Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
The Life in Kosovo programme broadcasts its 100th show Thursday.
Join us for the Jubilee show where we screen the best of how people celebrated Kosovo’s independence around the world.
We have been undated with videos from our viewers on how they celebrated Kosovo’s big day, and we will be showing some of our best picks.
Life in Kosovo is a co-production by Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:15.
With Kosovo set to declare independence, how will Serbia react? On this Thursday’s Life in Kosovo special programme, we’ll be putting that question to our guests in both Pristina and Belgrade.
How will Serbia deal with Kosovo in the future? Are parallel institutions being set up in Kosovo’s Serb-majority north? How will Kosovo’s Serbs react when Pristina declares independence? Does Kosovo’s government have a security plan? We’ll be asking our live guests these questions and more.
Joining us from Pristina are:
Astrit Salihu – adviser to the Prime Minister of Kosovo;
Ylber Hysa – political analyst;
And we’ll be joined from the Serbian capital by:
Dusan Prorokovic – State Secretary in Serbia ’s Ministry for Kosovo;
Goran Svilanovic – political analyst and former Serbian Foreign Minister;
Life in Kosovo is a co-production by Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting at 20:15.
This Thursday, Life in Kosovo will host a debate between American, Russian, Albanian and Serb guests, who will be discussing Kosovo’s prospects now that talks on its status have failed.
How do Russians and Americans view the diplomatic tips for resolving the Kosovo issue over the next few months? Where can tensions in Kosovo arise, and is there scope for an internal dialogue between the Albanians and Serbs of Kosovo that could calm potential tensions? What kinds of discussions are being conducted formally and informally between Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo, and what sorts of talks are being held between Russians and Americans on Kosovo?
Note: Right after the debate, the documentary “Obstacles to the other side” will be shown. It is a production of BIRN Kosovo.
The panellists in the discussion are:
Valon Syla – journalist from Express daily
Leonid Ragozin – journalist from Newsweek, Russia
Isak Vorgucic – journalist and manager of KIM Radio in Cagllavica/Caglavica
Rob Gulick – American businessman
Life in Kosovo is a co-production between Kosovo Public Television, RTK and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN. It is broadcast every Thursday, starting from 20:15.
BIRN Kosovo has welcomed over 50 foreign journalists, who have been covering the latest developments in Kosovo.
Jeta Xharra, BIRN Kosovo director, was interviewed by BBC Online [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7133515.stm]and the Polish Magazine Babel [http://www.cafebabel.com/pl/article.asp?T=A&Id=2923]about the situation in Kosovo and the post- negotiation process. BIRN Kosovo editor, Krenar Gashi was interviewed by Deutsche Welle Radio and France 24 TV.
International media attention was prompted by the December 10 deadline for a Troika of international mediators to report back to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about four months of talks on Kosovo’s status. The Troika-led negotiations between Serbia and Kosovar Albanian representatives had earlier ended in failure.
Although the approaching deadline created some tension in Kosovo, the situation remained calmed.
Among other international media briefed by the BIRN Kosovo office during their stay were: BBC News, The New York Times, The Scotsman, The Wall Street Journal, The Independent, 24 Hours, ISN Geneva, EUP Berlin, Bergens daily and Stavanger Aftenblad.
This Thursday the Life in Kosovo TV debate is to explore a very sensitive issue – violence against women.
How much violence is there against women in Kosovo? Who is working with the victims of domestic abuse? Is anybody protecting them? Who is fighting against trafficking in human beings? And can the victims of violence expect help with their reintegration into society?
To discuss these issues, we will have the following panellists in the studio:
Ariana Qosaj Musa – Expert for gender balance, OSCE;
Flora Macula – Executive Director of UNIFEM;
Lumnije Decani –from the Centre of Women’s Wellbeing/Safe House
Luljeta Vuniqi – Executive Director from the Kosovar Gender Studies Centre
Tahire Haxholli- from the investigating sector of domestic violence within the Kosovo Police Service, KPS
The Life in Kosovo TV debate show is a cooperative project between Kosovo public television, RTK, and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and is broadcast every Thursday beginning at 20:15
The “Life in Kosovo” show held a further 23 debates ahead of the second round of voting for municipal mayors.
Following the November 17 elections, 23 municipalities out of 30 are heading for a second round of mayoral elections, scheduled for December 8.
Life in Kosovo broadcast 20-minutes debates from the smaller municipalities. Candidates standing in the larger municipalities had roughly an hour to debate the issues. Each of them faced a panel of journalists and civil society members who put specific questions to them about the problems of their municipalities.
Life in Kosovo hosted shows with the top two candidates of the municipalities of Pristina, Peja/Pec, Gjakova/Djakovica, Gjilan/Gnjilane, Suhareka/Suva Reka, Ferizaj/Urosevac, Mitrovica, Shtime/Stimlje, Prizren, and 14 other towns.
The purpose of the debates was to continue to bring the candidates face-to-face, and encourage them to share their ideas with the audience. They were provided with an opportunity to set out how they would carry out their election promises and challenge their rivals on key policy issues.
