PRISTINA – The Journalists’ Association of Kosovo-Metohija (DNKiM) stated in a release on Monday that, in its latest progress report for Kosovo, the European Commission (EC) omitted several important facts for the media community in Kosovo, such as the establishment of an independent Serbian-language channel.
In its report, the Commission omitted “the completion of investigations into abductions, killings of and threats against journalists, and their inability to follow the work of public institutions due to lack of translation into Serbian”, noted the organization that brings together Serb journalists in the province, which operates as part of the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS).
The release notes that the fact that Radio-Television of Kosovo 2 was established constitutes a violation of the Ahtisaari Plan and the Constitution of Kosovo “because, instead of an independent media outlet, the Serbs got the cable channel under the umbrella of the public service broadcaster – Radio-Television of Kosovo (RTK).”
“Thus, the authorities disregarded good practice in the region, where such channels have an independent editorial policy, a managing board and direct link with a regulatory body,” the DNKiM said.
They also noted that the European Commission “forgot” to call for an end to investigations into abductions and killings of journalists that have taken place from 1998 to present day, and to condemn the threats against journalists who are trying to do their work conscientiously.
The DNKiM is urging the European Commission and the entire international community to deal more seriously with the law on the use of language in Kosovo.
Instead of the positive appraisal that the Commission gave based on the fact that “the Office of the Language Commissioner organizes a course for public servants in public institutions”, it would be more fair that the criticism was voiced because the law on the use of language is not adhered to in most public institutions, the association underscored.
In addition to that, the association notes that in the Kosovo president’s office no translation has so far been provided for Serb journalists.
The DNKiM is calling on the European Commission to urgently form a team that would translate anew the Constitution of Kosovo into Serbian, as Serb journalists have so far found 1,000 typos, grammar and terminological errors in the Serbian-language version of the Constitution of Kosovo.
The association is urging the EC to involve the Serb media community “in the decision-making process concerning information society and improvements in the media”.
