The Chairman of the Independent Media Commission, Jeton Mehmeti, in an interview in "Tempus", has announced that the IPC may have a vacuum in decision-making during the elections.
The February national elections in Kosovo may leave the IPC without the necessary members to make decisions.
"It may happen that if the new members are not appointed by the Assembly and if the Constitutional Court does not take any decision in favor of the version of the law that was approved in the Assembly of Kosovo, we may have a vacuum in decision-making during the election period" , Mehmet said.
The mandate of Mayor Mehmeti will end on January 21, 2025, and so will the mandate of his deputy. Currently, the IMC consists of only five members. When taking into account the fact that two will leave, the KPM remains at only 3 members during election time, not enough for a quorum for decision-making.
"This is because of the seven members that the IPC should have, it will remain in only three members and three members do not constitute the quorum for decision-making. In this way, we can come to a situation where the complaints of the parties of citizens and other cases with which the IPC deals, may be forced to wait for an indefinite time because it does not depend on the IPC when the Assembly will appoint the new members until the quorum for decision-making is made", Mehmeti added. / Oath of Justice
Jeton Mehmeti, chairman of the Independent Media Commission, in an interview in "Tempus", has announced that in the next elections, there will be changes regarding the broadcasting of politicians' statements.
According to Mehmet, from the opening of the ballot boxes to their closing, only the statements of the candidates for prime minister, leaders of political parties and candidates for mayors will be broadcast during the local elections.
"Finally, in the Regulations, we have decided from 7:00 a.m. when the ballot boxes are opened until they close, statements, pronouncements of political leaders and candidates for prime minister and candidates for mayors in local elections can be broadcast during the day. Meanwhile, the candidates for deputies or assemblymen can be broadcast only after the ballot boxes are closed", said Mehmeti.
According to the first of the IPC, this is done in order not to favor other candidates, be they MPs or assemblymen.
"This is in order to transmit to the public only the main messages from political actors, those who represent political entities. Do not create favoritism towards a particular candidate in any form. Because in the past we have seen that the statements of some candidates were broadcast several times during the day and this is a disadvantage in the sense of equal treatment of all other candidates", added Mehmeti.
He emphasized that the first principle of the Regulation is that the media should treat political subjects equally and offer them equal space for advertising.
Chairman of the KPM: RTK violated the Code of Ethics with the article of 'Slobodna Bosna', clarification was requested for the affected parties
Jeton Mehmeti, chairman of the Independent Media Commission, in the show "Tempus" on KTV, has shown how he found violations of the Code of Ethics by Radio Television of Kosovo.
It is about the case where during this year, RTK broadcasted a news of "Slobodna Bosna", where two media outlets in Kosovo were attacked.
"In this case, we had a complaint from two parties who were affected by the news and we saw that during the broadcast of that news, several articles of the Code of Ethics of the IPC were violated, which stipulates that every news broadcast must be balanced. It should not be one-sided, the opinion and statement of the party for whom such news is the subject should also be taken. We waited for the response of both parties, the affected and the public broadcaster, finally we made a decision in which we found the public broadcaster in violation for this news", said Mehmeti.
This case, as Mehmeti says, was closed with the clarification of the subjects precisely at RTK, as this was requested by the IPC.
"We have requested that the subjects in question (affected parties) be given the opportunity for clarification about those assumptions and we have given them a deadline, because a news story must be denied, clarified within a short period, we have given seven days to the broadcaster public and on the seventh day, fortunately, the public broadcaster has implemented the request of the KPM and given space to the parties, and this case is closed", Mehmeti added. / Oath of Justice
Mehmeti: "Arena" published messages after the attack in Banjska, if it happens again, the broadcast will leave Kosovo forever
The chairman of the Independent Media Commission, Jeton Mehmeti, in an interview for "Tempus" explained what the "Arena" case was.
Mehmeti said that after the attack in Banjska, messages glorifying the attack were broadcast through "Arena".
"The "Arena" case has to do with the publication of several messages immediately after the attack in Banjska. In them, the terrorist attack was glorified and given the sensitivity of the event, the message may have been encouraging for certain persons to continue with such attacks", said Mehmeti.
The head of the IPC announced that within 48 hours a decision was made to ban broadcasting for four months.
"The moment we were made aware of these messages, TV spots that were released during or during sports breaks, within 48 hours we made a decision to stop broadcasting the sports channels "Arena" on all cable operators, because they have been was broadcast on several cable operators and this decision was in force until another decision of the IPC", said Mehmeti.
Mehmeti also promised that if it happens again, "Arena" will be permanently removed from broadcasting in Kosovo.
"The next decision of the IPC came only after about four months when we found that the situation is already different and since the first decision was temporary, then we made a decision to allow the broadcast of the Arena channels, provided that events such, or such violations of our regulation will not occur in the future. If they happen, a decision will be made for the permanent removal of Arena channels from the Republic of Kosovo", added Mehmeti. / Oath of Justice
The President of the KPM: From January 1, the citizen can terminate the contract with the cable operators if the agreement is violated
Jeton Mehmeti, chairman of the Independent Media Commission, has announced that from January 1, 2025, citizens will be able to terminate the contract with cable operators if the agreement is violated.