The debates in the larger municipalities were held with the participation of journalists from Kosovo’s leading newspapers – Koha Ditore, Express, Epoka e Re, Bota Sot, Lajm, Zeri and M – Magazine, who shared the panel with prominent civil society activists.
The debates were broadcast by Kosovo’s public service television, RTK, and are available on the internet: http://www.rtklive.com/etc/jeta_ne_ks.php
The Life in Kosovo shows on the municipal elections were a co-production of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and Kosovo’s public service TV station, RTK. These debates were supported by the OSCE, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, BTD, and the UNDP.
This Thursday the Life in Kosovo TV debate programme will host a live discussion continuing its analysis of the electoral campaign.
In the final debate before the November 17 local and parliamentary elections, analysts and publicists will discuss the various platforms that have been put forward by the political parties; they will also look at election results forecasts and likely post-election coalition scenarios, focusing on who will be in government, who will be in opposition and who will most likely be the next prime minister.
The Life in Kosovo TV debate show is a cooperative project between Kosovo public television, RTK, and the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and is broadcast every Thursday beginning at 20:15
The Life in Kosovo TV debate series has so far staged 26 shows on the forthcoming local authority elections, while travelling to each of the 30 municipalities in Kosovo.
These shows consist of over an hour of debate each time. They give specific information about the municipality at the start of each programme, and then tackle some of the most crucial issues that each municipality faces, while also analysing the political parties’ approach to these issues.
All municipal election debates can now be watched online, if you follow this link:
http://www.rtklive.com/etc/jeta_ne_ks1.php
It was not possible to hold debates in the three municipalities in the north of Kosovo, in Zveqan/ Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposaviq/Leposavic because the Serbian candidates in the mayoral contests in these municipalities have said they decided to withdraw from the contest.
Local and parliamentary elections are scheduled for November 17, and for the first time Kosovo’s electorate will have the chance to vote on the basis of an open-list system. In other words, they will not be voting for a party list, as in previous elections, but for competing individual candidates for the parliament, the municipal assemblies and for the mayoral posts.
The aim of the road show on the municipal elections was to bring face-to-face the audience with the candidates running in the election for mayor who were presenting their political agenda and arguments on how they would carry out their promises and meet other requirements after the elections.
Before the debates the Life in Kosovo team opened a telephone hotline and visited local media all around Kosovo in order to collect specific questions for each municipality from the citizens.
In this way people were encouraged to call in and put their questions for the candidates.
The shows were open to the public who could join the audience and contribute to the debates with their questions in written form during the first 15 minutes of each show. The questions judged to be the best were then directly addressed to the candidates running for mayor during the debate.
Over 500 people participated in each of the shows. In Lipjan/Ljipljan the audience numbered 900.
The debate on the mayoral contest for Pristina will be held on Tuesday, November 13, beginning at 14.00 in the Red Hall of the Youth Palace.
The “Life in Kosovo” shows on municipal elections are a co-production of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN Kosovo’s public TV station RTK, Advocacy Training and Recourse Centre, ATRC and Institute for Advanced Studies, GAP. These debates were supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the OSCE and the UNDP.Local organizations will contribute to the production of these debates as well.
Life in Kosovo is continuing its shows on the municipal elections, and has conducted 21 debates out of Kosovo’s 30 municipalities so far. Others are planned to be filmed in the coming days.
During last week’s Life in Kosovo debates on the local authority elections over 500 people participated in each of the shows.
BIRN’s televised programmes consist of over an hour of debate, tackling some of the most crucial issues that each municipality faces while also analysing the political parties’ approach to these issues. Candidates running for the positions of mayor in these municipalities are invited to present their political agendas and arguments on how they will carry out their promises and meet other requirements after the elections.
This weekend, the Life in Kosovo team will be visiting the municipalities of Shterpce, Shtime, Lipjan, Vushtrri and Mitrovica.
The timetable of the debates is below:
November 2, 2007
Shterpce: 10:00h
Shtime: 14:00h
Lipjan: 18:00h
November 3, 2007
Vushtrri: 10:00h
Mitrovice: 14:00h
The “Life in Kosovo” shows on municipal elections are a co-production of Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN Kosovo’s public TV station RTK, Advocacy Training and Recourse Centre, ATRC and Institute for Advanced Studies, GAP. These debates were supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the OSCE and the UNDP.Local organizations will contribute to the production of these debates as well.
Since 18 October, the “Life in Kosovo” current affairs programme has been shown by Kosovo’s public broadcaster, RTK, at a new time.
“Life in Kosovo”, which is a co-production of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network – BIRN and RTK, is now broadcast every Thursday from 20:15.
The programme offers a lively debate on political, social and cultural issues, followed by an investigative reporting segment and then — the “desert” of the show – the political and social satire “Dhandrri i Kosovës” (Kosovo son in law).
During the election campaign, in addition to the regular weekly programe, “Life in Kosovo” will be broadcast each evening from 23.15.
These daily broadcasts will feature debates on the mayoral elections in 30 municipalities. BIRN and RTK`s partners, the NGOs ATRC and GAP, have joined forces to organise these debates.