Vanovac: The biggest problems of Serbian newsrooms in Kosovo are security and limited access to information

The President of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo and Metohija, Ivana Vanovac, stated that Serbian media in Kosovo welcomed the World Press Freedom Day with a series of problems. She emphasized that the availability of information for Serbian media in newsrooms was limited, and she highlighted security as one of the major issues, which, according to her, institutions were not ready to work on.

"The availability of information in Kosovo for Serbian media is severely restricted. We have problems with language, selective access by institutions and political structures, and all those who have the answers that we and our citizens need. These are significant challenges that journalists face. Everything that happens to the public, everything that journalists report here, directly affects journalists and newsrooms," Vanovac pointed out.

As she added, almost all journalists from Serbian newsrooms have been subjected to provocations and attacks. There is no institutional will to protect journalists, Vanovac said.

"The problem journalists face is also security. We have used every opportunity to talk about this. All of us have been exposed to threats and provocations at least once, and unfortunately, we are not protected at all. There is no institutional will to pay attention to journalists, their safety, and to work seriously on it," Vanovac added.

According to Vanovac, one of the problems of Serbian newsrooms is funding.

"The majority of media in Kosovo are funded on a project basis. This means that, even though donors may not have a direct intention to impose topics, they do so indirectly, favoring certain topics. This limits the creativity of media outlets and distracts journalists from what they fundamentally are, which is primarily a service to citizens," Vanovac said.

Another issue with funding, she believes, is the lack of continuity.

"Every project-based funding implies working for a certain period, from three to six months, at best up to a year, which doesn't provide a foundation for young people to stay in those media outlets. This brings us to the next problem, which is retaining young professionals in media. It's a situation where young, inexperienced, and journalistically unskilled people come to your space, use your time and capacities, train themselves, and then become prey for larger, financially better-off editorial offices, which are more attractive. This threatens to completely deplete the editorial offices in central Kosovo. It seems entirely legitimate, it is market legality, but we must also consider collegiality," Vanovac emphasized.

She also mentioned the issue of kidnapped and missing journalists, highlighting that the Association of Journalists of Kosovo and Metohija would raise this issue again.

"We will continue to speak about all of this, not just on World Press Freedom Day but on any day," Vanovac concluded.