PRISTINA, 23.12.2018 – One of the challenges of the modern world is facing the fight against “false news” or “fake news”. The inexistent news usually appears in the events of great interest to the public or on the verge of them. This is because the media use the big curiosity of the mass for various benefits. During the time of the last US elections, a large number of “False News” come from the Macedonian city of Veles. This news was created by a group of teenagers. One of them stated that during this time he earned about € 1,800 a month. Because of the great benefits, these kinds of untold news were spread all over the world.

Fake news also in Kosovo

During May of this year, correct reporting, a large number of false news came from the banks of the Lepenc River, where as a result of an accident, two Kosovo Police officers had fallen into the river. The great public curiosity caused the news to be in the media for ten days in a row. In addition to ethical violations during the reporting, this case was covered by many “false news” or “fake news” that was produced especially by portal journalists.

Sadat Kalisi from Hani i Elezit is one of many citizens who became prey to this news. He says that for the first time at that time he faced the false news.

“I personally was among the citizens who voluntarily joined the search for two police officers in the Lepenc River. It has been one of the most vulnerable cases since the end of war in our district, so I think it has caused that any news we read to take for granted. But from those reports for the first time I become prey to false news. It was rumored that one of the police officers was found, and for a few minutes it was known that this news was fake. I think the families of two police officers have been damaged most by these kind of news”, Kalisi stated.

During that time, in some portals you could often read the news that one of the police officers was found, while in reality the search in field were not yielding any results. Those at the scene of event could see the truth on one hand and on the other hand to keep the fake news on the portals. Within this news, there was not even a single confirmation, since all the information was based on alleged sources of media and title, and after a few minutes it was understood that it was “Fake News”.

Why do we become prey of “fake news ” and how should this problem be resolved ?

Professor of the University of Pristina, Lindita Tahiri, says the phenomenon of fake news is closely related to how the recipient accepts the message.

“Fake news is related to the awareness of how we approach the messages we receive from the media and the need to develop critical thinking about the media content. Fake news is prevented by the development of logical argumentation, creativity and critical thinking so that individuals are properly informed and able to participate as responsible citizens in the development of democratic society”, says Professor Tahiri.

The media view is a factor, which, according to Tahiri, should not be neglected when talking about this kind of news.

“Individuals should know that all media are constructed and contain certain values and views. People should use their skills, beliefs and experiences to construct their meanings from media messages; media and media messages can affect beliefs, views, values, behaviors, and democratic processes”, said Tahiri.

According to sociologist Besim Gollopeni, low education of the mass is the main factor that enables fake news to have such a huge impact.

“The rapid development of technology in general and the Internet in particular has enabled the society to have permanent access to multidimensional placement and receiving information, making this information in some cases professionally unfiltered or “Fake News”. Naturally, “Fake News” or “False News” have a multidimensional impact on the broad mass of society in certain moments and places. The most common victim of false news are uninformed citizens, mainly with low educational levels, lack of social, psychological and economic stability,” Gollopeni notes.

Gollopeni further says that there should be a greater control especially of portals because in most cases it is unknown who is behind the writing or who is leading a certain online media.

“False news from anyone and from wherever they come, are aimed at convincing the citizen and material benefit from the citizens. Among the concrete actions to be taken in preventing the fake news are: the recording of print and online media by the relevant institutions, the identification and registration of the administrators of various informative sites and the imposition of punitive legal measures” Gallopeni added among others.

Unlike the sociologist, professor of journalism Faton Ismajli, sees the solution of the problem with false news through the media education.

“Suzanne Nossel, a human rights activist, describes the best the recipe to protect against the epidemic of fake news. She says we need to educate consumers to build their skills to protect themselves. So, media education, whether formal (educational institutions) or through informal education through the organization of roundtables and trainings for social groups, ranging from teachers to professors to continue with the education of parents, students and other social categories”, Ismajli said.

According to Ismajli, the education of all categories is necessary, because not only citizens become prey of fake news but also the media itself.

“The comments on social networks at satirical portals clearly show that a large part of the readers have no idea that there is a journalism to make fun. A satirical portal wrote that a publicist “had demanded the removal of Skanderbeg from Pristina as he is not a Kosovar” became a “reliable” information for thousands of commentators in the FB, even for some media, to publish it as a true news. So, educating social groups about the use of the media, for verifying information would be vital to avoid this impact. Like any work that starts with one step, one step forward, and media education on fake news should go a step further to keep up with other steps to fight fake news every day, “said Ismajli.

