Radio Television of Kosovo

Radio Televizioni i /Radio Televizija (RTK)
Type

Broadcast radio, television and online

Analog: Terrestrial transmission, cable TV
Digital: DVB-C, DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-T, DVB-T2, IPTV
Headquarters Pristina, Kosovo
Key people
 Mentor Shala
Launch date
 1999
Former names
 Radio Televizioni i Prishtinës/Radio Televizija Priština
Official website
 www.rtklive.com

Radio Television of Kosovo (Albanian: Radio Televizioni i Kosovës, Serbian: Radio Televizija Kosova) is the public service broadcaster in Kosovo. It offers two radio stations broadcasting a diverse programming of news and music and four 24-hour television services broadcasting on terrestrial and satellite networks.

History

Logo of RTK (1999-2013)

RTK began broadcasting in September 1999 on analog satellite with a daily two-hour transmission, expanding to four hours per day in November 2000, with programming in Serbian and Turkish. The following July, it expanded to seven hours a day and began offering programming in Bosnian as well.

In 2001, RTK was established as an independent public service broadcaster by broadcasting regulation. The station was initially managed by the European Broadcasting Union to permit time for a non-political Board of Directors to be established. This was in place and the station independent of the EBU by the end of the year. In January 2002, an office was opened in Tirana, with a website launching in July. A second office was opened in Tetovo in November 2002.

In 2002, at which time it was broadcasting 15 hours a day, 35% of the station's broadcasts were produced externally, with the bulk of programming local. It included news and business coverage as well as farming information. Broadcasting remained multilingual, with programming in another language (the Romani language magazine “Yekhipe") beginning in September 2003. On 22 December of that year, the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day. Also in 2002, RTK began hosting awards with the best news moderator being honored by the "Drita Germizaj" award and the best cameraman by the "Rudolf Sopi" award.

RTK's radio transmission began with the October 1999 acquisition of the multilingual public radio station "Radio Prishtina", which became "Radio Kosovo". In 2000, it acquired the multi-ethnic UN youth radio station Radio Blue Sky.

In 2013, RTK's TV services expanded to include RTK 2, a new station intended to focus on minorities.[1] All minority language programming was moved to RTK 2. 2014 saw the launch of news channel RTK 3 and of the arts and documentary channel RTK 4.

Journalists at RTK have repeatedly protested in 2015 against political interference, up to asking for the dismissal of chief editors for obstruction and internal censorship.[2]

Management

RTK is regulated by the Law on Public Broadcasting. Its financing was originally guaranteed by a license fee paid over electricity bill, until the Constitutional Court declared that it was not due[3] and shifted RTK's budget over state subsidy (0.7% of Kosovo's budget). The change raised concerns for the preservation of RTK's independence. The legal requirement for RTK to plan an end to the transitional state budget funding has not been enacted.[4]:33 [5]

RTK has been criticised for lack of investigative journalism and political bias, e.g. in the extensive coverage of the ruling political party (including the annual meeting of the ruling Kosovo Democratic Party) as opposed to the short and misleading coverage of opposition Vetvendosje 2012 protests, which was deemed "a major signal of state financing putting the editorial independence of public television at risk" (IREX, 2013b). Moreover, RTK coverage only reaches 62.7% of Kosovo's territory[6]

RTK Board members are elected by the Parliament by majority vote, thus entrusting their appointment to the majority parties. Political pressures aside, RTK maintains an untapped potential thanks to good equipment and professional editors and journalists.[4]:33

See also

Notes and references

Notes:

a.   ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the Brussels Agreement. Kosovo has been recognised as an independent state by 108 out of 193 United Nations member states.

References:

  1. ↑ Sennitt, Andy (2009-03-20). "EBU renews service agreement with RTK Kosovo". medianetwork. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  2. ↑ Journalists’ solidarity in Kosovo: the RTK case, Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, 13 January 2016
  3. ↑ Decision of the Constitutional Court on the temporary measure Case KI 11/09, 09_Tome_Krasniqi_vs_RTK_et_Al.pdf Tomë Krasniqi vs. RTK et al. Complete text of the Decision.
  4. 1 2 Elda Brogi, Alina Dobreva, and Pier Luigi Parcu, "Freedom of Media in the Western Balkans", study for the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights, October 2014, EXPO/B/DROI/2013/16
  5. ↑ RTK Financial Sustainability, GAP Policy Brief
  6. ↑ Independent Media Commission of Kosovo (2013), org/materiale/dokument/1369054659.2327.pdf Annual Report for 2012

External links

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