Kosovo's Developing Free Press
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KOSOVO’S DEVELOPING FREE PRESS: HOW DO NEWSPAPERS IN A TRANSITIONING SOCIETY BEHAVE UNDER INTERNATIONAL SUPERVISION AND WHAT ROLE DO THEY PLAY DURING LOCAL ELECTIONS? A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri-Columbia In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by BESA LUCI Prof. Byron T. Scott, Thesis Supervisor AUGUST 2008 The undersigned, appointed by the Dean of the Graduate School, have examined the thesis titled KOSOVO’S DEVELOPING FREE PRESS: HOW DO NEWSPAPERS IN A TRANSITIONING SOCIETY BEHAVE UNDER INTERNATIONAL SUPERVISION AND WHAT ROLE DO THEY PLAY DURING LOCAL ELECTIONS? presented by Besa Luci, a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. ___________________________ Professor Scott T. Byron ______________________________ Professor George Kennedy _______________________________ Professor Michael J. Grinfeld _______________________ Professor Margit Tavits ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is a result of my interest in looking more thoroughly at the state of daily newspapers in Kosovo, in particular the role they play in holding the newly established Kosovar institutions accountable to a citizenry eager to establishing a democratic society. After working for several local NGO’s in Kosovo as a media monitor and acquiring an education in journalism at University of Missouri, Columbia, I was able to approach the topic with a better understanding, which was also a result of my close work with great faculty. Firstly I would like to thank my Committee Chair, Prof. Byron Scott, for his guidance and support throughout this research process. His knowledge of the region’s history and his experience with journalists from the region helped me construct my research question so that it related to my field of interest and offered me an opportunity to get thoroughly acquainted with journalistic practices in Kosovo. His guidance helped me to better understand the challenges that a country as Kosovo might face in developing and applying a set of new standards as a transitioning country. I would also like to thank the rest of the committee members, George Kennedy, Michael Grinfeld and Margit Tavits, for bringing their areas of expertise to the issue and helping me to recognize potential drawbacks. I would like to thank Ben DeDominicis, my political science professor from the American University in Bulgaria, whose political simulations and courses on the politics of the Balkans allowed me to grasp the intensity of socio-political relations in former Yugoslavia and the wider political implications of the conflicts in the region. I am also ii greatly indebted to my journalism professor at AUBG, Aernout van Lynden, who was also a war correspondent for Sky News in former Yugoslavia. I would like to thank him for his honest accounts of the war stories he shared and how he challenged us to accept our history. I would like to thank my sister, Nita Luci, for not only has she been there during my academic trials, but has always been my mentor through her own conceptualization of the region’s politics as an anthropologist. Her accounts have always allowed for me to have a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of Kosovo and the region. I would also like to thank Zizë Rexhaj Kraja, head of the information department at the Kosovo’s National Library in Pristina, who made it possible for me to have access to the library’s archives for the newspapers clips. I am also grateful to Vegim Kraja and Milot Hasimja for their help in contacting and arranging interviews with the dailies’ editors in chief. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................ii LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES…..………………………………………………….vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................................vii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................ix Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 Historical background of former Yugoslavia The specific case of Kosovo Governance in Kosovo Background on Kosovo’s party politics Media Environment in Kosovo Importance of the topic 2. LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................... 25 A definition of accountability Framing theory 3. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................. 36 Textual analysis Application Interviewing Application 4. ANALYSIS RESULTS....................................................................................... 47 Table A - List of abbreviations used in the analysis results section iv Table B - Timeline of events referred to in the analysis results section Bota Sot Epoka e Re Koha Ditore Kosova Sot Zëri Express 5. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 84 6. LIMITATIONS AND WEAKNESSES............................................................... 88 BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................................... 90 v LISTS OF CHARTS AND TABLES Chart Page 1. Chart A: 2001 Kosovo Assembly Elections………………………………………….14 2. Chart B: 2004 Kosovo Assembly Elections………………………………………….15 3. Chart C: 2007 Kosovo Assembly Elections………………………………………….16 Table Page 1. Table A - List of abbreviations used in the analysis results section………………….47 2. Table B - Timeline of events referred to in the analysis results section……………...48 vi LIST OF ABBREVATIONS AAK – The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo AER – European Agency for Reconstruction AKR – The New Alliance of Kosovo AMIA - Israelite Argentinean Mutual Aid Association BSPK - The Association of Independent Union of Kosovo CCNY - The City College of New York EU - The European Union EULEX - The European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo IMC - Independent Media Commission IREX - The International Research and Exchanges Board KLA - The Kosovo Liberation Army KFOR - NATO-led Kosovo Force KEK – The Kosovo Electricity Company LDD – The Democratic League of Dardania LDK – The Democratic League of Kosovo NATO- North Atlantic Treaty Organization NED - National Endowment for Democracy OHR - Office of the High Representative ORA- The Reformist Group ORA OSCE - Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe OTI - Office of Transition Initiatives vii PCK - Press Council of Kosovo PDK- The Democratic Party of Kosovo PISG - Provisional Institutions of Self-Government SLKM - Serb List for Kosovo and Metohija SFRY - Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia TMC - Temporary Media Commissioner TMK - Kosovo Protection Corps UNDP – United Nations Development Program UNMIK- The United Nations Mission in Kosovo UNHCR - UN High Commissioner for Refugees USAID - United States Agency for International Development viii KOSOVO’S DEVELOPING FREE PRESS: HOW DO NEWSPAPERS IN A TRANSITIONING SOCIETY BEHAVE UNDER INTERNATIONAL SUPERVISION AND WHAT ROLE DO THEY PLAY DURING LOCAL ELECTIONS? Besa Luci Prof. Byron Scott, Thesis Supervisor ABSTRACT This study examines the extent to which political party affiliations affect the news coverage of six daily Kosovar newspapers. The study was conducted following the declaration of independence on February 17, 2008 by the Kosovo Assembly. The study sought to examine the coverage of policies that were dependant on domestic institutions. Through the application of textual analysis, media framing was discerned based on a comparison between two time periods when different government structures were in power, 2004 and 2007. Moreover, the study expanded on the results based on semi- structured interviews with the editors in chief of the daily newspapers. Overall, the study’s results show that the Kosovar daily newspapers fail to keep government fractions to a high degree of accountability. The general tendency was to merely replicate party members’ rhetoric during their election campaigns. Rarely did the newspaper challenge such claims or reference to the political party’s performance during their mandate. Accountability was generally sought through party attacks on one another, and depending on the daily, such frames tended to be were subject to the newspaper’s political affiliation. The study holds that opportunities for more thorough and informative coverage did exist. ix Introduction When the socialist and totalitarian bloc in Eastern Europe began to disintegrate in the early 1990s, the establishment of democratic processes and rule of law commenced, also offering hope to transform the political landscape of Europe and unite the half-a- century divided continent. But as nationalistic aspirations replaced socialism in the southeast federation of Yugoslavia, political elites of Western Europe and the United States were caught off balance by the violent disintegration that began to unravel (Glenny 2000, p.635). They failed to grasp the historical and political preconditions that intensified the conflict, and initial Western policy focused merely on attempts to preserve a unified federation. Therefore, the understanding of any former Yugoslav constituent and its process toward democratization requires some understanding of the historical background of the federation itself and the developments that eventually triggered