“Solidifying the Resilience of Kosovo’s Current and Future Journalists”

Location: Kosovo

Period: January 2020 – December 2021

The project intends to restore trust in media and maintain news streams that provide objective, fact-checked and professional reporting by bringing together the wider community of journalists and media professionals, media outlets, civil society, young media talent and the public in order to increase awareness, recognition and support for professional journalism as a means of solidifying the foundations of a sustainable democracy in Kosovo.

Summary:

The project aims to bring a unique blend of experiences in leading successful reforms that foster watch-dog journalism, transparency, and accountability, rule of law, inclusivity, media excellence and innovation, values which remain at the core of Kosovo’s efforts to align with EU requirements. In this regard, the project partners aim to bring their tools and skills together to improve the quality of media content through the development of independent, professional and publicly beneficial journalism.

More specifically, the action aims to work with public and team them the ways they can better detect and debunk misinformation throughout the media. Project partners believe that the action will complement these initiatives and create synergy by tackling the issue of fake news and unverified reporting helping journalists learn how to spot fake news, deliver verified information that adhere to journalistic standards. The action comes in response to the need to restore trust in media and maintain news streams that provide objective, fact-checked and professional reporting.

By exposing media that produce fake news, the expected outcome of the action is improvement in the areas of media freedom, accuracy of information, quality programming, civil engagement, education, and improved adherence with the Media Code of Conduct of the Press Council of Kosovo.

Thus, the project will contribute towards increasing the resilience of the media against external pressure, bolstering the audience’s confidence towards media. Through ensuring a strong emphasis on the media code of ethics, the project will also contribute to a media landscape that adheres to provisions and regulations, thus contributing to more professional journalism.

Donor:

European Union Office in Kosovo

Main Objective:

The overall objective of the action is to bring together the wider community of journalists and media professionals, media outlets, civil society, young media talent and the public to increase awareness, recognition and support for professional journalism as a means of solidifying the foundations of a sustainable democracy in Kosovo.

Specific Objectives:

Specific objective 1: Strengthen the capacities of media to conduct investigative journalism into the spending of public funds, monopolies in public contracts and corrupt practices in different institutions;

Specific objective 2: Promote fact-checking and document-based reporting standards with the aim of fighting breaches of the code of ethics in the media;

Specific objective 3: Promote human rights, inter-ethnic investigative teams and rule of law through meaningful and good quality programs, and

Specific objective 4: Engage young media talents in using creative filmmaking techniques leading to the creation of media content.

Main Activities:

1.1   Produce and broadcast in-depth investigative reports that will tackle a wide range of public interest issues such as: rule of law, accountability in the justice sector, mismanagement of public funds, local governance, labor law enforcement and organized crime;

1.2   Produce  TV programs to discuss findings derived from the most challenging investigative reports produced as per Activity 1.1;

2.1 Launch an awareness raising campaign by producing Public Service Announcements on identifying and countering fake news;

2.2 Research, write, and publish 40 fact-checking analysis to identify fake news;

 2.3 Organize two-day intensive training workshops aimed at enhancing professional skills for early to mid-career journalists delivered by international experts to professional journalists as well as to students of journalism. The training will focus on tools to tackle disinformation, build fact-checking models for broadcasting and improve the work of multi-ethnic investigative teams of journalists;

3.1 Produce and broadcast TV programs promoting human rights, social issues, and the rule of law;

3.2 Produce documentaries about issues concerning minority communities in Kosovo;

3.3 Build capacities of Albanian journalists to report on topics in Northern Kosovo and Serb-majority areas by learning Serbian, and build capacities of Serbian journalists to be able to talk to sources in Albanian, by learning Albanian – an educational activity for media professionals that promote cultural diversity;

4.1 Organize filmmaking courses for youth in Kosovo who will produce video content that will be published on a new platform called KallxoRinia;

4.2 Organize training sessions for high school students in a program that aims to nurture young media talents by mentoring them to produce about 50 videos and articles which push for solution driven journalism.

Target Groups:

·        Journalists and media outlets;

·        Press Council of Kosovo;

·        Youth, students and young entrepreneurs;

·        Kosovo citizens;

·        Marginalized groups;

·        Members of the Independent Media Commission;

·        Public institutions;

·        Private sector.

Main implementer:

BIRN Kosovo

Partners:

ÇOHU, RTK, TV Mreža, jCoders Academy, International Press Institute - IPI