31/03/2014

Prishtina, 31 March 2014 - Forum for Civic Initiatives (FIQ) and ACTIVE organized today a conference in Prishtina to announce the report: "Media coverage of peace, conflict and security issues - how objective and conflict-sensitive is the report for these matters? " which was done from INDEP, a member of the Forum for Security, with the contribution of local partner organizations of civil society, including those from the north of Kosovo. The purpose of this conference was to announce a report with the same title, and to discuss with relevant stakeholders, media, security institutions and civil society in Kosovo, citizen perceptions of conflict sensitivity and objectivity of media coverage on issues of peace, conflict and security in Kosovo.

The roundtable brought together representatives of institutions such as the Ministry of Kosovo Security Force, Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Kosovo Police, international organizations, including the OSCE, ICITAP, security analysts and civil society activists.
The report is the product of joint research of nine organizations, which in February, gathered together various civic groups in seven municipalities, including the north, to discuss media reports related to peace, conflict and security issues, and to see how objective and sensitive are they regarding conflict.

Highlights from roundtable discussions today include:

- Media aims to report as objective as possible, however this is often accompanied by sensational reporting, a trend to increased public attention

- There is a lack of profiled reporters covering mainly security issues, and those journalists often change, which affects the level of professionalism in reporting

- Media are proactive in tracking and reporting of important social developments, political and security, however editors/journalists of certain media, should be more involved in constructive debates like this today, directly targeting them, in order to increase quality of media reporting on relevant issues that affect citizens' perceptions of peace and security in Kosovo

- There are differences when it comes to how Albanians and Serbs in Kosovo perceive neutrality and objectivity of the media in reporting

- In general political climate in the country is crucial for the spirit and approach of media reports in sensitive cases.