editorial in the Serbian language will survive. The two main problems are, as colleagues, finances, have often highlighted. For years I've put human resources first, and now I'm going to say that human resources and finances are just as important. I know this is a global problem and that journalism is a dying profession, and that our problem, whether in northern Mitrovica, Cagllavica, Gracanica or Gorazdevc, in that sense is not otherwise”, she said.

Lazarevic said the favoured media do not face the same difficulties as independent media.

It is true that global media are in crisis in terms of human resources, finance and independence at work. However, I personally think there is no crisis for favoured media. I don't know how this will be translated into Albanian or English, even I'm not sure you know the exact English term. So the favoured media this is a global trend actually don't have a crisis in their work. The entire rhetoric for media support and all support from power centres, I would even say from a part of the public, large donors and the market, is heading towards media that cultivate a favourable editorial policy. Unfortunately, this is the picture of a large part of the major world media, as well as the media in Serbia and Kosovo”, she said.

Kosovo Journalists' Association Chairman Xhemajl Rexha said financial instability is directly affecting the working conditions of journalists, EO reports. Periscope.

“Let's point, of course, to what journalists have as a concern in their work and comes with the main topic of discussion that is the financial sustainability of the media and money. Now we in terms of the media reporting in Albanian and always saying it, with great pride I believe, that Kosovo has extraordinary media plurality in terms of offers of what readers can accept. In the sense that there are at least nine national televisions that have similar general programming, there are more than ten large portals, we go back, but there are lots and lots and lots of, of course, given that the newspaper”, he said.

Rexha said financial difficulties are affecting the frequent movement of journalists from one medium to another.

The idea of plurality is that it enables journalists to try to find the best job from the large number of young journalists who are mostly women in fact, and that opportunity comes regardless of age, but also from private universities that have journalism in their programme. And in fact, many of them find work while they're still studying. But what is happening with this financial difficulty and financial instability of the media is that these journalists will often change their media very often. It is one of these reasons for financial instability, and many cannot create a career in which a career is to have a meaningful stability of career development, but also meant financial stability”, he said.

He added that the main reasons for leaving journalists from the media relate to the lack of contracts and payment irregularities.

“And the reasons why Albanian journalists, thus of Albanian editorials, differ very often from the media as highlighted with the lack of contracts, the lack of paying salaries occasionally, whether it is a month or so beyond the law in terms of cash sometimes, not necessarily with regular contract payments or the lack of pension brain”, he said. /Periscope