PRISHTINA, 09 December 2009 - On the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day, 9 December, the Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo, the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency and United Nations Development Program (UNDP), organized a ceremony of awards for journalists who best reported on the subject of fighting and preventing corruption in Kosovo in 2009.
In his speech before the participants, Mr. Mentor Shala, President of the Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo said: "I want to thank all those journalists who participated and also UNDP that transformed this award into an already traditional one. Journalists are performing their work in combating corruption and now it remains to the institutions to bring the work to the end".
Being one of the partners, Mr. Preteni Hasan, Director of the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency said: "Corruption must be fought with all of the force and there are different ways to do this. Even journalists are providing input on reporting and resolving cases. We will be your partners in this area and will continue the close cooperation with you".
Mr. Tetsuo Kondo, Deputy Director of UNDP on the other hand emphasized: UNDP is pleased to be able to support Kosovo society in their efforts to realize the development potential and to support our partners in the fight against corruption. The main challenge before us is to build partnerships and successfully mobilize many stakeholders to eliminate the reasons and consequences of corruption in the short and long term".
The commitment and work of journalists is demonstrated by the number of 35 articles received during the application period. These articles were published between the dates of 2 December 2008 and 2 December 2009.
Independent jury consisting of media professionals and representatives of civil society: Mr. Alex Standish, Mr. Nikola Goan, Mr. Shpend Ahmeti, Mr. Nebi Qena, Mr. Seb Bytyci announced these winners:
Category of TV (had 15 stories):
The First Prize for TV:
Mr. Bashmir Xhemaj, Abuses in the Ministry of Agriculture, KTV
The Second Prize for TV (divided by):
Mrs. Lindita Azizi, Corruption in the Courts of Kosovo, RTK, and
Mr. Isa Gacaferi, Abuse of official position in the process of returns to Klina, BIRN-RTK
Print Media category (there were 18 stories):
The First Prize:
Mrs. Bukurie Bajraliu, Limaj's Ministry ousted the auditors, Koha Ditore
The Second Prize:
Mr. Jeton Musliu, Who killed Mensur? Newspaper Express
Wire Story Category (there were 3 stories)
The First Prize: Mr. Zarko Joksimovic, Corruption in Health, Link Production
The jury had previously decided to re-allocate the anticipated third prize in the category of TV's to the second prize in the category of print media. This decision was taken due to the large number and quality of articles in print media.
These awards are given to try to promote investigative journalism in Kosovo print media, radio, agencies, internet and on television and to reward the work on the awareness of citizens on the phenomenon of corruption.
