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Life in Kosovo debates freedom of speech

28 05 2009  This Life in Kosovo show broadcast a debate with representatives from the Kosovo Government and civil society on freedom of speech in Kosovo.

Is there freedom of speech in Kosovo? How much is freedom of speech respected and who are the main violators of it? Who do the Kosovar media serve to: political parties or the people of Kosovo? Are Kosovars free to express their opinions? Who protects this important freedom enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Kosovo?

To discuss these and others related to freedom of speech and free media, Jeta Xharra’s guests for the show were:

Besim Abazi, journalist at Voice of America
Memli Krasniqi, spokesperson of the government of Kosovo
Glauk Konjufca, from Self-Determination movement
Ilir Deda, from KIPRED

The show began with Jeta Xharra’s explaination of the situation. According to Xharra, this topic became an issue of interest when Jakup Krasniqi, the parliament speaker, declared that civil society and the media in Kosovo are orchestrated by the Government.

Speaking about the presence of freedom of speech in Kosovo, Memli Krasniqi, the spokesperson of the government, said that there is a sufficient level of freedom of expression.

“No doubt that there is always more to ask for, more to be ambitious for,  and we, as much as we can, without being directly involved, are interested and work to have this horizon as wide as  possible and to make it possible for everyone to say what’s on their mind,” added Krasniqi.

However, he believed that Jakup Krasniqi’s statement was taken out of context.

“Jakup Krasniqi’s quote that the media is orchestrated was broadcasted quite often. In fact, he did not say such a thing, it was taken out of context and this caused some confusion to the public.”

Speaking about freedom of speech, Ilir Deda, from KIPRED, said that in Kosovo there is not tradition of freedom of speech.

“Due to the lack of this tradition, if we look thirty years back, the main form of freedom of expression was to say “Kosovo Republic”, “We want a republic”, “Separation from Serbia”,“ added Deda.

Glauk Konjufca, from Self-Determination movement, didn’t believe either Krasniqi or Deda.  According to him, the problem comes from the Government and is related to the authority’s strategy in relation to freedom of expression.   


“I believe that there is no freedom of speech in Kosovo because there is an entire mechanism of small scale blackmails, threats, phone calls and pressure, different kinds of pressure by which the apparatchiks, or some small bandits, often threaten the freedom of speech in Kosovo either on behalf of the Government or the institutions ,“ noted Konjufca.

Konjufca went on to disclose the cases identified from the Association of Journalists in Kosovo, which, according to him, has counted 18 cases of threats, some of which came from the Government.

“For instance, some days ago, a journalist, Mr Vehbi Kajtazi, was threatened only because he had described in one of his articles in Koha Ditore, how, by some magic, the evidence in the investigation of the burglary in the Prime Minister’s house disappeared,” adding that he even filed criminal charges


Speaking from personal experience, Besim Abazi, from Voice of America, said that there is a struggle for freedom of speech in Kosovo.

“I have had the opportunity to work during different phases of development in this country, where there is a long tradition of struggling for freedom of speech, which means that there’s a tradition of fighting for freedom of speech,” explained Abazi.
 
Asked whether in the interest of the country, one should hold back the truth, Abazi said that telling the truth is, in fact, an act of great patriotism, so one should do so.

A TV report prepared by Jeta Abazi showed how deputies bowed their heads after the Prime Minister’s call to denounce cases of corruption. The report also featured an in-depth analysis concerning newspapers.  The analysis showed that the most-read newspaper, Koha Ditore, did not get the majority of Government advertisements since the LDK-PDK coalition came into existence. An exclusive interview with the authors of the slogan “KPS, how much per kilo?” was also broadcast.

After the reports, Krasniqi expressed his concerns about the way foreign reports on Kosovo are drafted.

“The Freedom House Report for example was absolutely untrue. This was a report, which in 2008 refers to Kosovo as Serbia, a report which used all documents and reports from 2004, 2005, 2006, in reaching its conclusions,” noted Krasniqi.

Moving on to the report of State Department, Deda stressed the threats found by this report.

“There is another part in the State Department report which states explicitly that journalists have received threats from politicians and organised crime. There is another part which says that huge amounts of money were offered to journalists in return for changing their stories. Either to change their story by putting a positive meaning to it or to withdraw the story completely, and this was done by people from the Government.”

As the conversation moved on to discuss individual cases of Government influencing the media, Life in Kosovo broadcast a TV report, prepared by Jeta Abazi, showing how much the municipality has achieved and how many promises made during the electoral campaign where kept for more than a year. The report showed some frank comments from the head of opposition in Skenderaj, who advised the BIRN journalist to be careful. Following this, the journalist and the camerawoman were attacked by a civilian in Skenderaj and were forced to report the case to police.

The discussion in the studio took another dimension after the report was shown.
Speaking about the fact that the mayor of the municipality, Sami Lushtaku, didn’t want to give an interview to Jeta Xharra, and to participate in her municipal debate, Krasniqi said that the experience and the perception of BIRN journalists was not in line with the perception of the citizens of Skenderaj or of the citizens of Kosovo.


While speaking about transparency in this municipality, Krasniqi believed that if Sami Lushtaku refused to give an interview to “Life in Kosovo” it did not mean that he is not transparent; rather, he believed it was a personal choice to decide who he wants to give interviews to.

At the end of the show, Deda concluded that there is one reality in Pristina and a different one in places outside of it.

“Every insecure government wants to control the media. This has constantly happened in Kosovo and will continue so long as we have an insecure government,” noted Deda explaining that the greater freedom of speech there is, the more developed investigative journalism becomes, the bigger the problem this poses to “non-functional governments”.

“For this reason every government in Kosovo, since 2000, 2001, wishes to control the media since this is the only way to communicate with public opinion. If you have critical media, you have a government which should be defended with more than these half arguments,” concluded Deda.

After the show the satirical Kosovo’s-son-in-law sketch was shown.