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MEDIA IN
KOSOVO
I. Kosovo
rebel radio, press agency said to be in operation.
The
Pristina-based Albanian-language daily ‘Kosova
Sot’ said [on 5th January] that yesterday afternoon
the [ethnic Albanian rebel] news agency Kosova Press and
the Slobodno Kosovo radio station began operating
throughout the territory controlled by the Kosovo
Liberation Army [KLA].
According to
‘Kosova Sot,’ these services were inaugurated
by the KLA’ s department for public information in
the presence of members of the rebel General Staff, Jakup
Krasniqi, Rano Buja and Adem Grabovici. . . .
However,
correspondents in Kosovo say they have received no
confirmation that this radio station is actually
broadcasting.
Radio B92, Belgrade,
January 5, 1999
II. Tanjug
report attacks Kosovo rebels’ media.
Albanian state
television is probably the only media house in the world
which has become an official organ of terrorists,
carrying statements by the so-called Kosovo Liberation
Army (OVK [in Serbo-Croat, UCK in Albanian]—an
ethnic Albanian terrorist organization), promoting their
separatist goals, such as the independence of
Serbia’s Kosovo and Metohija Province—which are
strongly condemned by the international community.
[On 3rd January]
Albanian TV broadcast a statement by the alleged
headquarters of ethnic Albanian terrorists that the
so-called OVK was founding a news agency and radio
station.
It is evidently
not enough to the terrorists that Albanian state
television is their official media. They have
already given bombastic names to their agency and radio
station which clearly demonstrate their intention—to
spread the fallacy about some allegedly already existent
Albanian state in the territory of this southern Serbian
province.
The news agency
has been named Kosova Press and the radio station Kosova
e Lire, or Free Kosova.
[The] news of the
setting up of the agency and radio station has attracted
the attention of world media, and the US news agency
Associated Press [AP] concluded that Kosovo Albanian
terrorists did this “in a move to reinforce their
independent image” and to distance “the rebels
further from moderate Albanian leaders.”
Some media wonder
how the terrorists plan to inaugurate a radio station
when they still have no frequency, and others ask where
they got the financial backing for all this.
No-one wonders,
however, what kind of programmes the radio station will
broadcast, or what reports the news agency will send out,
as this is all quite clear to everyone by now.
Ethnic Albanian
separatists have been long present on the world media
stage. Their representative offices in Western
Europe regularly distribute information bulletins and
send them out to numerous addresses, from media to
individuals. In this, they do not hesitate to use
impermissible means, such as is the case at the Geneva UN
headquarters, where they occasionally smuggle in their
bulletins and distribute them to countless correspondents
and diplomats.
Ethnic Albanian
terrorists are now evidently intent on expanding their
terrorist activities from the field to the media.
They have practically already realized part of grossly
ignoring international norms and the United Nations
Charter. It is really hard to find a similar
example of such activities by any other country in the
world in more recent history.
Tanjug news agency,
Belgrade, January 4, 1999
III. Kosovo
rebels outline aims of Free Kosova radio.
The Kosova
Liberation Army [UCK] General Staff has announced in a
communique that, as required by the duty to provide
accurate, objective, timely and complete information for
the Albanian and world public, it has been decided to set
up the Kosova Press news agency and the Free Kosova
[Kosova e Lire] radio station.
The news agency
will start work on 4th January, and the Free Kosova radio
station will also start on the same day.
In this way, the
communique states, we will start to articulate the
authentic voice of the Albanian people of Kosova and
their desire for freedom and independence. This
marks a start to the first free, independent state media
in Kosova in the territory controlled by our glorious
army. We are aware that hard and bloody fighting
against the barbaric enemy await our people and the UCK,
and this will face us with major difficulties.
However, the voice of freedom and independence, the voice
of truth and justice, and the voice of the guns of
freedom will give us the strength and courage to be even
more mobilized, organized and determined to carry out the
tasks the times have entrusted to us on the road of
honour and sacrifice for freedom and the homeland.
The proper
expression of the voice of the liberation struggle, of
our successes on the front of the struggle for freedom
and independence, and all other national activities
connected to our people’s efforts for liberation
will be only one aspect of our media, whether on the
airwaves or in the press.
The communique
appeals to those who use the articles of the Kosova Press
news agency and the broadcasts of the Free Kosova radio
station to support us in these serious and proud moments,
because in this way we will support the efforts of the
people and the army for freedom, independence and
democracy.
The UCK General
Staff wishes every success to the Public Information
Directorate and the staff of the Kosova Press news agency
and the Free Kosova radio station at the start of 1999.
Our team in
Tirana also hopes that this news agency and the Free
Kosova radio station will become mouthpieces of the
struggle waged by the people of Kosova led by the UCK for
the realization of our age-old aspirations to live in
freedom and unity on our own soil.
Albanian TV, Tirana,
January 3, 1999
IV. Serbia
moves to crack down on Kosovo media.
The Serbian
Information Ministry [on 17th December] warned five
[Kosovo] Pristina-based Albanian-language dailies to
bring their editorial policies “into line with the
Serbian media law” or face criminal charges.
The ministry
informed these papers that a close look at their texts
“revealed that they blatantly encourage terrorism,
call for a violent overthrow of the constitutional order
and try to undermine the territorial integrity and
independence of Serbia and the FRY. They
violate people’s and citizens’ guaranteed
liberties and rights and provoke national or religious
intolerance and hatred.”
The papers
receiving the warning were ‘Koha Ditore,’
‘Bujku,’ ‘Zeri i Dites,’ ‘Fjala
Jone’ and ‘Koha’.
“We warn you
that you are obliged to bring your editorial policies
immediately into line with the provisions of the media
law. If not, we will be forced to resort to the
measures prescribed by law . . . [agency ellipsis], that
is, in cases in which a criminal act or offence
stipulated by the law has been noted, we will press
criminal charges with the incumbent public prosecutor,
that is, file a report on the offence with the incumbent
office,” the Serbian Information Ministry warned.
As Radio
Television Serbia [RTS] reports, the ministry concluded
“that a substantial number of Albanian-language
media are not in the public media register. The
ministry has instructed them to register as soon as
possible.”
Beta news agency,
Belgrade, December 17, 1998
V. Kosovo
newspaper editor to ignore Serbian media law.
Veton Surroi,
chief editor of the Pristina Albanian-language daily
‘Koha Ditore,’ said tonight that the paper
would not change its editorial policy.
“We will
continue to work as we have so far,” Surroi told
Beta in Pristina.
The Serbian
Information Ministry [on 17th] warned five Pristina
Albanian-language dailies that they must
“harmonize” their editorial policies with the
Serbian “media law,” or face criminal or
misdemeanour charges. . . .
“This is a
comprehensive statement which targets media that have not
even started publishing,” Surroi said.
As an example, he
mentioned the Pristina weekly ‘Zeri i Dites,’
in which, according to him, “(Serbian Information)
Minister (Aleksandar) Vucic saw texts that violate the
state’s integrity.”
“I knew that
there were some far-sighted people in the Serbian
government, but not that far-sighted. Since they
see things in newspapers that have not even been
published yet, then what we do does not matter, so we
will continue as we did before,” Surroi said.
Beta news agency,
Belgrade, December 17, 1998
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