IREX Facilitates Dialogue between Albanian and Serbian Media Professionals

On Wednesday, June 6, the United States and the European Union (EU) agreed to delay a United Nations Security Council vote on their joint resolution to grant Kosovo independence under international supervision until after the Group of Eight (G8) summit discussion in Germany. Special UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari recommended internationally supervised independence for Kosovo in April, but this proposal has been rejected by the Kosovar Serb minority, Serbia, and Russia. Russia has indicated that it will veto the resolution in the UN Security Council vote, but the United States hopes to reach a compromise at the G8 summit, which is being held June 6-8. If no agreement is reached this week, it is anticipated that the UN Security Council vote will not take place until July, after Russian President Vladimir Putin travels to the United States for meetings with President George Bush on July 1 and 2.

While the official discussions on Kosovo’s status continue on, Kosovar Serb and Albanian media professionals are taking a more practical approach toward future relations. On May 11, the USAID-funded and IREX-administered Kosovo Media Assistance Program (KMAP) facilitated the first of two interethnic dialogue sessions for media professionals from a range of media outlets in Kosovo. Editors and journalists from the Albanian, Serbian, Bosnian, and Roma communities took part in the activity, which was conducted by Dr. Sheila Ramsey, a consultant for IREX-subcontractor EnCompass. The main objectives of the dialogue session were to encourage collaboration among media professionals to identify a positive future for media in Kosovo and to strengthen relationships and cooperation between media professionals from different ethnic communities.

Participants in the dialogue indicated that despite political differences, cooperation between journalists in Kosovo is currently quite good. Refik Kasi, editor in chief of the Bosnian service of Yeni Donem TV in Prizren, mentioned that journalists from the Serb enclaves ”felt they had limited freedom of movement [in Kosovo] until recently…but now there is better cooperation and we exchange tapes, recordings, and other materials.” Serb journalists covering events in Serb communities frequently pass on quotes to their Albanian colleagues and vice versa, and Serbian and Albanian TV stations have jointly produced a number of television documentaries within the past year. Radio Dukagjini editor Sebiha Ramaxhiku said that journalists have a mission to fulfill, which is to provide correct, objective, and professionally produced information, and to do that they must cooperate with each other. The majority of participants in the dialogue session have an optimistic view of the relationships between Kosovar journalists, with one expressing that he is “100% certain that barriers among journalists [in Kosovo] will not exist within the next three years.”