EU-Western Balkans summit: the advancement of trusted, independent journalism must be prioritised in EU accession talks
The upcoming EU-Western Balkans summit in Brussels on 18 December will be the first high-level meeting of the new European Commission with the heads of state of Balkan countries. It is an important opportunity to create new political momentum and set ambitious goals for press freedom. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the European Union (EU) and its Member States to demand candidate countries commit to upgrading their laws to foster a free, independent, and pluralistic media landscape in the Western Balkans region.
Press freedom in all six Western Balkans countries has deteriorated, according to RSF's 2024 World Press Freedom Index. Albania and Serbia score the worst in the EU-Balkans zone, while press freedom remains extremely fragile in the region’s other countries despite their higher ranking.
In most of these nations, journalists are targeted by public authorities and private interest groups. Recent events illustrate how journalists in the region continue to fear for their safety. In Serbia, where RSF had previously called on public authorities to crack down on Russian propaganda, journalists for the investigative media outlet KRIK face relentless attacks on a near-daily basis: smear cam no paigns by tabloid newspapers, judicial harassment, attacks by high-ranking politicians and social media trolls, and even intimidation through break-ins at their private homes. In both Bosnia and Albania, at least two investigative journalists have been targeted with assassination attempts because of their work on organised crime. In Macedonia, a video of journalist Miroslava Simonovska meeting with a source was recently broadcast on national television in an attempt to intimidate and discredit her. In Kosovo, journalist Vehbi Katjazi found a tracking device underneath his car during a routine maintenance check-up.
“The absence of a safe environment for journalists is a major concern for RSF and the local organisations representing them. The serious threats we observed in the past few weeks should serve as a wake-up call for the region’s governments, and prompt them to accelerate the reforms necessary to improve the state of press freedom. The EU, which is eager to preserve stability in the Western Balkans, should also make journalists’ safety a non-negotiable criterion for accession to the EU.”
In addition to mitigating safety issues, urgent action is needed in the Western Balkans to restore public confidence in independent, ethical journalism and its role as a provider of reliable, fact-based, general-interest information that is essential for democracy in the region. RSF hails the valuable work carried out by the Ethical Journalism Network (EJN), which highlighted the importance of self-assessment and independent certification for news outlets in the media community of the Western Balkans.
“The journalists and media of the Western Balkans and Turkey face intolerable political pressure. We need to challenge political interference and corporate neglect of news media and put professional independence, quality journalism and ethics at the heart of a strategy to build public trust through self-assessment and transparency. The proposals and recommendations set out here provide a viable roadmap for media in the Balkans to confront and overcome the crisis of sustainability and declining public trust.” Aidan White
5 key suggestions to turn the tide of the decline of journalism in the Western Balkans
In line with the Statement and Recommendations developed by the EJN, RSF calls on all relevant stakeholders in the Western Balkans region, including governments, to step up their efforts to support a pluralistic, independent and sustainable media environment. Most notably, the EU accession talks should be seen as an opportunity to highlight the following priorities:
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Media outlets in the region must be encouraged to maintain transparency, ethical standards and credible self-regulation through self-assessment processes and independent certification through widely recognised programmes, such as the Journalism Trust Initiative.
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Support for both public and private news media from international bodies, donors, and national authorities should be conditional on assessment and certification systems vetting the quality, transparency and standards of their journalism. Advertisers and commercial sponsors of news media and fact-checking agencies should be encouraged to support their self-assessment and incentivised to work with outlets that adopt this form of transparency and self-regulation.
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Tech companies behind social media and other digital platforms should be obliged to give due prominence to news media that self-regulate in the manner described, giving them preferential treatment in the algorithms powering their search engines;
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Digital platforms and technology companies should engage in good faith with media outlets that demonstrate compliance with the requirements of widely recognised self-regulatory programmes, such as the Journalism Trust Initiative, to avoid abusive suspensions or unjustified restrictions on their content.
Several news organisations in the Western Balkansare leading the way in ethical journalism and sound editorial management through their brand new JTI certifications, such as Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN) and Valterportal.ba in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faktograf.hr in Croatia, and Istinomer in Serbia. Over 65 news organisations from the Balkans are assessing themselves with the Journalism Trust Initiative, an international quality standard for news outlets whose detailed requirements include editorial and reporting processes in line with ethical norms, good governance, self-regulation and active engagement with the public.
Link to the EJN Statement
