Media Freedom Deteriorated in Europe Amid Pandemic, Report Warns

Reporters Without Borders, RSF, released its annual Press Freedom Index report on Tuesday with a warning that media freedom has deteriorated across the world during the coronavirus pandemic, with governments using the crisis to assert more control over the press.

In 2020, there was a “dramatic deterioration in people’s access to information and an increase in obstacles to news coverage”, the RSF report says.

“The coronavirus pandemic has been used as grounds to block journalists’ access to information sources and reporting in the field,” it adds.

The situation deteriorated significantly in some countries in Central and South East Europe in 2020, says the report, which ranks 180 countries around the world according to their level of media freedom, evaluating media pluralism, independence from government, national legislation and how safe journalists are in each country.

In Hungary (92nd out of 180, down three positions from RSF’s 2019 rankings), independent media came under attack in 2020 from Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, which “continued to extend its hegemony over the Hungarian media landscape and inspire other European countries such as Slovenia and Poland”, according to the report.

Legislation passed to criminalise disinformation about the pandemic “threatened journalists with prosecution on charges of disseminating fake news and ‘blocking the government’s anti-pandemic efforts’ and imposed additional curbs on their already limited access to state-held information”.

Poland (down two positions at 64th), Slovenia (down four at 36th), Czechia (in the same position at 40th) and Slovakia (down two at 35th) suffered some of the same problems.

“After consolidating its control of the state broadcast media, the government [in Poland] is pursuing its ‘repolonisation’ of the privately-owned media with the declared goal of influencing their editorial policies or, in other words, censoring them,” the RSF report says.

The situation is possibly worse in the Balkans, according to the report.

“The various press freedom violations have contributed to a sharp deterioration in the EU/Balkans Abuses indicator. Acts of violence have more than doubled in the region, compared with a 17% deterioration worldwide,” it says.

In Serbia (in the same position at 93rd), President Aleksandar Vucic’s administration is setting an example for other countries in the region with increasing government control on the media, daily verbal attacks on journalists and legislation to limit press freedom during the pandemic.

“Serbia is a country with weak institutions that is prey to fake news spread by government-backed sensational media, a country where journalists are subjected to almost daily attacks that increasingly come from the ruling elite and pro-government media,” the report says.

“The government used the coronavirus crisis to pass draconian legislation – later repealed – under which journalist Ana Lalic was held overnight in a cell in April 2020 after being arrested at her home for a report about a local hospital,” it adds.

The government of Albania (up one position at 83rd) took control of two independent TV channels on the grounds that their owner had been charged with drug trafficking, while in Montenegro (up one at 104th), investigative reporter Jovo Martinovic has continued to be prosecuted on allegedly trumped-up charges.

In Bosnia (in the same position at 58th) and Kosovo (down eight at 78th), media remain divided along ethnic lines, like most other institutions in both countries. The report notes that nationalistic discourse increased in 2020, creating a hostile environment for press freedom.

In Croatia (up three at 56th), journalists who investigate corruption, organised crime or war crimes are often subjected to harassment campaigns, according to the report.

RSF notes that in North Macedonia (up two at 90) senior government officials continued to threaten and insult media outlets, while cyber-harassment and verbal attacks against journalists increased on social media.

In Bulgaria (down one at 112), the lowest EU country in the rankings, “the situation of the media is very worrying because no one is interested in investigating or condemning violence against journalists”, the report says.

In Romania (in the same position at 48th) and Moldova (up two at 89th), access to information remains a major problem for journalists, particularly during the pandemic.

Turkey (up one at 153th) has one of the worst record for press freedom not only in Europe but around the world.

“All means possible are used [by the Turkish government] to eliminate pluralism,” the report says.

It notes that the government controls 90 per cent of the national media, and uses severe censorship and discriminatory practices in order to marginalise and criminalise its media critics.

Croatian Journalists Union Deplores ‘Intimidating’ Rise in Lawsuits

At least 924 lawsuits against the media and journalists are active in Croatia, in which plaintiffs are demanding almost 78.5 million kunas in total, or some 10 million euros, which marks an increase in the number of lawsuits compared to last year, when the number was 905, the latest annual survey done by the Croatian Journalists’ Association, HND, reveals.

Hrvoje Zovko, HND president, said on Friday that such numbers “show that the judicial persecution of the media and journalists in Croatia is still ongoing and that there is no end in sight”.

