Adjudication of the Press Council of Kosovo on the complaint filed by Ms. Jeta Xharra, against Infopress newspaper
29 May 2009In the meeting held on 28 April and 27 May 2009, the Press Council of Kosovo reviewed the complaint of Jeta Xharra, director of BIRN for Kosovo, against Infopress newspaper for the article they published on 11 April 2009 and that was entitled: “Defamations about UÇK (KLA)”. After a review of the respective complaint, the Press Council rendered the following
ADJUDICATION
To uphold the complaint
REASONING
Having reviewed the complaint of Jeta Xharra, Director of Birn for Kosovo, against Infopress newspaper about the article they published on 11 April 2009 which was entitled “Defamations about KLA”, the members of the board had a thorough discussion.
The Press Council shared the opinion that the respective article “Defamations about KLA”, represents different views of many persons in relations to the accusations which have not been proven yet, initiated by three authors of BIRN for alleged existence of KLA prison camps in Kukes and elsewhere, where according to BIRN innocent civilians from all nationalities were abused and killed during the spring of 1999. It can not be concluded that there was a violation of the Code of Print Media since the point 3 of the Article 4 of this Code has been respected.
A violation of the Code is noted in the front page and also in the insert of the page 3 of the article “Defamations about KLA” where the name of the complainant Jeta Xharra’s is being mentioned.
From the copies of the articles of BIRN reports, which were also published by Kosovo print media, one can clearly see that the undersigned authors of the articles published in BIRN are Altin Raxhimi and Vladimir Karaj from Albania as well as the American journalist Michael Montgomery as co-authors.
Considering that the complaint was made only in relation to the front page announcement and the insert in the 3rd page where Ms. Jeta Xharra is mentioned, pursuant to its Statute, the Press Code and Rules of Procedure, the Press Council, has reviewed only this particular part. This is an undisputed violation in reporting of the truth, according to the Press Code, Article II, Clause 1 and 2.
The members of PCK have agreed that the Infopress newspaper has also violated Article IV, Clause 3 which reads: “In reporting and commenting on a controversy, newspapers and periodicals shall make an effort to hear and represent all sides to the argument. If one side in a controversy refuses to make itself available to the journalist, the publication may legitimately note this refusal in its reporting”.
Infopress newspaper did not ask for the opinion of Jeta Xharra for the assessments that were published, thus she didn’t even have the opportunity to object the allegations of the newspaper.
The board members of PCK stressed out that the articles of BIRN still contain some unclear issues and there is a lack of identifiable sources, nevertheless it may take a lot of effort to find out the truth for any eventual violations of some individual KLA member or someone else who pretended to be a fighter and that the war of KLA for liberation of Kosovo from Milosevic Regime can not be undermined.
The Board of Press Council of Kosovo does not have any credible information that Jeta Xharra has “minimised Serb Crimes in Kosovo” as Infopress should have provided credible evidence for such allegations.
After mediation of the editorial office of the Infopress and the Office of the PCK, Ms. Xharra did not accept the offer for an interview. Thus, the Press Council, adjudicated as mentioned in the ruling of the present adjudication.
The Press Council requires from the newspaper to publish this adjudication.
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