ANEM: There is no place for pressure on independent media in Kosovo.

Our colleagues from professional and independent media, members of ANEM and others, have been working and reporting for years while adhering to the highest journalistic standards, all while being subjected to pressures, threats, and attacks. Statements about the "known media darkness in Kosovo and Metohija" do not contribute to an understanding of reality, nor do they recognize the results of the work of brave and professional journalists from the Kossev portal, Radio Goraždevac, Radio Kontakt plus, and other newsrooms. 

At the same time, we emphasize that during times of significant social change, ANEM firmly stands by its members, defends their right to editorial independence, and opposes any pressures on journalists and editors. We understand the letters received by certain newsrooms in Kosovo during the pre-election campaign as direct pressure on the media and on our colleagues who have worked professionally for all these years under difficult conditions and with compromised safety while respecting ethical standards.

We highlight that Serbian independent media in Kosovo have been under pressure from the ruling structures of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) for years, and we are surprised that the significance of our members and other professional media for timely and objective information for citizens is not recognized. ANEM has always fought for media freedoms, editorial independence, and respect for the journalistic code, and it intends to continue doing so. 

Therefore, we consider the reasoned statements of the editor-in-chief of the Kossev portal, Tanja Lazarević, who responds to the narrative about the alleged media darkness in Kosovo, to be very important:

“There were shootings at the newsrooms. Cars were set on fire, websites were taken down, and threats were issued. Journalists were publicly targeted, discredited, ostracized from their own community, and the pressures also affected their families. And we continued to work. We informed not only Serbs in Kosovo but also the public in central Serbia, the region, and the diaspora, as well as the international community.

We reported on electoral pressures, party hiring, blackmail, abuse of institutions, organized crime, attacks, murders, protests, the shutdown of Serbian institutions, propaganda, and deception.

We followed the murder of Oliver Ivanović, the political violence and ostracization from the community that preceded it, as well as questions of accountability that have not lost significance to this day.

With equal dedication, we followed the student protests in Serbia, from the tragedy at the Novi Sad railway station, through gatherings and blockades, to the elections on October 25. We recorded student demands, pressures, and messages of support from Kosovo. We welcomed students who came to Kosovo. We did not wait for the student movement to become victorious to give its participants and messages space in our reporting. At the same time, we documented the everyday lives of people who, behind the big political stories, were trying to live normally.” 

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)