Media workshops improve Kosovo's crime reporting

Co-operation between police and the media is essential to civil society. But all too often, efforts to achieve justice for victims of crime are hampered by poor understanding and a lack of communication between these two groups, resulting in poor or inaccurate crime reporting.

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo - which is active in both the development of the media and the training of the Kosovo Police Service - was therefore ideally placed to implement a programme on improving relations between the two.

The programme was set up in response to the March 2004 violence in Kosovo and the 16 April recommendations of the Media Task Force and Temporary Media Commissioner, which strongly criticized the media for fuelling the violence with what it termed their "reckless and sensationalist reporting."

The media, however, rebutted this, saying that a lack of access to information from law enforcement authorities was the reason for their poor coverage of the events.

Improving crime reporting standards

The workshops - organized by the OSCE Mission in partnership with the Kosovo Police Service School - were designed to improve standards of crime reporting and increase awareness of legal and police issues.

They ran from November 2004 to April 2005 and were attended by approximately 30 print and broadcast journalists, as well as police spokespersons.

The journalists' professional skills were tested with practical exercises in Prishtinë/Pristina and Vushtrri/Vucitrn. These included simulations of traffic accidents and crime scenes, which underlined the importance of not interfering with the evidence and thus potentially hampering the police investigation.

Greater public awareness

According to Refki Morina, Spokesperson for the Kosovo Police Service, the media can play a crucial role in improving public awareness of crime and the criminal justice system.

"Take domestic violence as an example: journalists are crucial in raising awareness among citizens about these crimes. Their reporting on these cases has encouraged more and more victims to come forward to the police, both in cities and in rural areas."

On the other hand, notes Shahriniso Najmetdinova, Project Coordinator at the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, crime reporting must also respect the law and allow the crime victims to obtain justice.

Maintaining confidentiality

"The details that journalists consider the key to a good story are often the very details which must be kept confidential in order to successfully complete a criminal investigation," explains Najmetdinova.

The training sessions therefore looked at access to information from the police, how reporters should act within the law, and the implications of the Provisional Criminal Code of Kosovo.

The need for journalists to develop and adhere to a code of conduct was also emphasized, including such fundamentals as the importance of accurate and impartial reporting and the avoidance of implying guilt in a crime story.

"The privacy and rights of victims need to be safeguarded," adds Claude Salhani, a trainer from the United Press International news agency.

"While the police have internal mechanisms for accountability, quite often the only thing we journalists have to deal with is our own conscience."

Deeper mutual understanding

Another key theme of the workshops was building confidence and improving mutual understanding about the day-to-day demands and duties that police and journalists face in their professional lives.

Thus, their roles were reversed for another exercise, as the police were set the task of writing a crime story, while the journalists had to issue a police press release.

And while the journalists studied best practices of crime reporters from countries such as Germany, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the police were able to observe the pressures that journalists face from their editors and the public.

As Alma Lama, a reporter with Radio Television Kosovo, told the most recent workshop: "Up until now, relations between police and journalists have been poor. But, with the help of these workshops, I hope we can improve this situation."