Albania Journalists Condemn BIRN Kosovo Threats

The Tirana-based Albanian Union of Journalists has defended the ‘Life in Kosovo’ TV programme amid threats made to journalist Jeta Xharra, who heads the BIRN Kosovo team which produces the show.

In a statement on Friday, the union called on their colleagues in Kosovo to embrace the freedom of the media as a key component of a healthy democracy.

“We have been notified of the open attacks and pressure being put by people of our profession towards our colleague Jeta Xherra,” said Albanian Union of Journalists chief Aleksander Cipa in a statement.

“Such pressure and accusations step on her dignity as a human being and as a professional threat on journalism ethics,” he added.  

“Ethics among journalists is is an elementary norm for any media that wants to be professional.”  

Xharra is the director of BIRN Kosovo, which produces “Life in Kosovo,” aired weekly on public broadcaster RTK. Xharra also hosts this programme which dares to address controversial and even taboo topics.  

But in the last week a campaign waged by pro-government press targeting the programme has led to front-page headlines on the Infopress tabloid newspaper, stating “Jeta Xharra is an Agent of the Serbian Secret Police,” and calling for the programme to be taken off the air.

Two more editorials appeared in the Kosovar press on Friday criticising Xharra and the programme. Read more: Kosovo: Campaign against Journalist Continues

Infopress newspaper, which receives the lion’s share of government advertising revenues, has led the campaign with a series of inflammatory articles on Xharra and the programme, claiming they had set out to denigrate the Drenica region. Threatening emails followed, including death threats, and the newspaper itself published openly abusive and threatening letters from readers.

On Thursday, Infopress appeared to issue a death threat against Xharra, commenting: "Jeta has brought it upon herself to have a short life."

Non-governmental organisations have raised concerns about freedom of speech in Kosovo in an open letter in response to a campaign against Jeta Xharra.
 
In the open letter, released on June 4, nine NGOs and dozens of individuals expressed concern over the intensifying campaign against Xharra.

Regarding the attacks on Xharra, the NGOs wrote: “The increasingly common practice of Infopress asserting that particular individuals are ‘Serb spies’ is becoming a disturbing issue.”
 
The international community’s top envoy in Kosovo, Pieter Feith, and the EU’s External Relations Committee office in Pristina, RELEX Kosovo, have defended the show and press freedom in recent days.

More details on this story, including downloads of the transcript and reports from the show, can be found here: Kosovo: Journalist Under Fire

Read Casey Cooper Johnson’s blog on the threats by Infopress against Xharra and the BIRN Kosovo team, here: The Free Speech Terrorists