Life in Kosovo discusses about emergency situations
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Every Thursday starting from 20:30, Radio Television Kosovo, RTK, broadcasts the TV debate show "Life in Kosovo", a joint production of BIRN and RTK.
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Life in Kosovo discusses Kosovo’s Public Television Station
23 July 2009 In this edition of Life in Kosovo, the topic of discussion was the status of Kosovo's only public TV station, RTK, and the problems it has experienced.
Created before the existence of the parliament, but officially recognised as a product of the legislature, RTK has been struggling to fulfil its mission to serve the public.
In welcoming her guests, host Jeta Xharra stressed that RTK is prone to many problems. The debate revolved around two of the most debated and controversial: Why has parliament postponed the selection of the new board in RTK, for almost two years now, and what measures are needed to preserve the editorial independence of RTK, while serving the public interest?
Studio guests were:
Edita Tahiri, Member of the parliament
Jakup Krasniqi, speaker of Parliament of Kosovo
Vjosa Dobruna, head of the RTK board
Antonio Gashi, acting director of RTK Television
Ariana Qosaj-Mustafa, lawyer
An in-depth televised report by Muhamet Hajrullahu, which shed light on the history of RTK since its foundation in 1999, also brought up the heated discussions in the parliament concerning the broadcaster.
Though protected under law, the financial stability of RTK has never been secured. Each government has also been scrutinised concerning the level of editorial independence at RTK and the potential violation thereof.
When asked about the difference between "public" and "state" TV, Krasniqi said that the main difference is the way in which they approach different sectors of a certain society.
“So-called ‘state TV’, is more openly supportive and reports to governments and to those to whom they have to report,” said Krasniqi. On the other hand, public TV stations cover a wider range of topics and RTK, as such, serves Kosovo citizens, government and civil society, he said.
As stipulated under law, an ad hoc committee involving representatives of all parliamentary factions was established on May 27 to elect the new RTK board. However, this body has not come to any decision so far.
“It [committee] had not been completed and that is why it did not work properly,” said Krasniqi. He promised that, in the next parliamentary session, he would personally ask committee members to perform their legal duty vis-à-vis RTK.
MP Edita Tahiri admitted her share of responsibility for not taking the initiative or pushing more strongly on the issue of constituting a new RTK board. According to Tahiri, this issue has been around for two year, and the election of the new board is being held up primarily because of the ad-hoc committee's head and his lack of initiative.
“A number of members told me that the head of this group has never organised a meeting or called the members to discussion,” said Tahiri, adding, "as if this was not bad enough, it is expected that the same person will be head of the new group.”
Her criticism was directed towards Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuci, who headed the previous ad-hoc committee and was recently elected to lead the new parliamentary group.
According to Krasniqi, “it is logical” that Kuci lead the parliamentary group since he represents the largest political party in the parliament.
RTK board head Vjosa Dobruna - whose mandate technically expired in 2006 - expressed her concerns regarding the current situation and the way in which political institutions turned a blind eye to her request to elect a new board as soon as possible.
“The way in which parliament and institutions approach the public medium is a measuring tool for the level of democracy in this society and its institutions,” said Dobruna.
Gashi, on the other hand, said that the RTK should not be expected to fulfil everyone's needs. He said it is hard to do this on one channel with so many obligations toward minorities, including their representation in five languages. Gashi does not believe this means that RTK is biased.
“The reason why we insist on having the 3.5 euros policy is because we think that in this way we preserve our editorial independence,” said Gashi. Kosovo citizens pay a 3.5 euros broadcasting fee whenever they pay electricity bills through the Kosovo Electricity Company, KEK.
For Qosaj-Mustafa this agreement with the citizens seems to be legally binding, but this does not mean that the fee serves to protect RTK’s independence.
“This method of citizens paying directly to RTK does offer a sort of legal guarantee but there are certain political groups interfering in RTK,” she said.
Tahiri put under the spotlight the need for RTK, as the only public station, to have its own analysts. She believes this group should be contracted as external contributors by RTK and would be responsible for analyzing different political, social and economic developments.
In a separate section of the programme, Life in Kosovo touched on the issue of the close familial relationships of those employed by the broadcaster. For a long time, RTK has been criticised for nepotism.
“Nepotism is present everywhere, in all institutions, which does not mean that I am admitting that there is nepotism present in RTK,” said Gashi.
Dobruna said that, even if this problem does exist, the board was not informed.
“Most of them got married after they came to RTK,” she claimed
In conclusion, BIRN broadcast a Kosovo’s Son-in-Law segment, where the issue at hand was tackled in Son-in-Law’s typical style.
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