He added “It is important to note that the actual number [of lawsuits] is higher because we received this data from only 23 media. We want to clearly warn the domestic and international public that lawsuits are the most common means of intimidating journalists and the media to give up serious investigative stories.”

He said that what was also particularly worrying is that top state officials, “local sheriffs”, and even judges are filing lawsuits.

HND reported that of the total number of 924 lawsuits, 892 are civil lawsuits for alleged violations of honour and reputation, conducted against publishers, editors and journalists for publishing texts and articles. The other 32 are criminal lawsuits.

The Hanza media group, to which the popular daily Jutarnji list belongs, reported 479 active court proceedings to the HND. Right behind is the Styria group, which publishes Vecernji list, with 203 lawsuits.

“Many of these proceedings involve SLAPP or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation lawsuits, aimed at censoring, intimidating and silencing critics by burdening them with court proceedings – a serious and dangerous mechanism that threatens media freedom,” HND said in a press release.

This is the third time that HND has carried out such research. Concerned about the number of lawsuits against the media, it asks local media outlets to inform them of the situation in their newsrooms.

According to the first HND’s poll, in February 2019, which drew responses from 19 outlets, there were 1,163 active court cases in Croatia. Warning about the dangers of this practice, in March that year reporters and media outlets staged a protest in Zagreb.

Last year’s data showed 905 such cases.

As BIRN reported, many governments in the region, in trying to control the pandemic narrative, adopted draconian tools, muzzling media, arresting critics and bombarding social media giants with requests to take down posts and shut down accounts.

In its November 2020 COVID and Free Speech report, the Council of Europe rights body cautioned that restrictions introduced during the pandemic could give rise to an increase in civil lawsuits, particularly defamation cases.

Tirana Mayor’s Bodyguards Criticised for Manhandling Inquisitive Journalist

The head of the Albanian Media Council has criticised the behaviour of the Mayor of Tirana’s security detail after a video published by Ora News media outlet showed a journalist being physically stopped from putting questions to Mayor Erion Veliaj.

“Veliaj was holding a political event and after he finished he entered a cafe and we were waiting for him outside,” the journalist, Isa Myzyraj, told BIRN.

“As soon as he came out, I approached and asked a question that many are seeking answers to: what can you say about construction without criteria in Tirana? He meanwhile immediately started making accusations about the media executives where I work,” the journalist added.

“With an action that in my opinion … seriously violates freedom of the media, his companions not only obstructed me but held me by the hands and exerted physical pressure so I could not move until Veliaj got in his car and left,” he continued.

Koloreto Çukali, Head of the Albanian Media Council, called the action concerning.

“In the published videos, it is clear that the movement [of the journalist] was forcibly blocked by the individuals accompanying the mayor. The only ‘crime’ of the journalist was putting a microphone in front of Veliaj, a very normal practice in Western countries,” he told BIRN

He added that this is not good practice, especially when the questions were of clear public interest.

According to the 2020 report of media rights watchdog Freedom House, reporters in Albania have little job security and “remain subject to lawsuits, intimidation, and occasional physical attacks by those facing media scrutiny”.

Ora News is a local media outlet owned by Ylli Ndroqi. Its assets were seized by the prosecution on August 2020 under anti-mafia laws. The owner’s lawyer said the client suspected political motives behind the move.

Greece Shocked as Crime Reporter Shot Dead in Athens

Giorgos Karaivaz was returning to his home in the southern Athens suburb of Alimos after work when, according to the authorities, he was shot by two persons wearing dark clothes and riding a light motorcycle.

The perpetrators are believed to have used a silencer, as the shots were not heard by nearby residents. The attack took place around 2.30pm and, according to police reports, 17 to 20 bullet casings have been found on the spot.

Karaivaz, a veteran reporter, specialized in the police and crime beat, appearing daily on a show on Star TV. He was also the founder and owner of bloko.gr, a website that focused on issues related to law enforcement authorities.

After the news of his death broke, his colleagues at bloko.gr wrote a post titled “Grief”.

“Giorgos Karaivaz, the founder and owner of bloko.gr, is not with us anymore. Some people decided to close his mouth and make him stop writing his texts, with bullets. They executed him in front of his house. For we, who in the last years worked with him, who were guided by him in difficult moments, drinking wine together, honoured by his friendship, these are very difficult times,” the post said.

The board of the journalists’ union expressed “deep sadness for the loss of their colleague” and called on the government and the authorities to “solve the crime immediately and deliver the perpetrators to justice”.

