OSCE free media representative finds Kosovo press coverage of March violence "reckless and sensationalist"

VIENNA, 22 April 2004 - The recent violence in Kosovo that led to the deaths of at least 19 people might have been avoided without the "reckless and sensationalist reporting" by local media, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, said today.

Haraszti made the point in a report he introduced to the 55-nation OSCE Permanent Council, the Organization's main decision-making body.

The report draws attention to the clear spin given by the media in accounts of the fatal drowning of a group of children on 16 March which seems to be unsupported by any journalistically valid accounts.

"Without this, the incidents might not have reached the intensity and level of brutality that was witnessed, or even might not have taken place at all," said Haraszti. "The essence of our findings is that the most powerful broadcasters did a great disservice to Kosovo's ethnic peace and democracy, providing biased coverage on two counts".

Haraszti said that on 16 and 17 March, local broadcasters portrayed the death of children as a cruel, criminal ethnically-motivated killing. But when, in the wake of their own previous reporting, the real inter-ethnic violence occurred, the TV media in particular followed up with justifying, almost supportive coverage.

"For several crucial days, the media in Kosovo borrowed some of the characteristics of its own un-free, pre-democratic past, features that I personally know too well: lack not only of objectivity but also of plurality", said the Representative on Freedom of the Media. "What we witnessed in Kosovo was not just one-sided, careless and unprofessional journalism in a post-conflict volatile society, but it was a tragic lack of other balancing voices, at least in the broadcast media".

"While displaying the weaknesses it did, the media was not, of course, intentionally instigating violence," the report says, but it notes that the media, specifically the broadcasting sector, displayed unacceptable levels of emotion, bias, carelessness, and falsely applied "patriotic" zeal.

The events of mid-March were the first serious crisis that the Kosovo media has ever faced. While the report shows there was credible concern that broadcast media might have been one of the reasons for the outbreak of violence, it says that long-term sanctions could prove counter-productive.

The document also offers 16 recommendations on how to repair the evident deficiencies of the media in order to prevent similar situations in the future and provide for a free, fair and balanced media landscape in Kosovo. These include strengthening the management and editorial component of the public broadcaster RTK, creating a legal framework for the media, as well as calling for greater attention to training and the education of young journalists.

The report was prepared by Dardan Gashi, a journalist and author of two books on the Balkans, who has worked in the region for over ten years.