OSCE Mission in Kosovo

The Mission supports the development of free, independent, unbiased and professional media in Kosovo, which is an integral component of any democratic society and helps foster public engagement in political and economic life, as well as promote dialogue and tolerance between different communities.

Public broadcaster

Kosovo’s public broadcaster, Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), was established in 1999 with considerable help by the OSCE. The Mission continues to monitor and advocate for the financial and editorial independence of the broadcaster, and advises its management. To help ensure that RTK is politically, financially and editorially independent and serves all communities in Kosovo, the Mission also supports Kosovo Assembly in reviewing the legal framework regulating the broadcaster’s operations.

Another important element is the broadcasting of programmes in non-Albanian languages. The Mission assists RTK improve such programmes, for instance by helping the broadcaster obtain material from local television stations reporting in community languages and by training journalists that report in other languages.

Investigative journalism

To develop investigative journalism in Kosovo, the Mission trains journalists on their legal rights and gives them guidelines on how to stay safe during their work. At the same time, it works with the media to help them abide by the highest ethical and professional standards. Via Kosovo’s Press Council, the Mission promotes self-regulation by Kosovo’s print and Internet media and, via the Independent Media Commission, supports the regulation of broadcast media.

News portals

News portals and other Internet media in Kosovo are still not subject to any formal regulation. While some Internet media have joined the press council as a self-regulatory mechanism, the Mission makes efforts to bring more Internet-based media outlets into this fold so they start applying professional reporting standards in line with Kosovo’s Press Code of Ethics.

Digital switchover

The International Telecommunications Union has set mid-2015 as deadline for a global digital switchover of broadcast media. The Mission helped the Independent Media Commission develop a strategy for the switchover and assists Kosovo’s institutions in reviewing the draft legislation on digitalization so that the IMC can implement the strategy more effectively and licencing procedures for digital media can be set up in advance.