The role of the news media is essential in democracy-building processes. Kosovo faces precisely that challenge. The news media should promote social reconstruction of Kosovo as a multi-national and democratic community, a community with the highest standards of protecting minority and human rights. After years of repression, and suppression of independent Albanian-language news media, conditions exist that will enable their revival, media pluralism, and articulation of the role of the news media in supporting democratic processes in Kosovo.

We are witnessing a media explosion in Kosovo -- new outlets appear almost daily, radio and TV stations included. With their rules and regulations on the media, the U.N. Mission in Kosovo and "the media ministry" -- the OSCE Office -- are trying to establish order, promote the professional experience of more developed communities and set rules of ethics for journalists.

There is an ongoing debate on the media rules announced by Bernard Kouchner. People warning of the restrictive provisions of the Kouchner Decree are louder than those pointing out the reasons for its adoption. Kosovo's media organizations are like children in a day care center who become unruly as soon as their supervisor leaves the room, believing that they can have whatever they please, that what they do will never be detected. How else can one interpret the fact that a race has began among the Kosovo media for discovering war criminals, publishing charges, and issuing wanted posters.

In this the example of the daily Dita is very illustrative. Without any evidence whatsoever, this newspaper accused UNMIK employee Petar Topoljski of have been a member of Serb paramilitary forces that abused, beat, and persecuted ethnic Albanians during the NATO attack. Several days later, Topoljski was abducted, and his mutilated body was discovered shortly afterwards. This made Kouchner angry, though it was not the first instance in which a Kosovo paper published a wanted poster, attacked journalists or harassed people belonging to a different ethnic community.

Dita was banned for eight days, only to later republish the same article it was banned for, going on to accuse two Serbs (who had left Kosovo), and publishing a wanted poster for 15 Serbs whom it said had committed war crimes against Albanians. Father Sava Janjic said at a session of the Kosovo Transitional Council that among those charged there are Christian Orthodox priests as well. That same day someone fired shots at a priest of the Serb Christian Orthodox Church in the village of Klokot. This could have been a coincidence, but then, it may have not.

I am and have always been against repression targeting the news media and against all types of bans, but I would also like to quote here Hegel's dictum that "by choosing his deed, man chooses his punishment as well." This applies to all men, journalists and the media alike. The issue of responsibility for a publicly uttered word cannot be resolved once and for all by decrees and prohibitions. More efficient methods are in order, as well as a long process of educating journalists for participation in democratic processes, for non-violent communication, for respecting the principles of the profession.

To understand the Kosovo media situation news media should be first classified, at least roughly. There are Albanian-language media which target the majority population. Since the arrival of UNMIK, over thirty radio and TV stations were opened, numerous weeklies and several daily papers. Every Kosovo Albanian has access to information. There are substantial differences among these media organizations, but that is the subject of another analysis.

Furthermore, there are news media intended for ethnic minorities. Thus the Serbian-language newspaper Novo Jedinstvo is still published, it editorial policies, unfortunately, remaining unchanged and quite recognizable. The Serbs have opened over 15 radio stations, and only in the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, eight radio stations are seeking a broadcasting permit, in Leposavic three and in Zubin Potok two. The regime in Belgrade runs radio stations in Gracanica, Strpce, Zvecan, and elsewhere. Also, TV S has been moved from Pristina to Kosovska Mitrovica. At the insistence of the U.S. administration, the Serb National Council will also start a radio station of its own. Radio 160, based in Caglavica, run by Momcilo Trajkovic, has been looted and destroyed by unknown perpetrators. Before that a private radio station in Gracanica had its equipment destroyed.

It is clear that most of these stations are polluting the air waves by their primitive editorial policies, and very few among them have any news or other political programs. There are no trained journalists capable of producing serious programs, and the problems exist in the area of staff is well illustrated by the fact that the editor in chief of Bishop Artemije's radio will be a journalist from Kraljevo who has nothing to do with Kosovo. Under such circumstances can these radio stations be expected to be anything but advocate of political extremism that would further deepen the current Serb divisions in Kosovo?

The Bosniaks also have their news media, that is, the weekly newspaper Avaz, the Turks cooperate with local radio stations, the Goranians have their local radio station in Dragas, and the Roma station Glas Roma is rebroadcast on Radio Contact. As of recently, they also have an hour per week on Radio Contact and the Contact Plus radio station, based in Kosovska Mitrovica, which is the only Serb radio with a news program. In addition, Contact Plus broadcasts in Serbian, has an ambitious group of young journalists on its staff, rebroadcasts Radio B2-92, and the Serbian programs on the BBC and Deutsche Welle, while also broadcasting its own news program every hour. The Serb National Council of Kosovska Mitrovica (Ivanovic, Jaksic) has applied for a permit to start a radio station called Most.

Despite all these figures, however, the devastating truth is that members of ethnic communities live in an informational darkness, with only a ray or two filtering through here and there.

The third category of news media in Kosovo are so-called international news media. These are mainly radio stations started by UNMIK and (particularly) KFOR, whereas the latter also publishes the paper Dialogue, in English, Serbian and Albanian. KFOR radio stations exist in all larger towns in Kosovo, they broadcast music and news in Albanian and Serbian, and in the language of the battalion in charge of the particular area, but they are not too popular with the local population. UNMIK founded Blue Sky radio in Pristina, whereas the OSCE is behind Kosovo Radio and Television (RTK), the future media backbone of the province. The programming of these radio stations is fair, professional and broadcast both in Albanian and Serbian, and occasionally in Turkish (RTK, for instance, has a separate program for the Turkish ethnic community).

The fourth category comprises local news media with a multi-ethnic concept, the so-called alternative media. They are attempting to promote a sustainable multi-ethnic community, support democratic processes, pursue independent editorial policies, and are fully independent and objective. The most significant among them is Radio Contact, from Pristina, but it is not the only one with programs in Albanian, Turkish, and Serbian (there are similar stations in Prizren and Kosovska Kamenica).

It is clear that this analysis cannot offer complete accuracy; it more of a survey of the state of affairs in the information sector. What Kosovo truly lacks today are news organizations that could establish dialogue between the majority and Kosovo's minorities, that would serve as a bridge to exchange information and facilitate democratic processes. Will Koha Ditore, for example, one day have an edition in Serbian?

On the one hand it is necessary to draw up codes for the profession and laws, and on the other to introduce rules that would bring order to the information sector. This would create conditions for unhindered development of news media. When that takes place, it will no longer be necessary to compete for readers through illegal means and by publishing groundless charges, supporting ethnocentrism and advocating national extremism. Conditions should be created for quality, objectivity, and professionalism to have a decisive say.

(The author is chairman of Kontant, a regional independent news media network that includes the weekly Odgovor, the Belgrade-based NVO Glasnik, Radio 021 from Novi Sad, Radio Contact from Pristina, Radio Contact Plus from Kosovska Mitrovica, Radio Kontakt from Banjaluka, and Radio Dunav from Vukovar.)

July 2000