Today is Press Freedom Day. Traditionally, on World Press Freedom Day, Reporters Without Borders published a new report on media freedom across the globe.
This year, Kosovo fell by 19 places on the most well-known press freedom index.
Serbia fell by 7 places (from 91st to 98th). It is in the fourth group of countries. With the exception of Albania, which is one place lower, Serbia has the worst index in the region.
Of the countries in the region, North Macedonia is best-placed in 36th place, closely followed by Montenegro (40th place), Slovenia (42nd place). All three countries are in the second group of countries.
Compared to last year, they mostly improved their position, while Slovenia is up 8 places.
Croatia took 48th place, and it is in the third group, which also includes Kosovo. Then comes BiH, which is in 81st place, or the fourth group. The fourth group includes Serbia with an index of 98.
Kosovo is now in 75th place, in the third group. Last year it ranked 56th, when it improved its position by five places compared to 2022, when it was in 61st place.
A drop in security, legislative, economic and political sector
In order to determine the press freedom index, this organization uses several indicators. This year, Kosovo recorded a decline compared to last year, as per all indicators. The biggest drop was recorded in the safety indicator – from 88 of last year to 121 of this year.
When it comes to the legislative indicator, Kosovo dropped from 28th last year to 44th.
In the social indicator, it fell by 6 places, from 61st to 67th.
Kosovo declined by three places when it comes to economic (from 68th place to 71st) and political indicators (from 56th to 59th).
A diverse and ethnically divided media landscape
While the Kosovo media market is diverse, its development is limited by its small size and ethnic divisions, the report states.
Media freedom is threatened by politicised regulation, gag suits, insufficient access to information and an increase in physical attacks.
Although freedom of expression, protection of sources and the right to information are legally guaranteed, while defamation and libel are decriminalized. But more and more journalists have been subjected to SLAPPs initiated by business groups and politicians.
In practice, copyright law is not upheld and access to information is threatened by a draconian bill on media regulation and by proceedings launched against a telecoms operator.
Even if the media succeed in holding politicians accountable, journalists continue to be the targets of political attacks, warns Reporters Without Borders.
“The ineffective media regulator, IMC, is trying to reform itself. The biggest TV channel, Klan Kosova, has been subjected to administrative harassment from the government, which had also threatened public broadcaster RTK’s independence with the election of a close ally of the ruling party as its director.”
When it comes to Serbian-language media, the report notes that they are under pressure from Serbian political forces, and have complained of discrimination in access to public information, particularly in their language.
The media are dependent on advertising either from the government or political parties, both of which are distributed in a non-transparent and partisan manner.
In addition, through their owners, private media newsrooms are exposed to interference from powerful political or business groups.
Serbian-language media face the extra challenge of a small market in which some media depend on funding from neighbouring Serbia, while the independent media would not survive without international funding.
Although journalists are trusted by society, independent media and investigative journalists are often the targets of insults and fake news on social media. They are unfairly accused of “collaborating with the enemy”, rhetoric used by political and religious groups.
Security
When it comes to the issue of security for the media, the report focuses on three topics: „No journalist has been killed since 2005“, the (in)security of investigative journalists, and the climate for working in political tensions.
“Murders and disappearances that took place before and during the Kosovo War (1998-2005) have gone unpunished. Journalists investigating drug trafficking or environmental pollution have been subjected to physical attacks and criminal networks have obstructed their reporting. Although the attacks are investigated by the police and prosecutor’s office, they have rarely resulted in prosecutions. Attacks against journalists have increased at times of political tension between Pristina and Belgrade,” the RSF report says.
“Despite its small size and division along the ethnic lines, Kosovo has a pluralistic and dynamic media market,” the report concludes.
First reactions
The German ambassador to Pristina was one of the first who reacted to the news of the decline in Kosovo’s position in this press freedom index.
“Media is often referred to as the 4th pillar of democracy and must be protected, not controlled. In Kosovo, media has a good standing in regional comparison. However, the freshly published report by RSF shows an alarming drop by 19 places since last year. Turnaround needed!” Jorn Rohde tweeted.
The US embassy in Pristina did not react directly to the report, but it did share a message on World Press Freedom Day:
“A strong democracy encourages a free press — one that keeps the public informed, enables a diversity of voices, and holds leaders accountable.”
The President of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, Xhemajl Rexha, said that this year’s RSF index shows an „alarming trend of media freedom in Kosovo“, due to a 19-place drop. He singled out the following sentence from the report: „Journalists continue to be targets of political attacks“.
Kosovo officials have yet to comment on the latest Reporters Without Borders index.
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
