The acting government of Kosovo has rejected the annual press freedom report by Reporters Without Borders, stating on Friday that the issue in Kosovo is not a lack of press freedom, but rather a decline in media standards.
Kosovo recorded the steepest drop in the past 15 years in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) global press freedom index, falling to 99th place out of 180 countries.
Government spokesperson Përparim Kryeziu told Radio Free Europe that the RSF report “does not reflect the real situation” in Kosovo.
“What we’ve seen over the years is a decline in media standards. When this declining standard is met with responses from both citizens and institutions targeted by unprofessional reporting, these are labeled as attacks and threats, which are then included in international reports like that of RSF,” Kryeziu said.
This marks the second consecutive year Kosovo has dropped in the RSF index, after falling from 56th place in 2023 to 75th in 2024. Kryeziu added that “Kosovo cannot possibly be worse than Serbia and actually enjoys significantly more media freedom in the region and beyond.”
In the report published Friday, ahead of World Press Freedom Day, Kosovo ranks the worst among countries in the Western Balkans and the European Union.
The Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK) expressed alarm at Kosovo’s drastic drop in the rankings.
“AGK is deeply concerned by this ranking, the lowest in a decade, since 2015. It sees it as a reflection of an ongoing hostile policy led over the past two years by the government of the Vetëvendosje party,” AGK stated.
The RSF report noted that in Kosovo, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia, media outlets are facing an existential crisis due to budget cuts and political control.
Last summer, despite heavy criticism, the Kosovo Assembly passed a law on the Independent Media Commission (IMC), which included provisions for licensing online media, monitoring them, and imposing fines of up to €40,000.
This week, Kosovo’s Constitutional Court overturned the law, finding several articles incompatible with the Constitution.
RSF had previously criticized the now-overturned law as contradictory and said it “further threatens the independence” of the IMC.
Earlier this year, the ruling Vetëvendosje party faced criticism for boycotting certain media outlets.
In January, local and international NGOs called on Vetëvendosje to end its boycott of specific media channels. The party claimed it wasn’t boycotting the media but “excluding” three specific outlets, adding that this decision “did not affect the rich and diverse media landscape of Kosovo.”
Although no outlets were named, previous media reports identified Klan Kosova, TV Dukagjini, and T7 as the excluded channels.
“Before the general elections, several private media were boycotted by the government, which also threatened the independence of the public broadcaster RTK. Serbian-language media, already under pressure from Serbian political forces, have complained of discrimination in access to public information, particularly in their native language,” the RSF report said.
In 2024 alone, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo recorded 24 cases of attacks and threats against journalists, compared to 53 such cases in 2023.
RSF stated that journalists in Kosovo are often the target of insults and fake news on social media. According to the report, they are “wrongfully accused of ‘collaborating with the enemy,’ a rhetoric used by political and religious groups.”