The union added that “journalists won’t be discouraged by murders, injuries and threats”, and said that they will continue to defend the freedom of the press and journalists’ work against pressures, threats and mafia-like practices and criminal plans.

He had lately covered a number of issues, including the arrest of Dimitris Lignadis, the former artistic director of the National Theatre; evaluations of police officials; and the strong police guard assigned to Menios Fourthiotis, a TV presenter, which was later withdrawn after harsh criticism.

The last time a journalist was shot dead in Greece was in July 2010, when Socrates Gkiolias was shot dead outside his house, after being shot 15 times.

Montenegro Mulls Tougher Penalties to Deter Attacks on Journalists

Montenegro’s Interior Ministry on Wednesday called for stricter penalties for attacks on journalists, promising to consider granting them the same status as state officials. Interior Ministry Secretary Zoran Miljanic said authorities would meanwhile investigate the motives behind the recent attack on the weekly Monitor’s editor-in-chief, Esad Kocan.

“The motive for the attack will be determined, but penalties for attacking journalists must also be stricter. The ministry will consider all possibilities about whether journalists should get the status of officials,” Miljanic told a press conference after a session of the Commission for Monitoring Violence against Media.

Kocan was attacked on March 28 in front of his house when Dragutin Sukovic, from Podgorica, first verbally insulted him and then tried to use force. Sukovic has been detained on suspicion of endangering security, while police reported that he has been arrested several times since 2010 for attempted murder, drug dealing, domestic violence and assault on police officers.

Commission head Mihailo Jovovic urged the ministry to resolve the motive of this attack, “whether someone attacked Kocan as a journalist, someone sent him [the attacker] there, or it was an attack by an incurable man. If it is revealed that someone sent him, it would be the first time that the preparator of an attack on a journalist was discovered,” he told the press conference.

On March 29, civic activists, media organisations and political parties called again on the authorities to protect the safety of journalists and saying they should be given the status of officials. The Ministry of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media announced a consultation on this idea.

“It [official status] should be granted … to introduce a stricter sanctions policy, which will have a deterrent effect,” the Southeast European Media Association said in a press release.

Under the criminal code, endangering someone’s security incurs a potential fine or a one-year prison sentence. But endangering the security of officials carries a prison sentence of up to three years.      

On March 20, television Vijesti journalist Sead Sadikovic was threatened and then assaulted by a group of five or six people carrying Montenegrin flags during a so-called patriotic rally in the town of Bijelo Polje.

Police detained Nermin Omerovic and Edin Dizdarevic for the attack, while authorities condemned it, stating that “violence is not a sign of recognition of a European and cultural Montenegro”.

In its 2020 progress report, the European Commission warned that progress in addressing violence against journalists and media in the country had been limited, adding that the authorities should investigate attacks against journalists as a priority.

“Authorities are expected to demonstrate zero tolerance for threats or attacks against the media, and should refrain from making statements that are not conducive to freedom of expression,” the report said.

On March 30, the US State Department’s latest human rights report warned that unsolved attacks against journalists remained a significant problem in Montenegro. It said more than two-thirds of the 85 attacks recorded on journalists since 2004 remained unsolved or did not result in sentences.

“Harassment of journalists, including use of physical force, was further reported in the course of 2020. Observers also noted that most of the attacks targeted independent or pro-opposition journalists and media professionals,” the report said.

Croatia’s Cable TV Provider Condemned for Taking N1 Off Air

News that the Croatian branch of N1 TV could go off air within days has angered viewers, media unions and democracy watchdogs – especially as screens will go blank at a politically sensitive time, in the run-up to local elections.

“12 days until shutdown on A1,” TV screens of the Croatian branch of the television station, which is CNN’s news channel affiliate in the region, read on Wednesday.

N1 started counting the days when viewers using the services of the A1 cable television provider in Croatia can watch N1 and Sport Klub – produced by United Media company – after the two companies failed to reach an agreement on extending cooperation.

United Group is the biggest alternative telecommunications provider in the region, mainly operating in telecommunications platforms and the media.

Some angry users of the A1 TV platform have announced that they are cancelling their contracts. “Let’s say it’s a good time to cancel the contract and look for another operator. So long A1,” one Twitter user posted on Tuesday.

The Croatian Journalists Association, the Croatian Journalists Union and the democracy watchdog GONG have all voiced deep disappointment, raising concerns that taking N1 TV off air is especially damaging in the run-up to the May local elections.

GONG said that N1 “offers real-time reporting covering all the important events, and their cameras are always where something important is happening”.

