Document details

Support to Minority-Language Broadcasting Media: Preparatory Assistance

[Pristina]: UNDP Kosovo (2009), 24 pp.
"The capacity of the minority-language (including Serbian-language) broadcast media to inform minority communities in Kosovo about local news is limited. There are several Serbian language TV stations but none of them broadcasts throughout the entire territory of Kosovo. As a consequence, many Kosovo Serbs turn to media broadcasted from Serbia. The Kosovo Serb Community as well as other minority communities have repeatedly expressed an interest in their own Kosovo-wide TV station. According to an IREX research, 72% of the Kosovo Serb community would surely or probably watch a Serbian-language TV station covering the whole territory of Kosovo. Access to information and media is a human right as laid down in Art. 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Furthermore, the Constitution of Kosovo explicitly mentions the right of the Kosovo Serb Community to a Kosovo-wide Serbian-language TV channel. There a several different options to address this need – such as a second channel within the RTK umbrella, a public channel outside of RTK’s umbrella, or a commercial Serbian language television station – but there is currently no broad consensus yet among key stakeholders on which option to further pursue. The overall objective of the 12 month Preparatory Assistance project (2009) is to explore all these questions and to lay the groundwork for a Kosovo-wide Serbian/minority language TV channel." (Executive summary)