Mehmeti said in "Tempus" that this KPM Regulation came as a result of developments this year, where some cable operators were punished by the KPM after some channels suddenly left.
"When we have faced many complaints from citizens that some shows or channels have suddenly disappeared after they have paid, what have we done? We engaged a legal expert and now we have approved a Regulation which details what should be contained in a contract signed between a distribution operator and a customer. This regulation enters into force on January 1, 2025, and from now on the citizen will have more transparency on the services he will receive. It will have a slightly more voluminous contract, but thanks to that contract, the citizen can even terminate the contract when it is unilaterally terminated by the operator, or can even receive compensation if these are not reached between the two parties, here is the KPM of 'force the parties to respect the regulations and contracts for which they receive the services'. Mehmet said.
According to the chairman, the IPC sanctions with the purpose of raising awareness and not as a punitive mechanism.
"There are cases when, thanks to citizens' complaints, we have taken sanctioning decisions for a certain television, combining it with an apology to a certain community in order for these measures to be proportional, always with our good intention that our sanctions serve as a mechanism self-awareness and in no way as a punitive mechanism", Mehmeti added.
He mentioned that there are cases when they sanctioned fines of up to 100 euros. / Oath of Justice
Jeton Mehmeti tells why the competition for the position of the head of the KPM failed twice
Jeton Mehmeti, chairman of the Independent Media Commission, in an interview on the "Tempus" show on KTV, commented on the failure of the two open competitions for the position of the head of the KPM.
According to the chairman of the KPM, until September of last year, it was impossible to open a competition.
"Until September of last year, we did not have the right to open a competition because we had to respect the mandate of the former chief, whose term ended around September. Then, in December, we approved the Regulation and immediately opened the competition", said Mehmeti.
While after December last year, he said that the competition has failed twice for different reasons.
"In the first two contests that we opened for the position of chief executive, both failed for various reasons. In the first, no candidate - and this was the assessment of the British, did not meet the technical criteria to go further with the interview," said Mehmeti.
He added that the members of the evaluation committee in the second competition had resigned due to technical problems.
"In the second competition, which we re-announced, the candidates who entered the competition for an interview, during the testing process, the evaluation committee, which is made up of officials from other institutions, encountered technical problems and thanks to those technical problems, the members of the evaluation committee gave resignation. Thus, it is impossible for us to continue the competition", added Mehmeti. / Oath of Justice
Mehmeti: Our reports in the Assembly may have discouraged the candidates for members of the KPM
The chairman of the Independent Media Commission, Jeton Mehmeti, said that the reports of the IPC this year in the Assembly may have discouraged potential candidates for IPC members.
In an interview in "Tempus", Mehmeti announced that the competition for members of the KPM has failed twice.
"At the beginning of this year (2024), the KPM was faced with frequent reports in the Assembly of Kosovo. Reports that had to do with KPM decision-making and what happened in those reports may have discouraged potential candidates from even applying for such positions. Therefore, the competition has also failed twice, for the candidates for members of the KPM", said Mehmeti.
However, the president of the KPM said that in the next competition, 19 candidates have applied for four positions.
"But what is worth noting is that in the next attempt a total of 19 candidates have applied for the four positions that will be vacant from January and from these 19 candidates, our task has been to advertise the position and encourage people, but further we cannot take any step, except to submit the applications to the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo and now we are waiting for the Assembly to choose these candidates in order to complete the commission of seven members", Mehemti said.
According to the Law on the KPM, the Commission consists of seven members, but this composition was never completed during the last mandate. / Oath of Justice
Mehmeti: The KPM faces financial challenges, the revenues of the licensees go to the budget of Kosovo
Jeton Mehmeti, chairman of the Independent Media Commission, in an interview with the "Tempus" show on KTV, talked about the challenges that the institution he leads, although independent, is going through.
"The first challenge has to do with the general budget with which this institution (KPM) operates. Although it is an independent institution, from the budgetary point of view it depends on the Ministry of Finance", said Mehmeti.
The KPM also has financial needs for various projects, but they are not always approved by the Assembly.
"Thus, when we make projections and capital projects for increasing staff and for other technical resources, it must pass through the filters of the Ministry of Finance and must have the approval of the Assembly of Kosovo. "Our requests are not always approved, in terms of financial needs," Mehemti said.
However, as Mehmeti explained, the KPM does not have the right to use the revenues it accumulates from licensed entities, but those funds are poured into the state budget.
"What makes this institution interesting is that, although it collects revenue from licensees in the sense of the license fee, those revenues are all poured into the budget of Kosovo. So, unlike some regulators of other countries which those revenues can use for their own needs, even to return to the licensed entities themselves in the sense of grants for the production of television content or radio content , we have no right to manage those revenues except to hand them over directly to the budget of Kosovo", said Mehemti.
He said that the Ministry of Finance would have to take into account the demands of the institution.
"What I mentioned are challenges that deserve attention and I would like the Ministry of Finance to take into account the demands of the institution, especially those related to the increase of the staff, and even the level of salaries that the employees of this institution have institution with other independent institutions such as the Central Election Commission or the institution of the People's Advocate", added Mehmeti. / Oath of Justice
