Category: Video Organizations: KoSSev , UNMIK Tags:
Limited opportunities to work in professional newsrooms, violations of workers’ rights, and sexism are the main challenges young Kosovo journalists face, BIRN journalist, Doruntina Baliu said. In addition to these challenges, which are not infrequent in the journalism industry in general, there are also challenges specific to Kosovo – language barriers between communities and the issue of the safety of journalists of certain ethnicities in some parts of Kosovo.
The main challenge for young journalists in Kosovo is competition, Doruntina Baliu said.
According to Baliu, although the goal of every journalism student is to work in professional media, this is not always possible due to the limited number of such media outlets.
In addition to the professional compromises they have to make and the violation of workers’ rights, young journalists also have to pay the price for what older colleagues see as a lack of experience.
„As soon as they start working, a similar thing happens in other professions, they are often exploited, used or overburdened with work, often administrative work. They are not allowed to develop as journalists who deal with research topics. This also creates a phenomenon known as flying journalists. As journalists, they do not have the opportunity to specialize in a specific area or they do not have the space to deal with only one specific area, in order to develop and deal with significant research in that area,“ Baliu explained.
Due to Kosovo’s multiethnic character, but also tense relations between communities in certain parts of the country, journalists face additional challenges, Baliu warned.
