PRISTINA, 17.12.2016 – The Association of Journalists of Kosovo on Saturday launched the report on media freedom and safety of journalists – part of a regional project which included five countries in the region.

The report, “Indicators of the level of media freedom and safety of journalists” is performed on the basis of qualitative analysis of documents, qualitative interviews with 14 individuals – mostly journalists, on a survey with 50 journalists and based on official statistical data. The report is divided into three groups: A) The legal protection of freedom of media, B) The position of journalists in newsrooms, professional ethics and level of censorship, and C) Safety of journalists.

The national legislation provides guarantees for freedom of expression, media and information, but the overall assessment of all interviewed journalists and experts is that the implementation of such legal guarantees is weak in practice.

The law on access to public documents continues to be the law that it is not respect by the state institutions. According to the survey, 78% of journalists stated that state institutions have refused to give them access to public documents needed for their reporting. Journalists said that the Kosovo Assembly is more open and the government is less transparent.

Half of the surveyeed journalist’s said the economic situation for journalist’s is gettin worse and mentioned some issues affecting this such as lack of working contracts, unpaid by owners for several months, overtime work is not compensated. When it comes to the safety of journalists, they say that the justice system is not efficient in handling their cases when they are threatened or physically attacked. According to AJK, from 2014 until October 2016, they received 43 cases, most of these are threats and physical attacks. While, according to police statistics, from 2013 until August 2016, 63 journalists have reported their cases to the police.

The report recommends political parties to refrain from exercising influence on the public broadcaster. AJK also recommends that the Assembly should make an appropriate financial solution for RTK. This report presents the findings of the research conducted within the regional project Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for advocating media freedom and journalists’ safety, which is implemented by national journalists’ associations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Full report in English: http://safejournalists.net/resources/

Sarajevo,16.12.2016.-Završni izvještaj o monitoringu medija tokom predizborne kampanje za Lokalne  izbore 2016. kojeg je realizovala  Koalicija “Pod lupom” u saradnji sa Udruženjem BH novinari i i Agencijom Boram, predstavljen je danas u Sarajevu.  Istaknuto je da lokalni izbori nisu bili dovoljno zastupljeni u toku medijskog izvještavanja i da je nedostajalo kritičkog pristupa predizbornim temama.

„Možemo reći da su standardi fer, objektivnog i izbalansiranog izvještavanja uglavnom ispoštovani kod većine medija, te da nije bilo naročito izraženih oblika kršenja profesionalnih principa. Međutim, medijsko izvještavanje zadržalo se na nivou 5W (ko, šta, gdje, kada i kako), dok je izsotalo pojašnjavanje uzroka i posljedica.  Monitoring medija je utvrdio procenat od 14, 87 odsto  udjela izbornih u ukupnim sadržajima monitorisanih medija, što govori da javni interes ipak nije bio na prvom mjestu u medijskom izvještavanju“, kazala je Lejla Turčilo, voditeljica istraživanja.

Bojana Miodragović i Borislav Vukojević, saradnici na istraživanju, istakli su da je broj sadržaja o lokalnim izborima nedovoljan, da je dominirala politička agenda u medijima i da je izostalo kritičko osvrtanje na teme lokalnih izbora.

„U 90 odsto sadržaja nisu bile zastupljene žene i prisutno je stereotipno izvještavanje. Takođe, favoriziranje političkih lidera je bilo dominantno, a izostala je edukativna uloga medija. Ohrabrujući je podatak o smanjivanju govora mržnje“, kazala je Miodragović.

„Možemo reći da je svaki drugi sadržaj tretirao lokalne teme, međutim, tu su dominirali ceremonijalni događaji. Najveći udio u pojavljivanju u medijima imaju stranke SNSD, SDA i SDS. Druge političke opcije nisu ni približno bile zastupljene“, kazao je Vukojević. Dario Jovanović, direktor Koalicije „Pod lupom“, kazao je da političari zloupotrebljavaju medije u predizbornoj kampanji i da će zbog toga Koalicija „Pod lupom“ zagovarati izmjene zakonskog okvira na način da se ceremonijalni događaji zabrane u toku predizbornog perioda.

Monitorisano je 46 medija (štampanih (dnevne novine), elektronskih (javni RTV servis, te privatne i javne radio i TV stanice) i online (news portali)). Ukupan korpus monitoringa uključio je 37962 medijska proizvoda, od čega 19790 u štampi,  2648  na radiju,  7336  na TV i  8188 na web portalima.

