Undefeated in the middle of tensions

Caught in the crowd of Serbian protesters, under the stones flying over their heads and the grenades exploding near their feet, the feeling of insecurity and danger for the journalists made no difference in ethnicity.

The month of May 2023 is considered the most dangerous to report by media teams and beyond. From the protests in Leposaviq and Zveçan, organized to oppose the presence of the mayors in the municipal buildings, dozens of Serbian citizens did not spare the use of violence.

The most serious situation was in Zveçan, where around 100 members of KFOR were injured during the confrontation with the protesters. One of them even had his leg amputated due to the injuries he received. Protesters and journalists also suffered injuries.

Katarina Marinković was among the many journalists who visited the tense areas of northern Kosovo on Monday, May 29.

The journalist of the Media Center in Graçanica, Marinković, tells how she started with her team with the same shyness that accompanied her Albanian colleagues. Reporting from the crowds wasn't safe for him either.

Katarina Marinković considers covering the developments of that day the most difficult and the most dangerous for her and the team.

In addition to being a journalist in the field, Marinković also worked as a photographer and cameraman.

"At the moment when there was a conflict between the members of KFOR and the demonstrators, explosions were heard, which I later found out were stun bombs, tear gas and maybe there were gunshots, I am not sure. I was scared, because in addition to those explosions, stones and bottles were flying in all directions and no one paid attention to the journalists", Marinković confesses, who was a few meters away when one of her colleagues was injured after a bomb exploded near her feet. .

"A few meters away from me was a fellow journalist who was injured by a grenade that exploded near his leg," she says.

Apart from other public institutions, in the north of Kosovo, at the end of 2022, the mayors of four municipalities also resigned. And to fill the institutional vacuum and the constitutional obligation, extraordinary elections were held in these municipalities in April 2023, which were boycotted by the main party of the Serbs, Lista Serbe. Apart from this entity, they were also boycotted by the Serbs of other entities. As a result, in the four municipalities in the north, the candidates from the Albanian parties were elected as mayors, with a symbolic percentage of the citizens' turnout.

The start of work in the municipal facilities of two of the four elected mayors, that of Leposaviq and Zveçani, and the escort to the offices by the Kosovo Police, was opposed by some of the Serbian citizens.

Unlike Marinkoviqi, who reported from Zveçani, Kallxo.com journalist Adelina Ahmeti reported from Leposaviqi on May 29. Ahmeti tells how some of the people who were part of the protests started verbal and physical attacks on the journalists, mainly by throwing various things at them. With the same scenes, she says, they have been faced for about a week in a row.

"On May 29, 2023, some masked people attacked us while we were reporting on the talks held by the former mayor of Leposavic and members of KFOR about the removal of the mayor and policemen from the municipality facility. In Leposaviq, there were several days from May 29, some 7-8 days, when from time to time we were insulted, cursed, cars were demolished, as well as verbal and physical attacks", she says.

Zorica Krstiq-Vorgucic has been working as a journalist for more than 10 years. During her long experience as a journalist, now at "Radio Kim", she also describes the situation at the end of May in the Serbian-majority municipalities as the most difficult to report. She says that she and other colleagues were lucky to escape without injuries, although she was standing in the area between the protesters and the KFOR forces, when tear gas was fired.

"At one point I didn't see anything because I swallowed the tear gas. After we retreated a bit out of the conflict, health workers from the local health center came out of nowhere and gave us saline to wash our eyes. Several other colleagues were with me. When I came back, I realized that I didn't know where my cameraman friend was. Since the networks (internet and mobile phone) were bad, for a long time I could not find out where it was. I was very worried about him, because the last time I saw him was between KFOR and the protesters", Krstiq-Vorgucic says.

Bad experiences with security personnel

From the reports of tense situations in the north, Ana Cup, a journalist at "Prva", does not have good experiences with security personnel.

"I was in the church yard where I thought I was safe, with some other colleagues, when the tear gas flew towards us. Tear gas was distributed by the police. After that action I left the churchyard and had an unpleasant situation with a policeman pointing a gun at me. Although I showed the accreditation, I got the impression that he was not interested. Then, a few days later, I had an unpleasant situation with a soldier from KFOR, who surprisingly tried to interrupt my live broadcast for television," she says.

Fetije Kamberi, journalist at TV1, has different experience with the Kosovo Police and KFOR. She points to the care they received from the police during the time when they were faced with tensions in Leposaviq, but she also says that the members of the NATO and EU mission in Kosovo did not act.

"There was not the same kindness from the members of KFOR and EULEX, since they were there when we were attacked. They did not react, there are even cases when we were not allowed to enter the security lines to ask for help", she says.

Members of security institutions, local or international, according to Adelina Ahmeti of Kallxo.com, have not provided security for any of the journalists in the north of the country.

"The only safe place for journalists to stay from time to time was the police station in Leposavic. KFOR and EULEX have never provided security even though they did not have the mandate, but even in cases where attacks against us were recorded, they did not react".

