Vienna, 09/12/2016
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemned the behavior of local authorities in the municipality Drenas / Gllogovc (Drenica) in Kosovo.
During a press conference on 7 December the local spokesperson of Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) made allegedly a few statements that expressed discrimination and intolerance against the RTV Dukagjini crew. The spokesperson stated allegedly that TV Dukagjini from Pejë (Pec) “would not like elections to happen in a normal manner” and that “they are presenting the people from this municipality as dogs”.
SEEMO expressed a disapproval of these statements. Speeches in this form by an official representative of a political party are not acceptable. All media outlets should be treated equally by spokespersons of political parties, without singling anyone out in a pejorative, discriminative manner. In cases of complaints the party should address them through proper mechanism and bodies. SEEMO also calls for the spokesperson and the political party to issue an official apology because of this incident.
SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe and its press freedom work is supported by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) project, as part of a grant by the European Commission.