Tag: Kosovo

The show starts with exclusive footage of the protest followed by comment from panelists in the studio.
The discussion panel will consist of:

Naim Maloku, head of the security commission in the Kosovo assembly Ulpiana Lama, spokesman of the Kosovo government and political advisor to the prime minister; Visar Ymeri, Vetëvendosje movement activist; Veton Elshani, spokesman of the Kosovo Police Service, KPS; Nuredin Ibishi, former KPS officer and expert on policy issues; Berat Buxhala, editor-in-chief of the Kosovar daily newspaper Express;

Life in Kosovo will be broadcast at its regular prime time of 20:30.

BIRN Kosovo Country Director Jeta Xharra was interviewed by the Polish daily newspaper Republika, the France 24 news channel and the Aljazeera TV Station about the situation in Kosovo before UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari presented his proposal for Kosovo’s final status and possible reactions to it.

After the introduction of the plan, Xharra commented on reactions to the plan in an interview for Austrian national radio FM4.

BIRN Kosovo Editor Krenar Gashi was interviewed about Kosovo’s final status by the online publication Bulgarian Post. In addition, French daily newspaper La Croix questioned Gashi on the Kosovo media’s coverage of the Serbian elections.

BIRN Kosovo will have a live debate tonight, February 2, at 20:30 on UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s plan for Kosovo, which will be revealed in Pristina at 16:00.

The panelists in the studio will be.

– Nexhmedin Spahiu, an analyst from Mitrovica
– Adrian Gjini, a minister and member of the final status negotiating team
– Arlinda Desku, an independent journalist
– Dardan Gashi, a member of final status negotiating team

During the programme, BIRN will also broadcast an interview with Hashim Thaci, head of opposition Democratic Party of Kosovo, PDK, and member of the Team of Unity, the decision-making body mandated to deal with the UN proposal.

The programme will be the first televised analysis of the plan which will pave the way for the resolution of Kosovo’s political status in the coming months.

According to a section of the draft proposal obtained by BIRN, the UN proposal will bring Kosovo “de facto” independence, though the word does not figure explicitly in the document.

Internationally-mediated negotiations on Kosovo’s final status started in Vienna, in January 2006. After several months of meetings, Kosovo’s and Serbia’s negotiating teams failed to achieve an agreement, refusing to budge from the original negotiating positions, the former demanding full independence and the latter autonomy.

With the negotiating process close to collapse, the international community decided to have Ahtisaari draw up a proposal for Kosovo’s final political status, which is due to be presented in Belgrade and Pristina today.

The programme will include field interviews with some families that returned to live in their rebuilt homes, key stakeholders who have been involved in the process of return, representatives of local government, international organisations and also religious representatives.

The edition of the programme will be broadcast at 20:30 on Kosovo’s public television channel, RTK.

The documentary includes interviews with Kosovo’s prime minister, head of UN Mission in Kosovo, and many female activists, politicians and citizens, attempting to reveal how the successful integration of women’s perspectives and participation into democratic society is an uphill struggle, and how international resolutions are much easier to ratify than to enforce.

“Life in Kosovo” is a weekly TV debate show that is organised by BIRN Kosovo and broadcast on RTK, Kosovo’s public TV station.

The programme deals with current political and social affairs and was launched in October 2005 as a bi-weekly show. Since September 2006, it’s gone weekly and is broadcast on prime time, every Friday evening from 20:30 hours.

“I was waiting for your show to be transmitted as I was told it tackles a very taboo topic of our Islamophobic society. I encourage you to go on, as other media are avoiding such topics, especially those about gender discrimination within religion”
Sadat, Pristina

“I feel sorry for those who support fundamentalist Islam. We inherited this religion from our conqueror, the Ottoman Empire and we still suffer from the consequences. For example, my mother is illiterate because at that time it was said that Muslim girls should not go to school.”
Ramush, Pristina

“How can somebody say that it is forbidden for a woman to shake hands with man? If this is correct than I don’t want to be a part of it. This is in direct conflict with our traditions as Albanians. We don’t need Saudi traditions as we have our own.”
Adelina, Sweden

The full report on the debate can be found at: https://birn.eu.com/en/63/50/1963/

The jury, which consisted of seven members, selected Xharra for her numerous articles on corruption published in the daily Koha Ditore and BIRN’s online publication Balkan Insight.

Xharra, a senior journalist with Koha Ditore, has been a regular BIRN contributor since January 2006. She has published a number of investigative and analytical articles for BIRN, mostly regarding mismanagement of public funds in Kosovo’s institutions.

The group comprised four Albanian and two Serbian journalists who work for local electronic and print media outlets in Bujanovac, Presevo and Vranje.

The journalists were: Rijad Destani of Albanian TV Spektri; Faruk Daliu of RTV Bujanovac; Skender Saqipi and Fesnike Rexhepi from the Albanian weekly Perspektiva; Nikola Lazic from the weekly Novine Vranjske; and Ardita Behluli and Ivica Stepanovic from RTV Presevo.

Over the course of the three-day training session, BIRN editor-in-chief, Gordan Igric, and the director of BIRN Serbia, Dragana Nikolic Solomon, discussed how to write features and news analysis and pointed out common mistakes.

Jeta Xhara, BIRN Kosovo director, gave the participants tips on interviewing techniques based on her experience of hosting a highly successful TV debate show in Kosovo.

Miroslav Jankovic from Youth Initiative for Human Rights, YIHR, talked to the group about access to information legislation and journalists’ rights.

Igric held a session on libel law and why it’s important to understand it in advance of Serbia’s integration into Europe.

Nikolic Solomon spoke about the importance of steering away from hate speech and stereotypes when writing articles, especially in post-conflict societies such as Presevo.

Vukasin Obradovic, editor-in-chief of Novine Vranjske, discussed his own experience of editing the multi-ethnic monthly Korak – Hapi, urging the group to write as professionals, not as Albanians or Serbs.

Suzana Trninic, a B92 radio editor, held a session on election coverage and provided tips on how the journalists could improve their contacts with mainstream parties in Belgrade.

During the last day of training, Igric and Nikolic Solomon worked with journalists on the preparation of articles on South Serbia, due to be published beginning of January.

Those who attended the workshop thought it very useful.

“I think we learned a lot from the experienced journalists who trained us in Nis. The knowledge we gained in the last few days will be very useful for our day-to-day work,” said Saqipi.

The workshop was organised with the help of British Embassy in Belgrade as well as the National Endowment for Democracy, NED in Washington.

Gashi, who co-authored the report, “Ex-policemen Run Kosovo Passports Scam”, spoke about the desperate situation of people who try to get hold of passports illegally and the lengths they go to acquire them. He also discussed the way he went about researching the report.

The RFE interview followed extensive republication of the December 1 BIRN investigation in most of the daily newspapers in Kosovo and Albania.