European media watchdogs point finger at Kosovo’s ruling party as one of reasons for press freedom decline

Prishtina, 20 July 2026, dtt-net.com – A group of eight European media organizations said in a new report that press freedom in Kosovo has declined in recent years, and blamed the ruling Vetevendosje (LVV) party of the caretaker Prime Minister Albin Kurti of being one of the reasons, recalling that since 2023 to 2026 the country has dropped by 28 places in World Press Freedom Index of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF). “The passing by parliament of a media law — later rejected as unconstitutional — which would have increased political control over the Independent Media Commission (IMC), the insufficient funding and pressures on Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK), as well as a sustained increase in verbal targeting and denigration of journalists by ruling party politicians, are the principal factors behind this assessment,” reads the report.