Jedna od ključnih preporuka je da mediji, naročito javni, moraju pokazati veći interes za izvještavanje o izborima i više pažnje posvetiti lokalnim temama, te ih stavljati u fokus svog izvještavanja na način da prave konkretnije priče koje imaju analitičan pristup. Izvještaj o monitoringu medija biće predstavljen i u Banjaluci naredne sedmice nakon čega će biti održana ekspertska debata sa urednicima medija kako bi se predložile najbolje metode za izvještavanje u toku predizborne kampanje. Monitoring medija je proveden a uz finansijsku podršku USAID-a i Evropske unije.

ZAGREB, 15.12.2016. – Regional Network for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety strongly condemns attack against Croatian journalist Domagoj Margetic and urges the authorities to identify and penalize perpetrator as soon as possible.

According to Croatian Journalists’ Association, Margetic was attacked verbally and physically by unidentified male in the center of Zagreb on 13.12.2016. Margetic has been threatened and attacked before, but nobody has been found responsible yet.

Domagoj Margetic is a journalist investigating crime and corruption in Croatia and the editor of “No censorship“ show at TV Mreza. At the end of November he found graffiti at the entrance of the building he lives in saying “You are dead, you journalistic scum-bag“. Margetic received at least 4 serious threats in last three years and was beaten in front of that same building in summer 2014. Neither of perpetrators was found.

Regional Network urges Croatian police to find the perpetrators of the last one, as well as of previous attacks and threats against Margetic as soon as possible.

Croatian Journalists’ Association emphasizes that this attack is just one in the chain of attacks against journalists partly due to increasing intolerance in Croatian society and lack of adequate reaction of relevant institutions.

PRISTINA, 14.12.2016 – The Association of Journalists of Kosovo is deeply concerned with the information that journalist Senada Halimi that the daily newspaper “Zeri” has terminated her working contract after she reported about her pregnancy.

Journalist Halimi told AJK: “I was informed on 03.12.2016 that my contract is terminated. This happened few days after management find out that I am pregnant.”

Based on this, the AJK condemns the act of the daily newspaper “Zeri” as the decision of the management violates the Labour Law as well as other applicable laws in Republic of Kosovo. This is a direct discrimination based on gender and it is unacceptable.

Termination of the working contracts during the time of pregnancy should not be allowed to be turned into any form of lawful practice in our country. We expect from other organisations that deal with protection of human rights, in particular women’s rights, to condemn the act of daily “Zeri”.

For this case, based on the request of Senada Halimi we have informed that Labour Inspectorate and we expect from them a quick and fair decision.

We also encourage journalist Halimi to start legal procedures against the daily newspaper “Zeri”.

Sarajevo,12.12.2016.-Komisija za saobraćaj i komunikacije Predstavničkog doma parlamenta BiH danas je primila k znanju rang-listu Regulatorne agencije za komunikacije za članove Upravnog odbora Javnog radio-televizijskog servisa BiH /BHRT/ iz bošnjačkog, hrvatskog i srpskog naroda.

Primljen je k znanju i izvještaj s Konferencije o javnim medijima i demokratiji, održane 10. i 11. novembra u Pragu.

Imenovanje po jednog člana Upravnog odobra BHRT-a iz bošnjačkog hrvatskog i srpskog naroda na dnevnom je redu sjednice Predstavničkog doma BiH u srijedu, 14. decembra.

Sarajevo,16.12.2016.-Novinari na Zapadnom Balkanu su izloženi fizičkim i verbalnim napadima i prijetnjama, pritiscima vlasnika medija i političara, socijalno ugroženi, sa malim zaradama, često bez ugovora, nedovoljno snažnim udruženjima, slabim sindikatima i državama koje ne obezbeđuju poštovanje zakona, pokazalo je istraživanje sprovedeno u Srbiji, Bosni i Hercegovini, Makedoniji, Crnoj Gori i Kosovu.

Rezultati regionalnog istraživanja predstavljeni su na dvodnevnoj konferenciji „Sloboda medija i sigurnost novinara na zapadnom Balkanu“ u Beogradu 6. i 7. decembra, a u okviru projekta Regionalne platforme za zagovaranje medijskih sloboda i sigurnosti novinara. Detalje sa konferencije i rezultate istraživanja detaljnije pogledajte u specijalnom izdanju Dosijea o medijima kojeg objavljuje Nezavisna unija novinara Srbije.

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