"Serbian journalists were verbally threatened, Albanian ones physically"

Serbian and Albanian journalists have different attitudes regarding the treatment of ethnic differences in such situations. However, all five interviewed journalists talk about good communication and cooperation among themselves.

But Kamberi says that "Albanian and Serbian journalists have not been equal in these reports of tensions in the four northern municipalities".

"While Albanian journalists have faced the protestors with masks, swearing in Serbian language, not allowing the filming of these groups, breaking cameras and other information devices, throwing stones/eggs during direct links and appearances in front of the camera until when the cars were broken and burned, our Serbian colleagues were close to them, so they were not in the reporting line where we were standing, they were among the protesters reporting, except for the Serbian colleagues of the Voice of America, who decided to stay with the Albanian journalists and not among the crowds of those who attacked us", says Fetije Kamberi, the TV1 journalist, although she adds that the communication with most of the Serbian journalists is good.

Katarina Marinkovic was also a witness to the physical and verbal attacks against the media teams in the Albanian language, along with the Serbian ones.

"The differences were that we journalists from Serbian newsrooms occasionally received verbal and more provocative threats, while Albanian journalists were often physically attacked and their cars were damaged," she says. "They were hit with eggs and verbally threatened that they will leave the place where the protesters gathered in the center of Leposavic. I also witnessed the incident when two Albanian media cars were stoned in the center of Leposaviq".

But Ana Cup thinks that regardless of nationality, in tense situations, journalists should be prepared to face certain incidents. I know that some colleagues who report in the Albanian language have had problems while reporting in the north, but I know many who have had none. In such situations, regardless of nationality, we must be prepared that a certain incident can happen to anyone," she says.

Zorica Krstiq-Vorgucic shares a similar attitude to Cup. She says that there is not much difference in the treatment of journalists, although she admits that the Albanian media have had more problems.

"It was more uncertain for them. Several cases of attacks on our colleagues from Pristina have been recorded, their cars and equipment have been destroyed. "Serbian journalists have not experienced such concerns, but they have experienced - insults, pushes, threats," she said.

The behavior of the citizens of municipalities with a Serbian majority, she says, is related to the mood they have towards the majority of journalists.

"They don't like to make statements, maybe for fear of what they might say. They distrust the media, regardless of the community they belong to. On the other hand, they don't understand that we are just doing our job," she says.

And, Adelina Ahmeti, Kallxo.com journalist, says that their Serbian colleagues have the advantage of language, which facilitates their communication in that area.

"We report from the same area, but Serbian journalists, due to communication, manage to have more space in covering events with citizens in conversation, unlike us, otherwise the similarity is only the place, whether Leposaviq or Zveçan".

More security is required during reporting

The five interviewed journalists - three Serbian and two Albanian - call for providing security for journalists when they face tense situations, such as those of last year.

The lack of adequate equipment to report on violent events, and support from security institutions, are other remarks that Albanian and Serbian journalists have. They also consider training for reporting from tense situations to be important.

"To enable us to carry out our work without hindrance and that the institutions do not create additional difficulties for us", is the request of the journalist Ana Cup.

Zorica Krstiq-Vorgucic from RadioKim shared her experience of visiting Stockholm, where she was informed about the security offered to journalists by the police.

"We are far from such a situation", she says. "Our duty is to serve the public..., and they must understand and accept this. Because in the end they are all replaceable, while journalists stay and do their work".

But in addition to providing security and the call that should be made not to attack journalists while performing their duties, Katarina Marinković, from the Media Center, criticizes punitive policies.

"The criminal policy against those who attack journalists should be stricter and not that the attackers be fined or given some suspended prison sentences for physically attacking journalists," she says.

In addition to equipping with the necessary tools for reporting, Adelina Ahmeti from Kallxo.com says that it is important that the trainings that take place are done in a practical way and not only theoretically.

"Training on the ground, in any police exercise during riots so that we have detailed in the plan where we can stay, how to report, how much we can hinder the work of the police or other institutions or how much they can hinder our work if we are not ranked in the right place for reporting," she says.

According to the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, from January to December last year, 74 cases of threats and attacks were reported against journalists and the media. Of them, 30 were recorded during reporting in the northern part of the country, while the rest of the cases were reported from other areas and activities.

Of these attacks, 46 were made against journalists in groups, 17 against male journalists and 11 against female journalists.

---

In addition to this article, the journalist of Cenzolovka and the Slavko Curuvija Foundation, Danica Gjokić, has written about the challenges of women journalists who report on Kosovo in the international media.

"Journalist Una Hajdari has described these experiences. She says that some of them commented on her appearance or hugged her without permission. The online space is even more toxic, with threats and harassment aimed especially at women. Hajdari is afraid of becoming a victim of ' deepfakes' (fake videos) or privacy violations. Journalist Jelena Petkovic also faced negative experiences, including a smear campaign by politicians. Petkovic believes that she would not have faced this if she were a man," summarizes Gjokovic in her article.