{"id":9403,"date":"2024-11-01T14:31:17","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T12:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/?p=9403"},"modified":"2024-11-01T16:29:05","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T14:29:05","slug":"refuzimi-i-mediave-te-pavarura-strategjia-e-albin-kurtit-per-kontrollim-te-narratives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/opinion\/refuzimi-i-mediave-te-pavarura-strategjia-e-albin-kurtit-per-kontrollim-te-narratives\/","title":{"rendered":"Dismissing Independent Media: Albin Kurti\u2019s Strategy to Control the Narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has largely avoided interviews with local media for a long time. Despite occasional media events, Kurti refuses interview requests by Kosovo media or any media that follows Kosovo closely.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This approach has raised concerns that the Kosovo government is attempting to control the narrative, presenting only its perspective without facing scrutiny or accountability from journalists or the public.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The government uses this approach for propaganda purposes to boost their support. According to a European Union official, speaking on background, \u201cthe main disinformation agent in Kosovo is the government itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kurti\u2019s media strategy seems particularly targeted at minorities. In a <\/span>recent video address<\/span><\/a> to the Harvard Albanian Students Association, Kurti made several comments about minority issues in Kosovo that did not reflect the reality on the ground.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kurti is right, when he says, that Kosovo\u2019s strong constitutional protections for minority rights are enshrined in its constitution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, he remains silent on his government\u2019s human rights violations, especially against the Kosovo Serb community and never mentions the <\/span>illegal expropriation of land<\/span><\/a> in Serbian communities or the excessive force reportedly used by both the regular police and special police units in the north, or even the illegal signage in the north.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Last weekend, a Kosovo Serb lawyer, Milos Subotic, was <\/span>arrested and allegedly beaten<\/span><\/a> by police while walking home with his wife from a celebration. He claims he was moving bags blocking a walkway in front of an Albanian-owned store.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, police charged him with vandalism, denied the beating and claimed he resisted arrest. According to Subotic, he was never allowed to call a lawyer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead of insisting on an investigation, government officials simply claimed nothing was wrong and the mayor of North Mitrovica <\/span>said<\/span><\/a> that NGOs who spoke out against Subotic\u2019s treatment never spoke out against Serb cars being burned or against \u201cterrorist\u201d organizations in the north.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Police Inspectorate <\/span>recommended<\/span><\/a> suspending two officers in the case. The Prime Minister has yet to make a statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kurti also refuses to implement the Association\/Community of Serb-Majority Municipalities, a commitment Kosovo made in 2013 in Brussels and again in 2023 in Ohrid, North Macedonia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He tends to avoid discussing this topic and often pushes back when journalists bring it up. Recently, the Prime Minister responded to questions on the matter, <\/span>saying:<\/span><\/a>\u201cPlease, do not put the cart before the horse; the Association cannot be made a priority. This is Belgrade's point of view.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He then went on to instruct and lecture journalists in Prishtina about what kind of questions to ask.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever we discuss relations with Serbia, I kindly ask you to frame your questions differently. Don\u2019t talk about the dialogue without referencing the basic agreement, and don\u2019t talk about the Association without acknowledging the basic agreement,\u201d <\/span><\/i>he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bullying journalists and implying that asking not to be questioned in the \u201cwrong way\u201d or the \u201cBelgrade style\u201d is not democratic but authoritarian.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A journalist could also ask the Kosovo government\u2019s spokesperson <\/span>why he insists<\/span><\/a> on saying the government meets with Serbs. In fact, this government has never met with any Serb civil society groups about the policy approach in the north.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Vetevendosje\u2019s whip, Mimoza Kusari-Lila, is the only government official to hold meetings with any Kosovo Serb representatives including with, Milan Radoicic, a known criminal sanctioned by the U.S. and who has claimed responsibility for the Banjska attack in September 2023. We only know about these meetings through <\/span>leaked phone recordings<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Kosovo government is unwilling to be held accountable by the media and, by extension, its constituents. Regardless of the government\u2019s <\/span>lack of transparency<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>shutdown threats<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>repressive media law<\/span><\/a> and other offenses against the media; journalists must do more to fact-check government and police statements and push back against government disinformation.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kryeministri i Kosov\u00ebs, Albin Kurti, n\u00eb mas\u00eb t\u00eb madhe, p\u00ebr nj\u00eb koh\u00eb t\u00eb gjat\u00eb, i ka shmangur intervistat n\u00eb mediat vendore. P\u00ebrve\u00e7 ndonj\u00eb ngjarjeje t\u00eb rast\u00ebsishme mediatike, Kurti i ka refuzuar k\u00ebrkesat p\u00ebr intervist\u00eb nga mediat kosovare, ose mediat q\u00eb i ndjekin p\u00ebr s\u00eb af\u00ebrmi zhvillimet n\u00eb Kosov\u00eb.\u00a0 Kjo qasje ka ngritur shqet\u00ebsime se Qeveria […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":8955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[677,972,624,976,1603,1001],"ppma_author":[27],"class_list":["post-9403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-albin-kurti","tag-kosove","tag-kryesore","tag-media","tag-mediat-e-pavarura","tag-qeveria-e-kosoves"],"authors":[{"term_id":27,"user_id":17,"is_guest":0,"slug":"bronwyn-jones","display_name":"Bronwyn Jones","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2-2.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/2-2.jpg"},"user_url":"","last_name":"Jones","first_name":"Bronwyn","description":"Bronwyn Jones is a writer, editor and media practitioner who currently is the Executive Director of New Perspektiva a media NGO that highlights the issues of majority-minority relationships in Kosovo."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9403"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9414,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9403\/revisions\/9414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9403"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbunker.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=9403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}