MEDIA AND THE POVERTY

1.1 Media in transition……………………………………………………………...…3
1.2 Poverty in Kosovo…………………………………………………………………4
1.3 Poverty and Media………………………………………………………………...5
1.4 The financial crisis………………………………………………………………...7
1.5 Conclusions………………………………………………………………………..8


By:

Arben Llapashtica


1.1 Media in transition.

Media are an integral part of the society in the democratic system, often alleged also as the “forth power”, based in the theory of separation of powers[1]. In the post 1999 war Kosovo, the media are considered as media in transition, due to several political processes they are undergoing.

Television (telecommunication medium) remains the main source of information for the public audience in Kosovo. According to some recent pools 84% of the public audience receives the information through the television. There are three national televisions in Kosovo, namely Radio Televizioni i Kosovës (“RTK”), Koha Vizion (“KTV”) and Radio Televizioni 21 (“RTV21”), two of them are private media and one, the RTK is public.

Such figures emphasize the role of the media in the information of the public in Kosovo, but, on the other hand, also raise some questions as regards how the media deal with the ethic principles and standards issues, what was the level of accuracy and transparency in reporting the transitional period in Kosovo, what was the level of credibility, responsibility, objectivity and impartiality towards the citizens, and what is more important, how did the media represent poverty - one of the most sensitive issues in Kosovo.

From a general overview one may notice that the information given by the media, especially news-oriented information is focused on the political issues related with the undefined status of Kosovo, or what was generally expressed as the “status quo”. Such approach has contributed to leaving other important issues uncovered or covered in a superficial way.



1.2 Poverty in Kosovo

“Poverty means lack of options and opportunities for human development”[2]

According to the United Nations over 25,000 individuals die every day in the world from undernourishment, i.e. one death from undernourishment every 3.5 seconds, being children most of the victims.

According to UNDP Kosovo continues to be the poorest country in Europe with 37% of the population living with 1.43 Euro per day, and 15% of the population living with 0.93 Euro per day. Extreme poverty is considered living with less than one dollar per day. One of the primary UN goals, states in the Millennium Development Goals, is the eradication of extreme poverty in the world, and this will take a lot of efforts worldwide.

However, in the Kosovo scenario, the poverty is caused by a number of factors. Undergoing several political stages, the occupation and the discrimination have their contribution in such situation.

The Provisional Institutions of Self-Government and also the international organizations present in Kosovo are supporting the economic and social development basing in one of the main Kosovarian resources, which is the young age of its population[3]. According to the UN data almost 52% of the population in Kosovo is under 25 years. This is a very valuable resource for a society, but taking into account the high figures of unemployment, such resource becomes worthless.

Earlier reports of the World Bank have indicated that the province of Former Yugoslavia - Kosovo - was the poorest province comparing to the other provinces and republics of the Former-Yugoslavia. Within Kosovo itself, the rural areas that cover 60 % of Kosovo’s territory are poorer than the urban areas. Such data have often been in the focus of the media, but still it remains the question: How did the media present such sensitive issues?

1.3 Poverty and Media

National TV has been established in Kosovo in the beginning of 1999, in the framework of EU and USAID assistance projects. In the beginning they had a two-hour program whereas now, after eight (8) years they transmit through a 24 hours program.

Packed with young journalists, with higher salaries comparing to the salaries in other Kosovarian institutions, the national televisions are little focused in the poverty issue. Such lack of focusing in the poverty and/or other social issues has several reasons, such as the lack of professionals, politics-oriented editorials, journalist with little creativity or professional etiquette, oriented mainly in the government protocols and events. In general such journalists do not deal with the phenomena but mainly with “the victims” of it.

The topics on the poverty are usually handled in specific days. Usually during the weekend are transmitted more social topics, comparing to the other days of the week. During the week the main news are more or less determined by the political and governmental events, whereas in the weekend, when such events are rare, the journalists tend to focus in social events and issues, obligated by the lack of political events and by the necessity to cover the work of the day. But how ethical such approach is? How are the poor families perceived in the television, how are their stories presented? Unfortunately the poor people are usually presented as isolated, under-educated, weak and vulnerable. Usually the focus is the children, but the darkest side of poverty is portrayed, without taking into consideration the reasons of such poverty and without at least trying to create “the story”.

In the televisions of Kosovo, starting from September 2006, the reports related with social issues are more frequent. Every year the UN Kosovo Team grants the Poverty Prize for best journalistic piece on poverty. The journalists report the poverty following the UN criteria, without trying to expand the topic further.

