Moderators: ·
Gemma Poerzgen-Hoffmann and Dietrich Schlegel
Rapporteurs: ·
Adelheid Feilcke-Tiemann and Dr. Wim van Meurs

Report II.a - Media

This panel focussed on the issue of media, although the participants all had different professional backgrounds and came from different media branches, cultural institutions and civil society. They all agreed on the crucial role the media play in post-war Kosovo and in the struggle to build up a democratic and pluralistic society. The participants stressed that the media are very powerful in as far as encouraging or discouraging a positive attitude towards other ethnic groups as well as influential in promoting either constructive or destructive behaviour. Therefore, the representatives of the Albanian, Serbian and Turkish media pointed out that these channels of mass communication should be used as a bridge for a constructive dialogue between different ethnic groups. Almost three years after the war, the need for coexistence is widely accepted and interethnic dialogue seems to be desirable for all parties involved. Yet, judging by the debate in this panel, at present the dialogue is not functioning well and probably still is non-existent in many respects.

As a positive development since the war, the discussants highlighted the fact that the occurrence of the hate-speech has been reduced significantly. On the other hand, all agreed that media activities in Kosovo are strictly segregated and divided along ethnic and language lines. There are media outlets in Albanian, Serb, Turkish, etc, but very few are multilingual - mainly those internationally run and funded. Apart from language barriers, the perspectives of the journalists are very different too: They cover theirs stories usually from their own ethnic perspective without taking into consideration the views of the other ethnic communities. Statements from the representatives of other ethnic groups are rarely being recorded and if they are, it is usually done to invigorate existing prejudices. Psychologically speaking this phenomenon is due to a collective feeling of victimisation on both sides of the ethnic divide. Several participants stressed that coming to terms with past sufferings and atrocities constitutes a key precondition for the normalisation of interethnic relations in daily life.

Another barrier for fair and ethnically balanced reporting is the lack of access to the daily life of the other ethnic groups and their political representatives. Some Albanian journalists present in the discussion complained that it is impossible to report from the other perspective for security reasons, especially in the Serbian enclaves. In most cases, KFOR assistance is needed for interethnic contact. Serbian participants on their part underlined that the lack of security and freedom of movement restricts their daily life and therefore also their reporting perspective.

Apart from general ethnic prejudices and considerations of personal security, rivalries within ethnic communities have a strong impact on reporting practices and the media too. Especially in the printing media, the close relation between journalists and/or newspapers, on the one hand, and political parties or interest groups, on the other hand, is obvious. Thus, even the Kosovo-Albanian press is fragmented despite a shared national perspective. The participants agreed that most media suffer from serious financial problems. They also agreed that the professional standards of the journalists in post-war Kosovo are still low. As part of a solution, more professionalism should be achieved via specific training programmes.

The panel discussions demonstrated the variety in both printing and electronic media in Albanian. Some participants criticised the parallel existence of so many media outlets as detrimental to the overall professional competencies of the journalists and the newspapers. The situation for the minorities is quite different: Serbs still lack local printing media and receive most of their information from newspapers imported from Belgrade. Thus, the views on Kosovo presented in these newspapers are generally outsiders' views and seldom conductive to a local inter-ethnic rapprochement. The Turkish minority generally seems to be satisfied with its current media situation, although a daily newspaper was mentioned as a desideratum. The public station RTK (Kosovo Radio Television) broadcasts in minority languages as well, but minority representatives asked for more time on the air in their specific languages. Beside RTK, local media that broadcast multilingual programmes like Radio K in Fushe Kosova (Kosovo Polje) lacks both an audience and adequate funding for advertisements. The role and influence of foreign broadcasters like Deutsche Welle, BBC or Voice of America in Kosovo was considered as highly significant, but some participants added that for them the role of international stations was to transmit views and visions for the region in their programs, whereas factual information and local news should be left to the Kosovar stations. Others pointed to the structural problem that while some of the international stations do contribute to more professional and objective reporting, they are also partly responsible for the dire condition of the local media by attracting the best Kosovar journalists with better working conditions and better salaries.

The need for more multilingual and multiethnic media was debated controversially, but it was generally understood that existing multiethnic media are not very popular among the local population. Looking beyond the Kosovo scenery, a consensus existed in favour of more cross-border and interethnic reporting. Similarly, the participants underlined the potential role of the local media in the gradual creation of a common Kosovar identity by focussing more on the common interests and shared objectives.

