We live in an age overloaded with information. The ongoing multiple crises and the constantly shifting media ability and mediality nature of societies are emphasizing the necessity for improved media literacy in education, politics, economics, and other fields. This provides a challenge and difficulty when putting media literacy principles into practice, particularly in the sense of how we should integrate media literacy into education systems, and add explanations and a sociocultural understanding of mediality and mediatization into a well-structured school framework. In itself, this is an essential task for the post-pandemic redesign of society as a whole. Given the lessons learned from the pandemic crisis and the increasing digitalization of social life, this strategy acts as the initial stage of media literacy, inspiring individuals to explore their media experiences, leading to deeper self-awareness and a better understanding of others.
Kosovo is the youngest country in Europe. It is the last administrative unit that emerged as an independent state after the dissolution of Yugoslavia. It has an estimated population of around 1.6 million as of 2024 (of which 92 % consider themselves ethnically Albanian). Its autonomous status was abolished by the Serb Regime in 1989, followed by occupation and war in 1998/99. In 1999, Kosovo was liberated and placed under the administration of the United Nations (Resolution 1244). On February 17th 2008, Kosovo declared its independence and was recognized by 117 States, and became a member of the EBRD and the IMF, although it has yet to become a member of UNESCO.
Kosovo had inherited a non-plural media system controlled by the state. Like many countries in Eastern Europe, particularly those that broke away from Yugoslavia, Kosovo did not experience a peaceful transition to democracy, as it faced wars and ethnic cleansing, heavily impacting its media environment. The media landscape in Kosovo consists from the end of communism in 1989 through various significant periods: the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the Kosovo War (1998-1999), and the post-war and post-independence eras. Kosovo was served by only one daily newspaper Rilindja (1945), and one wide broadcaster, Radio and Television of Prishtina (RTP) (1975) [1]. Under Milosević’s regime in the 1990s (then President of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during 1989-1997, which played a significant role in the breakup of Yugoslavia during the ‘90s), media freedom was severely restricted. Serbian authorities pursued the idea of a “Greater Serbia,” an irredentist agenda pushed by many academic scholars at the time, and shut down Albanian-run newspapers and radio stations, effectively creating an information blackout, a period when Kosovo-Albanians were informed just through foreign media, generally through illegal broadcasting and other means of communication. During this time, alternative media developed through a series of “parallel structures,” with illegal means of communication like underground newspapers and international broadcasts becoming primary news sources. Albanians were not allowed to be educated into their mother tongue and developed their parallel underground education system which also lasted for a decade (1989-1999), and impacted high illiteracy rates significantly, even present among those generations of students today.
The international intervention after the war, led by the UN and Western organizations, played a crucial role in rebuilding and reshaping Kosovo’s media landscape towards its present pluralistic, independent system. In the post-1999 period, Kosovo’s media landscape evolved significantly with support from international donors, establishing public service broadcasters and private media outlets, like the increased role of the Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) as a central public service broadcaster that was greatly supported by international institutions. The establishment of new regulatory frameworks aimed to ensure media freedom, but challenges still persist, including political interference, ownership transparency, and financial sustainability.
Nowadays Kosovo is served by three national broadcasters, around 247 audiovisual media, 34 content and internet providers, and 439 online media outlets. The presence of printed newspaper has fallen drastically (virtually to none) since 2020, namely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The country has one of the highest internet adoption rates in Europe (between 95% and 97%), higher than the average rate in Southeastern Europe (88.4%) [2], [3], as well as a high number of mobile phone users (around 1,606,956). The market for internet service provision is fairly competitive, as the top three firms control only 55% of the market (measured by market revenue) [4]. However, despite efforts to create an independent media environment, political pressures and market challenges continue to influence the sector. The rise of online media has further complicated the landscape, offering new avenues for information dissemination but also posing challenges in terms of regulation, misinformation, and professional standards [5].
Ignoring other externalities that come with them, two phenomena may be linked to a common outcome: the increased access to, often, unfiltered and fake, abundant information. Kosovo is always listed very low on PISA results, which shows the low level of critical thinking in the school curriculum [6]. Arguably, the first catalyst would be the forced societal shift to an increased online presence due to the Covid-19 pandemic across the world. Physical lockdowns impacted means of communication, leading to firms, governments, schools, etc. switching and adapting to online platforms. Secondly, the rapid technological advancement in generative artificial intelligence algorithms in the past years has greatly impacted the quantity of online content, as well as facilitate the process of content creation, making it easier for practically anyone to say and post anything. It seemed as if the stars had aligned for such a series of events to occur almost in immediate consecutiveness, if not simultaneously, and change the landscape of mass media on a global scale.