As far as the legal aspect is concerned, in the Republic of Kosovo there is a Civil Law against Defamation and Insult, which in Article 4, paragraph 1, states that any person may demand to stop the defamation through a court proceeding and seek compensation for the damage caused.

“A person has the right to demand to stop the defamation and insult and to demand that it will not be repeated in the future, the refutation of defamatory or insulting information concerning his/her person and compensation for moral and material damage caused by the defamation and insult,” reads article.

But many times over the past few years, there has been a need for greater regulation on the Kosovo media scene and greater control over media owners, how and by whom they are founded, and who is behind them. Much of the media is created for certain period of time by often producing fake news for certain interests of someone without giving responsibility first to the audience and then even before the law.

Author: Valmir Gallopeni

This article is a production of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo under the project “Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists Safety”, funded by the European Union. The content of this publication can in no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

SKOPJE, 21.12.2018 – The Association of Journalists of Macedonia, in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Skopje, distributed protective equipment, such as protective vests and caps for journalists and photo-reporters reporting from high-risk events.

The protective equipment was provided within the project implemented by AJM and the OSCE Mission to Skopje during the last year, and in the next few weeks the Association will ensure that almost every media in the country that sends journalists to cover high risk events will receive protective equipment.

The President of the Association of Journalists of Macedonia, Mladen Chadikovski, spoke at the event and expressed gratitude to the OSCE for the support it gives to the AJM in the fight for greater safety of journalists. “Last year seven workshops were organized, five of which were in the smaller cities of the country and two in Skopje, and they were attended by over 100 journalists and members of the police,” said Chadikovski. He said that in addition to the trainings, a manual was published this year, which will serve for better understanding between the police and journalists in order to have a better informed public and safe journalists. Chadikovski said that there should be greater cooperation with the OSCE in the future as there is still a lot of work to do in order to improve the situation with the freedom of the media and the safety of journalists.

In addition to providing safety equipment for journalists, a free telephone helpline for reporting threats against journalists and media workers was promoted at the event. It will function in the next two years within the cooperation between the Independent Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers (SSNM) and the OSCE Mission to Skopje.

The deputy head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje, Jeff Goldstein, said that any journalist who faces a threat or danger or finds himself in an undesirable situation will be able to contact the trained operators and receive guidance on how to protect, and how to report the attack.

“Today we present you the safety vests and protective caps for journalists that we have provided to AJM who will distribute them to journalists and media in order for them to be at least a little bit more secure and clearly marked as representatives of journalism,” he said.

The President of SSNM, Dzvezdan Georgievski said that part of the workers’ rights of journalists is to work in appropriate conditions, without threats and intimidation. “It is crucial for our colleagues to provide assistance when faced with any kind of violence,” he said. He added that when journalists report an attack on the free telephone line (0800-11-011), the Trade Union will not only register the attack, but it will provide assistance related to reporting the violence to the relevant institutions, will provide advice on how to defend themselves in the given situation, how to respond to intimidation, etc.

BELGRADE, 21.12.2018. – The freedom of the press in Serbia is at a very low level and has been continuously falling for years, the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia concluded in a study, which also says that state officials do not understand the role of journalists in society and that they rarely and selectively condemn attacks on members of the media.

The study, called The Indicators of the Level of Media Freedoms and Security of Journalists 2018, was presented at a conference in Belgrade. Ministry of Culture and Information secretary of state Aleksandar Gajovic attended, and said that the safety of journalists in Serbia was guaranteed by the Constitution and media laws and that his ministry condemned all attacks on members of the press.

The author of the study, Marija Vukasovic, said that, since the beginning of the year, a total of 93 cases of attacks and instances of pressure on journalists were recorded, but that the actual number of attacks was higher and that two more cases were being worked on.

She said that, since 2016, a total of 70 cases of pressure and attacks on journalists by public officials were registered, and that the situation was most dire on the local level.

The study said that journalists had been working in difficult conditions for a long time, that they were under constant pressure which was no longer direct, and that “journalists know in advance what they are allowed to write and what they are not.”

Gajovic reiterated several times that “the time when fists were used to talk is over” and that he opposed all use of force.

OSCE mission chief in Serbia Andrea Orizio said that the torching of journalist Milan Jovanovic’s house had sounded the alarm and was a case study of which path Serbia would choose.

He pointed out that journalists in Serbia “are constantly paying a high price,” and that the murders of journalists in the 1990s had not been solved yet, and said crimes against representatives of the media “must not go unpunished.”

