Media Integrity in Kosovo and the region: Do media and journalists serve to public or some particular interest?

On January 18, 2016, Press Council of Kosovo (PCK) organized a roundtable on media integrity titled: Do media and journalists serve to public or some particular interest?, as a part of the project SEE Media Observatory.

The debate gathered journalists, civil society actors and representatives of regulatory bodies and other relevant institutions, and served to discuss the importance of media integrity, systematic challenges for media integrity, ownership and finances of media, as well as the lack of transparency in the media sector.

Imer Mushkolaj, chairman of Press Council of Kosovo, initiated the debate and emphasized the importance of integrity of media and journalists.

Brankica Petković, regional coordinator of the project Media Observatory in Southeast Europe, delivered a speech on importance of media integrity and spoke of the role and work of the project Media Observatory in Southeast Europe, stating: “It is very important to create a background where media can be free, independent and write about the public without any political or any other influence. To achieve this there should be changes in media managing and ownership.”

Isuf Berisha, media researcher, presented the report “Ownership and finances of media in Kosovo: legal vacuum and lack of transparency”. Berisha spoke about the lack of media transparency, stating: “Ownership and finances are two crucial aspects in the development of media in Kosovo, which influence their freedom and independence. The lack of ownership transparency of these media seems to be one of the main problems in the media scene in Kosovo.”

Agron Bajrami, editor in chief at daily newspaper Koha Ditore, also spoke on the struggle of professional journalists and editors in chief to protect their professional integrity in front of their readers and their publishers.

During the debate, the participants expressed concern over the lack of transparency of online media in Kosovo, with many of them operating without publishing an impressum. PCK, together with Independent Media Commission agreed on creating a database with basic information about these media.