Kosovo is not excluded from societal trends, but is in fact oftentimes in alignment. Calls for increased media literacy have garnered great attention, alike many European societies. Media experts in particular the Journalism Department of University of Prishtina have been advocating for the inclusion of media literacy curriculums in middle schools and high schools, mostly arguing in favor of creating a new school subject where teachers would primarily focus on addressing media literacy issues present in Kosovo. In a pilot project supported by UNESCO, and Kosovo Teacher’s Union from 2019 until now we have trained around 3500 teachers at the primary and high school level. The trained teachers have introduced this subjects to schools, and in some of them it’s already facultative course. They believe it is important to educate the youth on how to combat the negative outcomes of post-pandemic mass media change like fake news and AI-generated content [7]. Studies show that despite general support for this initiative, policymakers have failed to make significant progress in this regard after the pandemic [8]. However, such policies necessitate the knowledge, skills, and confidence to teach media literacy, which often professionals in education in Kosovo lack [9], [10]. This stream of literature believes media literacy and other related programs could potentially aid parents and workers in education to be more integrated in a new education framework, even arguing in favor of a unified framework across societies that could decrease discrepancies in digital competency and media literacy [11].
Media literacy plays a significant role in the journey of navigating with the media and through media, learning how media shapes us, how to access facts and filter disinformation through developed fact-checking capabilities and knowledge, and in contributing to an ethical and moral playground for media and free speech. Given the role of media literacy as a lifelong learning process, it is important for policymakers to create incentives for people to pursue media literacy skills, whilst also supporting programs that advance it. Investment in technological infrastructure and human capital (e.g. training of school teachers) among other related aspects are crucial in supporting this process that may help overcome the challenges of teaching media literacy to illiterate people and filling the knowledge gap from illiteracy to digital or internet illiteracy, which Kosovo and many developing nations of the world are facing or inevitably will at some point in the future.
NOTES:
[1] Shahini-Hoxhaj, R. (2021). Media Landscapes in Kosovo after 1989: Kosovo as a Unique Case of Media Culture in the Balkans In N. Daskalova & H. Sittig (Eds.), Three Decades Later: The Media in South East Europe after 1989 (pp. 125 – 150). Kondrad Adenauer. https://www.kas.de/en/web/medien-europa/single-title/-/content/new-book-three-decades-later-the-media-in-south-east-europe-after-1989
[2] We Are Social & Meltwater (2023). Digital 2023: Kosovo. Kepios. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2023-kosovo
[3] STIIK Kosovo ICT Association. (2019). Internet Penetration and Usage in Kosovo. https://stikk.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/STIKK_IK_Report_Internet_Penetration_V3-final-1.pdf
[4] Regulatory Authority of Electronic and Postal Communication (2024). The Market Overview of Electronic Communications – Main indicators for Q2 in 2024. https://www.arkep-rks.org/
[5] Fetoshi, A., & Shahini-Hoxhaj, R. (2023). The Impact of the Media in Election Campaign During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Central European Journal of Communication, 16(1 (33)), 59-78.
[6] https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/pisa-2022-results-volume-i-and-ii-country-notes_ed6fbcc5-en/kosovo_1f99d575-en.html#:~:text=In%20Kosovo%2C%2029%25%20of%20students,mathematics%20was%20356%20score%20points.
[7] https://www.osce.org/mission-in-kosovo/545668
[8] Qerimi, G., Jahiri, M., Ujkani, B., & Zeneli, A. (2023). Media Literacy and Young People’s Digital Skills. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 18(07), pp. 50–61. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v18i07.37081.
[9] Nimani-Musa, N. (2022). Rethinking Teaching in Post COVID-19 Education In Kosovo: What Do Educators and Parents Think about Online Teaching and Learning? In. Armakolas, I., Bouzarovski, S., Demjaha, A., Elbasani, A., Krasniqi, G., & Schwandner-Sievers, S. (2022). Confronting Multiple Crises: Local and International Perspectives on Policy-Making in Kosovo. Kosovo Research and Analysis Fellowship (KRAF). https://kfos.org/en/publications/126/confronting-multiple-crises-local-and-international-perspectives-policy-making-kosovo
[10] Uka, A., Morina, M., & Kowch, E. G. (2024). Beyond Learning by Videoconference: Findings from a Capacity-Building Study of Kosovan Teachers in the Post-Covid-19 Era. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.1715 [11] Tiernan, P., Costello, E., Donlon, E., Parysz, M., & Scriney, M. (2023). Information and Media Literacy in the Age of AI: Options for the Future. Education Sciences, 13(9), 906.
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