The media in Kosovo are faced with politicization, non-implementation of laws by institutions and intimidation of journalists, with an increase in self-censorship, according to the association of journalists.
“Journalists in Kosovo are working in very difficult conditions; they are not protected by anyone, especially the institutions. What is particularly worrying is the increasing of non-collegiality. We have a situation when five journalists were beaten in northern Mitrovica and no one reacted from the Albanian colleagues,” says Angelica Cup.
Last year, 24 cases of assaults on journalists were recorded in Kosovo, but rarely happens that someone was found responsible for this, which affects the increase in attacks, say the Association of Kosovo Journalists.
“Last year, only two fines were imposed, in one case fine was 500 euros and 300 euros in the other. We urged the institutions to be more efficient and that our reports do not remain in their drawers, because only in the first three months of this year 8 cases of attacks on journalists were reported,” says Petrit Colaku from the Kosovo Journalists Association.
President of the Association of Journalists of Serbia in Kosovo Budimir Nicic says that 14 journalists have disappeared, and killed in 1999, and 19 years later these cases were not solved. Nicic claims that institutions are not working enough on the protection of journalists.
“We have media that do not hesitate to publish that somebody is a criminal or a traitor and neither the prosecution nor anybody responds to it. The best example is the case of Oliver Ivanovic who was literally satanised and nobody reacts to it. And in the other extreme, for example during this action in North Mitrovica where journalists were beaten, their equipment was destroyed. Instead of being a guarantor of our freedom and to protect journalists in their work, they act like that, “says Nicic.
According to a report on media freedom – 6 journalists were killed in Europe in 2017, 180 physically attacked and more than 200 arrested or detained.
