The Stability Pact Media Task Force provides a permanent platform for donor meetings and has a link to Southeastern Europe by a regional “antenna” composed of nine National Media Working Groups.  During its meeting in Brussels 25 May, Stability Pact Deputy Special Co-ordinator John Riddle pointed out that the violent events in Kosovo in March were a setback for the SEE region as a whole.  Withstanding any temptation at singling out the media as the ones solely responsible for the spell of violence, the media experts of the Task Force were unanimous that the media played an unfortunate role in the developments leading to the loss of life and property.

They called upon donors to make a particular effort to establish quality control mechanisms inside the various media outlets and projects they are funding in Southeast Europe and particularly Kosovo.  The media experts of the Task Force felt that only such mechanism can consistently ensure professional compliance with internationally accepted standards before any damage is done.  The media experts also agreed to invite Kosovar journalists to engage more widely in an exchange amongst professional peers and to more closely study mechanism and instruments of self-regulations applied elsewhere in Southeastern Europe.  The creation of a Kosovo Media Working Group to form part of the Stability Pact network can be envisaged if the interest is found in Kosovo to participate.

The media of Kosovo’s role in the March 2004 riots will be the topic of a case study presented at the Working Table I meeting, chaired by Elisabeth Rehn in Portoroz 7 June 2004.  The Working Table is the twice-yearly assembly of all the participating governmental and institutional representatives dealing with Human Rights and Democracy issues in the Stability Pact Working Table I framework, which includes media.