Recommendations
-	Projects enabling journalists to see "the other perspective" should be stimulated and financially supported (e.g. interviews and features about the life and perspectives of other ethnic communities in Kosovo). Correspondingly, journalists are asked to demonstrate more creativity and courage in treating issues concerning the other side of the ethnic divide.
-	More training programmes (both mono- and multi-ethnic) should be initiated and supported in order to raise professional standards. Thus, media should become more professional, distinguishing more clearly and strictly between news and facts and journalistic opinions or comments. One option would be setting up a regional school for journalism.
-	Hate speech should be eliminated from the media and officially condemned whenever it occurs. The media should create an institution like the German Press Council ("Presserat") as a voluntary control mechanism to identify and eradicate hate speech.
-	Serbs should be supported in the creation of their own local Serb-Kosovar newspaper with a possible role in the creation of a common Kosovar identity and as an alternative to the Belgrade-centred currently available to the Serb communities in Kosovo.
-	Joint public and/or media appearances by majority and minority representatives from the new parliament may have a powerful signal of inter-ethnic tolerance. The Albanian media could influence public opinion by reporting on such events and by interviewing the minority MPs on the specific problems of their ethnic groups as well as on their solutions for problems of common interest to all inhabitants of Kosovo.

Report II.b - Culture

The issue of the contribution of high and popular culture in inter-ethnic dialogue and co-existence again (like in Belgrade and Ohrid) played a secondary role in the discussions of the working group, not in the least because key representatives of cultural institutions failed to join the panel. Partly this may have been due to the professional interest of the discussants (mainly Albanian and Serb media and NGO representatives). Generally, however, in an inter-ethic situation characterised by a language barrier, substantial risks to personal security, mobility constraints and (thus) strict ethnic segregation.

In daily life, the impact of culture is equally limited. Spoken and written cultural expressions by the Albanian majority are not accessible to the Serbs, who typically do not speak and are not ready to learn Albanian. In both contentious ethnic groups a substantial taboo on inter-ethnic contacts still seems to exist. Conversely, the Turkish (the only other group represented at this panel) and other small minorities are not hampered by such factors in their cultural life. Thus, in sum, no civic regional Kosovar identity and culture exist - ethnic segregation is a hegemonic reality in Kosovo today.

The language barrier and the segregated life of the Serb enclaves in Kosovo constituted particularly controversial topics in the debates. Whereas the statements by the Serb participants underlined the security risks, the Albanians wished to see (and, in some cases, demanded) more courage on the part of the Serbs. It was noted with regret that a small violent minority in Kosovo is actually able to prevent inter-ethnic dialogue. Simultaneously, the Albanian majority called upon the Serb minority to learn their language as a prerequisite to a broader dialogue. The Serb representatives dismissed the implicit accusation of unwillingness to come to terms with new realities.

In the panel, however, no participant questioned the desirability and need for (re-)establishing inter-ethnic dialogue and co-operation, declaring their readiness on principle. Typically, however, the suggestion by the moderators of redefining the church ruin on the university campus in Pristina, charged with national emotions as it is for both groups, as a symbol of inter-ethnic tolerance and dialogue by turning it into a cultural and meeting centre, found an unresponsive audience. Quite remarkably, none of the discussants linked the lack of an inter-ethnic dialogue explicitly to the unresolved status of Kosovo in this panel. Some participants argued the case of re-establishing inter-ethnic dialogue between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo, whereas others favoured a new, non-ethnic regional approach. Whereas some ridiculed this regional approach as nostalgia for past Yugoslav times, other Serbs considered a rapprochement a too minimalist solution.

For all talk of inter-ethnic dialogue and multi-culturalism, some Serb participants called attention to the fact that it is quite natural to focus on national-ethnic culture and identity in/after a period of repression and discrimination. In response, Albanian participants reminded the other discussants of the fact that it was their people and culture that had been severely repressed for at least a decade. Both sides agreed that moving from reviving and celebrating one's own culture to multi-culturalism would take time and patience on the part of the international community

Presenting the results of Working Group II:
Gernot Erler, MP, President Southeast Europe Association;
Adelheid Feilcke-Tiemann and Dr. Wim van Meurs (rapporteurs)