It added that N1 “has de facto taken over the role of a public service in terms of news programming”, and that since the local election campaign has already begun, shutting it down now “represents a form of pressure and silencing of a media that ask questions, analyses, and works in the public interest”.

A1, the Croatian mobile network operator, which is part of the Telekom Austria Group, claims United Media demanded unacceptable conditions to continue carrying its channels

“By accepting such conditions, the provision of TV services to our customers would no longer be possible under equally affordable conditions,” A1 stated.

It added that “channels with the most-watched news contents”, such as Croatia’s public television, HRT, and other private televisions, will continue to air on its platform.

But United Media claims it offered A1 the right to continue distributing its channels under the same conditions as before.

Croatia’s Culture and Media Ministry on Tuesday dismissed claims that politics had influenced A1’s decision ahead of the local elections, calling the suggestion “ill-intentioned”.

The ministry insisted the government “knows nothing” about the business relationship between two privately-owned companies.

However, in response to the ministry, Tihomir Ladisic, N1 TV’s news and program director, said the government was responsible for the overall situation “because it has not changed the Law on Electronic Media for years, which would have created the free-market conditions that exist in all countries of the European Union”.

N1 recalled that Croatia is the only EU country in which telecom operators, instead of the free market, set conditions and prices, “ultimately creating media conditions in which they can eliminate and shut down free and independent channels”.

Launched in October 2014, N1 airs from Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia. It has become known for its professional journalism and provocative questions. N1 television and its journalists also work in a hostile environment in Serbia.

Media Watchdogs Warn of ‘Hostile Climate’ for Slovenia’s Press

The International Press Institute said on Tuesday that it has joined four other media watchdog organisations in writing to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to express concerns over a decline in press freedom in Slovenia since the government of Janez Jansa came to power.

“We believe the repeated denigration of journalists, combined with the ruling party’s attempts to exert greater control over the country’s public service media, are creating an increasing hostile climate for critical reporting which serves its fundamental role of holding the government to account,” the five organisations said in the letter.

They claimed that as prime minister, Jansa has increasingly employed “Trumpian style tactics” of attacking journalists on Twitter and dismissing critical reporting as “fake news”, but warned that these attacks “go well beyond mere rhetoric”.

The letter was signed by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the European Federation of Journalists, OBC Transeuropa and Reporters Without Borders as well as the International Press Institute.

The Slovenian Government Communication Office, UKOM, faced strong criticism in February after it announced that it will suspend payment for the services provided by the Slovenian Press Agency, STA in January – the second time it has suspended the state-funded STA’s payments in recent months.

In the coming months, the media watchdog organisations’ letter said, the European Commission must respond publicly to any future attacks on the media by Jansa.

“It is vital for press freedom and democracy in the EU that Slovenia does not follow further down the illiberal path forged by Hungary and Poland,” they stated.

The problems facing media freedom in Slovenia, together with the situation for the press in Poland and Hungary, was discussed at the European Parliament’s plenary session last week.

Jansa’s policies could attract greater international attention in the second half of this year, when Slovenia will hold the presidency of Council of the European Union.

Jansa denies restricting media freedoms, and wrote a letter to von der Leyen in late February to insist that the allegations are “absurd”.

Central Europe’s Media-Capture Epidemic

The Hungarian Media Council’s decision last September not to renew the broadcast license of Klubradio, the country’s last remaining opposition radio station, surprised no one. The council did not bother to offer corroboration for its claims that Klubradio repeatedly violated media laws, nor did anyone expect it to. The episode is merely the latest instalment in the Hungarian government’s long-running campaign against independent media.

The onslaught began immediately after the 2010 general election, when Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party returned to power. The government immediately adopted a raft of laws imposing new restrictions on media outlets, and established the loyalist-staffed Media Council to enforce them. Within a year or so, all independent journalists who had worked in public media had been ousted, and the public broadcaster became a government mouthpiece.

Since then, Fidesz has steadily tightened its grip on Hungarian media. Through a clutch of supportive oligarchs, the party has seized control of major television and radio stations, news portals, and print media publishers. And in late 2018, Orban-aligned oligarchs established the Central European Press and Media Foundation, which now serves as a holding company for some 500 media entities.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (L) and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban (R) attend a handover ceremony the child armour of Sigismund II Augustus on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of Visegrad Cooperation in Krakow, southern Poland, 17 February 2021. EPA-EFE/Art Service 2

An inspiration to aspiring autocrats

The effect of such centralization of media ownership and control – not seen since the pre-1989 communist era – has been profound. Last summer, the editor-in-chief of Index, Hungary’s leading news portal, was fired on obviously political grounds, prompting a mass exodus of journalists who resigned in protest.

