OSCE media watchdog gives good marks to Kosovo media, but says more improvements needed

VIENNA, 3 July 2006 - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, said in a report issued today that the media freedom situation in Kosovo has changed for the better, but singled out areas where more work needed to be done.

"The flaws in journalistic professionalism, which were so obvious in the lead-up and the aftermath of the violence of March 2004, have since been corrected on the most important level, the editorial," Haraszti said.

The paper offers concrete recommendations for further improvements in the context of the ongoing status negotiations. It points out that the framework of the Kosovo media has improved significantly after a series of laws were enacted, including one on broadcasting.

It also praises the introduction of an Independent Media Commission with regulatory functions, the formation of a Press Council for ethics self-regulation, and the Kosovo Assembly's recently adopted new civil law on defamation and libel, saying that it has the potential to bring Kosovo in line with the modern European practice of decriminalizing such offences.

At the same time, the report says that the division of media along ethnic lines remains problematic, and suggests that some improvements can be expected as a result of the pioneering minority media fund, financed from 5 percent of the public service broadcast fee collected from Kosovo households.

"I strongly support the establishment of a second channel on the public broadcast network paid for from the minority media fund. This offers the opportunity of servicing minority communities with quality broadcast programmes on a much larger scale than existing arrangements," said Mr. Haraszti.

"I also invite professional associations to make an effort to include minority journalists amongst their ranks. In order to reflect the nature of Kosovo's society, it is imperative that the minority and Albanian language media become better interlinked."

The OSCE Representative said the remaining challenges for the media in Kosovo touch mostly on the business environment. "I recommend introducing a more sustainable split of advertisement income between the public service and the commercial broadcasters in order to make both economically more viable," he said. In order to relieve the pressure from the print press, Haraszti recommended exempting print media from value added tax.

The OSCE is heavily involved in helping develop the media in Kosovo, since the OSCE Mission as Pillar III of United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo's (UNMIK) four operational 'pillars' -- is charged with the democratization and institution-building, including media development.