Only weeks after she was appointed, Zana Spahiu has resigned as acting director of Kosovo’s public broadcaster – following criticism of the decision to publish an article that allegedly smeared two local media outlets.
Kosovo’s public broadcaster, Radio Television of Kosovo, RTK, on Thursday said acting general director Zana Spahiu had resigned, effective from July 30, only some three weeks after she was appointed to the post on July 7.
The resignation comes after RTK was accused of initiating a smear campaign against two local media for publishing an article on Monday which alleged that they were illicitly financed by Serbia.
RTK on Tuesday had announced the establishment of a commission to investigate editorial responsibility for the publication of the article, which came from a Bosnian media outlet, Slobodna Bosna.
The editor of the central news section of RTK Jeton Musliu, on Monday issued a statement saying the link to the Slobodna Bosna article was sent to him by the director of RTK’s TV channel, Rilind Gërvalla, whom he accused of putting pressure on him.
“I’m glad it [the article] came out, despite my insistence that this should not happen, but when the pressure becomes constant on you as an editor, the moment comes when you [just] try to make the delegated news as harmless as possible,” Musliu claimed.
Gërvalla on Thursday confirmed to BIRN that he had sent the link to the story to Musliu, but denied exerting pressure on him to publish anything. “I gave him [Musliu] the link, but I never told him to do [publish] it, nor was there any kind of pressure from me … We didn’t argue [over it]. The news from ‘Slobodna Bosna’ was public,” Gërvalla said.
The Association of Journalists of Kosovo, AJK, has accused Kosovo’s ruling Vetevendosje party of using the story to smear the two Kosovo media outlets. Screenshots shared by Vetevendosje MP Salih Zyba contained the names of two media outlets. In the news item on the RTK website, however, the names did not appear.
Minister of Justice Albulena Haxhiu said she had sent the article to the prosecution to investigate whether it was true. But the AJK called Haxhiu’s action “scandalous”, claiming she had attacked the media and had interfered in the justice system.
The AJK has critricised the posts of at least five Vetevendosje MPs and one senior official, accusing them of running a smear campaign against the two media.
Several civil society organisations meanehile called for the resignation of the entire RTK board.
