Kosovo: Serbian media must be allowed to report on local elections
The Central Election Commission of Kosovo (KQZ) rejected accreditation requests from Serbian and Albanian-language media outlets, as well as international media, ahead of the 12 October local elections. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joins its members the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) and the Safe Journalists Network (SJN) in condemning a discriminatory decision that is violating media freedom and the right of citizens to receive information in an official language.
According to information from the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK), dozens of Serbian-language outlets registered and operating in Kosovo were refused accreditation at a KQZ session. In addition, multiple Albanian-language outlets were also denied, reportedly without clear justification. Some KQZ members would have voted against accreditation under the suspicion of the “authenticity of the media” and the “origin of the documents”, even though Serbian media are legally registered (as business or NGOs) under Kosovo law.
In a press release UNS condemned an “unprecedented form of discrimination and pressure on the media”:
The attitude of the KQZ unequivocally indicates discrimination on the basis of language and ethnicity and is contrary to all international standards of freedom of expression and the right to information,” the statement said.
In an open letter to Kosovo institutions, the Safe Journalists Network and the MFRR partners also expressed deep concern over the decision and urged the KQZ to provide a detailed explanation of its decision-making process.
“Excluding media on linguistic or other improper grounds damages pluralism and weakens the public’s ability to make informed choices,” the letter reads.
Together with its affiliates, the EFJ encourages the rejected media outlets to immediately appeal the decision to the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel, and call for the decision to be urgently reviewed and overturned in order to allow journalists working for Serbian media outlets in Kosovo to cover the local elections on 12 October 2025.
This statement was produced by EFJ as part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.