“Politicians and all other actors cannot intimidate journalists and must condemn violence at every moment. This is very important for an open dialog,” Orizio said.

He lauded work being done on a new media strategy and stressed that it was crucial that all relevant journalist societies be included in it, as, he said, the strategy “is not a totem, but a tool” for creating a better media environment.

“It looks like the authorities are acting with greater speed, there is progress, but there is still a lot of work to be done. We must make this process irreversible and reach concrete results,” Orizio said.

Independent Journalist Society deputy president and editor of the Kikindske weekly Zeljko Bodrozic said that the poor freedom of the press was the result of the authorities’ influence on the media and editorial policy, due to which it was necessary to advance cooperation with institutions.

The Independent Journalist Association of Serbia will publish the full study in Serbian and in English at www.safejournalists.net.

SARAJEVO, 19.12.2018. –  In two and a half years of project implementation, the Consortium organized 18 events, involving more than 500 journalists, editors, media owners, government representatives, the advertising industry and the academic community, the international community and the civil sector.  A media campaign was lead  in which 3 TV and 5 radio shows were published, 4 radio bridges, 13 advertising contents and over 100 thematic and analytical texts, 15 editions of the E- jorunalists newsletter and more than 300 media reports on the activities of the Consortium.

Draft laws regulating the media ownership transparency, pluralism of information and the advertising market in Bosnia and Herzegovina were presented at the final conference of the project “Media and public credibility”.

Unlike the EU countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina has not yet had a comprehensive law on advertising or has in any way solved the issue of transparency of media ownership and media pluralism. The existing laws and regulations, which primarily regulate other areas, only partly relate to the area of media advertising and the financing of the media by public money, are not harmonized across the territory of the state of BiH, and in some segments and in practice they act even contradictory.

Media expert from the NGO JaBiHEU Samra Lučkin emphasized that the intention of the drafters is to provide the public with better and more objective information, more free media coverage, protection of journalists in the performance of tasks, and the media to fight equally on the market and ultimately increase the income.

“Laws also provide recommendations for strengthening self-regulation measures. Not only in terms of the Press Council, the Codex, but also in self-regulation in the advertising industry, which will include the media, advertisers and agencies themselves”, considers Lučkin.

Program menager of EU in BiH Vladimir Pandurević pointed out that these two laws are the result of efforts of the work of CSO’s and , and that media practicals who know the best what is necessary in media sector in BiH participated in the process.

„Public Credibility of Media carries the burden of society, which means – as society as media. There is room for improvement, but first you have to work in society. Two new laws should introduce European standards in the field of media, “Pandurevic said, adding that we do not have anything to do to get them even before entering the EU if they are quality and better than what we currently have.

Attorney at Law and Expert of Council of Europe from Zagreb Vesna Alaburić, who worked on the Draft Law on Transparency of Media Ownership, said that in the context of transparency of ownership, it is very important for the public to notify the media ownership in order to assess the information obtained but also the biggest problem is portals.

„The overall financial market situation on the media market is simply not good enough to ensure the stable operation of media publishers, and if they can not work positively, then the working conditions of journalists and the space of their freedom are not big enough.“-said Alaburić.

President of UMI (Media Industry Association)  and the director of HAYAT TV Elvir Švrakić emphasized the media owners themselves are unknown to public, nor is it known why they work or whether they have interests in editorial policy – which makes it is clear why these laws are needed.

„When adopting and enforcing laws, the media will increase its reputation in this society, which is disrupted by the appearance of a fake media that breaches professionalism.“, said  Švrakić.

Minister of Traffic and Communications of BiH, Ismir Jusko emphasized the importance of the cooperation of state institutions and NGO’s in bringing special state solution, and the proof of this are draft laws that are the draftzpresented today.

–”These laws will change a lot in the media and the ministry is actively involved in drafting the law, but we do not know whether other political factors will ultimately agree and can not influence it, but we hope the law will get support“, said Jusko emphasizing that everything that is productive and can have a positive outcome on the ground should be supported.

Draft law on media transparency ownership and protection of media pluralism in BiH and Draft Law on Advertising in BiH should be submitted to the parliamentary procedure in the forthcoming period.

Project “Media and public reputation” was started in 2016. with a goal to promote media ownership transparency and legitimate forms of media and advertising funding in BiH. The project was funded by the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina, co-funded by the Embassy of the United States of America in BiH, and was implemented by a consortium comprised of the BH Journalists Association , the Media Centar Foundation, the Press Council in BiH and the NGO JaBiHEU. The project is ends on December 24, 2018.