“Journalistic piece has to be poverty centered, unfolded and tackling various policy perspectives, such as socio-economic analysis, impact of the poverty on people’s life, self solutions identified, fighting the poverty through education, gender equality and poverty eradication, poverty and children and/or features portraying people who live in poverty. It is up to journalist to use variety of elements that could best determine poverty.”[4]

The journalistic reports on poverty usually describe a poor family, showing one of the family members crying, followed by an interview with a government official from the Ministry of Social Welfare, who gives the usual data and argues that the Government is unable to fight poverty due to the low budget in its disposal. The factors of poverty are usually omitted; the issue is not elaborated further. The good thing of such reports consists in the fact that any of the viewers may feel regret and decides to help the family donating food or money. The question still remains: What is happening with journalism or with the other 40 % of the population that lives in poverty.

One of the reasons affecting the professional level of the journalists is the level of payment. Most of the journalists in Kosovo receive a monthly salary up to 300 Euro per month; many of them come from various regions of Kosovo and are obligated to lease an apartment in Prishtina in order to work in the national TV. This economic situation has its contribution in the quality of performance, being the reason that many of them consider the job as their main source of income and are focused in fulfilling the daily requirements of the job (the norm) without trying to elaborate the topics further.

The televisions differ also in the scheduled time dedicated to the social topics. RT21 has a special rubric which deals with poverty, under the name “I am in Kosovo too”, whereas the other televisions tend to be discriminating for such issues.

If we bring in comparison the media in Kosovo with the foreign media and the international one, the differences in the presentation of the social topics are obvious. The foreign journalists try to bring into focus and to increase the public awareness on such issues, in the news there is shown an evident appeal for reaction.

1.4 The financial crisis

The Kosovarian economy and the revenues of the population are tightly related with the emigration since many Kosovarians live and work abroad. The world economy is in a deep financial crisis, which is crushing the international stock markets worldwide. America’s housing collapse is cited as having caused the crisis, which continued with the collapse of many investment firms and savings and loan associations throughout America and Europe.

Media in Kosovo report that the crisis has not and shall not affect the Kosovarian economy, however news on the difficulties encountered by the Kosovo Pensions Trust have already been reported. Even in the case the crisis shall not have a direct impact in the economy; for sure it will impact emigration remittances by putting at risk the jobs of the emigrants. Such concerns have also been stated by Mrs. Sharan Burrow, the President of the International Trade Union Confederation, in the second Global Forum on Migration and Development, which took place in Manila.

She stated that due to the crisis some 20 million workers will lose their jobs. “Many countries have anticipated that they will cut the migrant numbers. This shall affect workers in the fields of construction, cleaning and home care. They are the first to be sent home and in their origin countries they suffer the poverty and unemployment. “ [5]

After the Declaration of Independence on February 17th, 2008, the European Commission has convened the conference of donators for Kosovo. Such conference resolved for an assistance of 1.2 milliard euros to Kosovo; however it is not clear how such assistance will affect poverty. The recent experience shows that such assistance is usually used for sustaining the democratic institutions and its effects in the economic situation are remote.

1.5 Conclusions

The eradication of poverty requires major efforts from all of us. One of the primary factors in reducing poverty are specific projects from the donators and foreign investments.

Kosovo remains the country with the lowest GDP in the region. The war and the conflicts have their contribution in increasing poverty. Other factors are the problems inherited from the occupation period and the dissolution of Yugoslavia. It is essential that Kosovo’s Government implements the appropriate policies against poverty. Public investments in education and health have also their influence in decreasing poverty.

As far as the media is concerned, it appears that media are deficient in the freedom of speech and also the etiquette code. The media does not represent and reflect the real situation of the people in Kosovo, but is focused in transmitting news from the government, often one-sided. Most of the news are transmitted by official governmental spokesman, often ignoring the journalism rules. Investigative journalism is rare. Public awareness campaigns and public debates on the most sensitive issues are also absent. We are witnessing the aggravation of the poverty in Kosovo, therefore the efforts against it should commence in the governing levels and supported by the whole public opinion.
[1]Modern democratic theories and implementations, especially after Montesquieu’s theories, rely on the separation of powers: executive (government), legislative (parliament) and judicial (courts) branches of power are separated, hence the definition of media as the fourth power.
[2] UNDP, 1997 Global:15
[3] According to the UN statistics approximately
[4] United Nation Kosovo Team http://www.unkt.org/repository/docs/Information_for_Poverty_Prize_Contest.pdf
[5] Sharan Burrow, Manila conference October 2008