Media of Kosovo

Municipal staff in the Kosovo capital, Pristina, as well as journalists from the public broadcaster, RTK, on Monday joined the wave of strikes sweping the country against the new law on wages.

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo on Wednesday published its latest report on the freedom of media and safety of journalists which noted 16 cases of attacks reported to the authorities in 2018 - two of them physical.

Freedom of the media in Kosovo is increasingly being threatened by political pressures which include direct interference by politicians, according to a study entitled 'Media Freedom and Journalists' Safety' which was published on Monday by the Association of Journalists of Kosovo.

Western Balkan governments and the European Union have over the past year failed to take action to address the issues hindering media freedom in the region, the NGO Human Rights Watch, HRW, said in the 2016 update of its media freedom report.

It added that new, troubling cases of threats and attacks on journalists had meanwhile emerged - but also remained unpunished.

International media freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday called on the Kosovo authorities to protect Leonard Kerquki, editor-in-chief of tabloid newspaper Gazeta Express, after a television documentary he produced about crimes against Serbs attracted a series of death threats.

Kosovo's main journalists union condemned the threats allegedly made to Radio Kosova journalist Serbeze Haxhiaj by persons claiming to be high-ranking former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters, due to her reporting on the questionable validity of veterans' statuses. 

Sixty of the top editors and journalists at Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) have accused general director Mentor Shala of censorship and mismanagement over the sacking of two members of the RTK Journalists' Union.