What might once have been dismissed as an isolated experiment by an increasingly autocratic regime has evolved into a comprehensive program of media capture, a term used to describe extreme levels of control by government authorities working in cahoots with powerful business interests. Orban’s approach to the media has become a source of inspiration for oligarchs and autocratic governments around the world. Particularly in Europe, the Hungarian model is being replicated at a frenzied pace.

For example, Serbia’s state-owned Telekom Srbija has been using taxpayer money to acquire independent media companies and television channels, including PRVA TV and O2, and transform them into pro-government outlets. And in Poland, the right-wing ruling party, Law and Justice (PiS), openly calls for the “repolonization” of the country’s media. To that end, PKN Orlen, a state-run oil company, recently acquired Polska Press, a German-owned publisher of 20 regional dailies and nearly 120 weeklies.

Moreover, Hungarian oligarchs have themselves been expanding into several Western Balkan countries, with banker Jozsef Vida’s TV2 Group taking over the popular Slovenian channel Planet TV. And that acquisition followed a series of investments by Hungarian oligarchs in right-wing media companies in Slovenia and Macedonia. Orban has long supported Slovenia’s right-wing extremist prime minister, Janez Jansa, and in 2018 he offered political asylum to former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, who had fled his country to avoid a two-and-a-half-year sentence for corruption.

Finally, in a separate development last October, Czech businessman Petr Kellner’s financial group, PPF, bought Central European Media Enterprises, a broadcast network with operations in five Central and Eastern European countries. Although Kellner has pledged to respect CME’s editorial independence, critics question his commitment in light of what has happened to other oligarch-acquired media in the Czech market. For example, outlets previously bought by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s businesses have kept their editorial coverage attuned to their owner’s interests, despite promises that their independence would be respected.

Media capture is not limited to Europe. Through a combination of forced acquisitions and regulatory measures, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has brought most of his country’s prominent media outlets under the control of loyal oligarchs. In Egypt, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched his second term in 2018 by restructuring the media to ensure that it serves his regime. And over the past ten years, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has co-opted most media outlets through state bodies and family members, relying on a strategy orchestrated by his wife, Murillo.

Following the call of the opposition Momentum party, demonstrators march against the dismissal of the editor-in-chief of the Hungarian news website Index.hu, in the streets of Budapest, Hungary, 24 July 2020. EPA-EFE/ZSOLT SZIGETVARY

Strangling independent journalism

Whether it takes the form of Sisification, Orbanization or repolonization, media capture is strangling journalism in the affected countries and making it increasingly difficult for citizens to access objective information. In those cases where independent journalism has not been suppressed entirely, it has been pushed to the margins. Though there are still a few media outlets operating free of government influence in Hungary, they are too small to counter the regime’s massive propaganda machine.

Moreover, when media capture reaches the point that it has in Hungary, remaining independent outlets must tread carefully. That has certainly been the case for RTL Klub, a popular Hungarian television broadcaster owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, which suffered a loss of revenue as a result of legal provisions adopted by the Hungarian government in 2014.

Though tackling media capture is an uphill battle, there are at least some partial solutions in sight. One is to reform how public media are funded; however, this is perhaps the most difficult approach, because it targets the central mechanism by which autocrats themselves tend to control the media. Another option is to increase reliance on funding from other donors, be they private foundations, entrepreneurs, or philanthropies – many of which already support independent media. Finally, with their disproportionate influence over the current media ecosystem, today’s tech giants could be pressured to elevate, protect, or otherwise privilege independent journalism on their platforms.

Without a firm response, the epidemic of media capture will continue to spread. As long as it does, no country will be safe from the threat.

Marius Dragomir is Director of the Center for Media, Data, and Society at Central European University, and managed the research and policy portfolio of the Program on Independent Journalism in London.

The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN. Copyright Project Syndicate. Not for republication.

Slovenia Criticised for Suspending National News Agency’s Funding

The Slovenian Government Communication Office, UKOM, has faced strong criticism after it announced this week that it will suspend payment for the services provided by the Slovenian Press Agency, STA in January – the second time it has suspended the state-funded STA’s payments in recent months.

“This is the most blatant example of the goals and strategies of [Prime Minister] Janez Jansa to get all the media under control,” prominent Slovenian investigative journalist Blaz Zgaga told BIRN.

“The Slovenian Press Agency is actually the backbone of the Slovenian media system because it covers many events in politics and society that other media do not cover… everything depends on the STA,” Zgaga said.

He added that if the agency falls under political control, right-wing premier Jansa will have a greater influence on all the other media that depend on the material provided and events organised by the STA.

UKOM told BIRN on Thursday that it has not stopped funding the STA but it has only “refused to pay the invoice that STA Director Bojan Veselinovic sent to UKOM for reasons unknown to us”.

It said that “as of 31 December 2020 all the contracts concluded between UKOM and STA expired”.

Veselinovic has argued that the budget allocations for funding the STA had already been set out by the government for this year, regardless of whether a contract with the founder has been signed or not, and that all required documents are always available to the government and relevant supervisory bodies.

UKOM also told BIRN that it rejects “any bizarre allegations of anyone ever exerting pressure on STA editors or journalists”.

It said it had asked STA director Veselinovic to “publish the names of the officials who are believed to have pressured the editors or journalists, because that would be unacceptable. So far, we have not received any reply.”

UKOM also refused to pay monthly instalments for the public service provided by the STA for October and November.

Veselinovic responded by arguing that the budget allocations for funding the STA had already been set out by the government for this year, regardless of whether a contract with the founder has been signed or not, and that all required documents are always available to the government and relevant supervisory bodies.

The Slovene Association of Journalists, DNS, the European Alliance of News Agencies, EANA, and the International Press Institute, IPI, voiced support for STA.

“The latest denial of funding of STA by the Slovenian government is yet another politically-motivated attempt to destabilize the financial footing of the country’s press agency. Payment should be resumed immediately,” the IPI wrote on Twitter.

BIRN asked UKOM to respond to its critics’ accusations but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.

STA employees said in a statement on Thursday that the UKOM’s decision is another “attempt to dismantle and destroy” the agency and that they “cannot agree to any diktats about how and what to report”.

They also said that a group of individuals, about whom it was “clear at first glance which political party they belong to”, have even announced the establishment of an alternative national news agency “which would be more Slovenian and objective than the STA”.

Last month Slovenian media reported the establishment of the new National Press Agency, NTA, whose founders are close to the Jansa’s right-wing Slovenian Democratic Party, SDS.

Zgaga said that “we can imagine one scenario, in which they [the government] will cut off the STA’s funding, the STA will go down, then they will give a lot of money to this new agency”.

Slovenian and international press freedom watchdog organisations have already accused Jansa of using the coronavirus pandemic to restrict media freedoms.

His policies could attract greater international attention in the second half of this year, when Slovenia will hold the presidency of Council of the European Union.

But in a letter on Friday to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, Jansa said the allegations that he has been restricting media freedoms are “absurd”.

Attack on Kosovo Investigative Journalist Condemned

International and local Kosovo press associations have condemned the attack against an investigative journalist who was brutally beaten near his house in Fushe Kosove/Kosovo Polje, at around midnight on Wednesday.

Visar Duriqi, a journalist of the local Kosovo online news portal Insajderi as well as the author and producer of local show INDOKS, was assaulted by three unidentified individuals at around midnight after a TV debate.

“Three people had been waiting for the journalist Duriqi, in front of the entrance of his apartment. He was attacked as soon as he got out of his car,” Insajderi reported on Thursday.

Duriqi has authored several episodes on crime and corruption on Insajderi’s show, INDOKS.

The police are investigating the case.

“It is suspected that three masked persons attacked the victim with fists at the entrance of his apartment, causing bodily injuries. The victim was sent to the UCCK (University Clinical Center of Kosovo in Pristina), for necessary medical treatment and then he was discharged,” a police statement read.

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo, AJK, condemned the attack as a threat to freedom of “speech and media” and called on the authorities “to investigate the motives … and shed light over this case”. The AJK pledged also to inform domestic and international stakeholders.

On Thursday, the European Center for Press and Media Freedom, ECPMF, on Twitter also condemned “this brutal attack on journalist Visar Duriqi” and urged Chief Prosecutor Aleksander Lumezi “to urgently and thoroughly investigate and hold the criminals responsible to account”. 

Flutura Kusari, legal advisor at ECMPF, wrote on Facebook that “violence against journalists in Kosovo is on the rise” and added that it can only be curbed if the punishments of attackers include “harsh sentences”, similarly to when a politician is attacked.

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