The one-day inter-professional seminar with media representatives and the judiciary took place on December 7, 2017 in Pristina. Present at the seminar were representatives of Council of Europe, European Union Office in Pristina, judges (including a recently appointed judge), prosecutors, lawyers, journalists (editors in chief and editors), representatives of civil society organisations, young jurists as well as law and journalism students. In total around, 30 participants attended the seminar, while it is worth noting that that all of them voluntarily expressed their interest and registered to attend the seminar.

The key note speakers to this seminar had an opportunity to address the key issues on online media environment according to their perspectives and professions. During the first panel the judiciary representatives addressed the main challenges in identifying, prosecuting and proving cybercrimes. Moreover, the overview of defamation legislation and aspects that have proved problematic to the court were provided by the judge who was a key note speaker in the panel. The judge in question also shared with participants statistics and data regarding the number of defamation cases. This was appreciated by participants considering the fact that such data are not available to the public in any other form. During the second panel, the media representatives paid attention to the right to access court and the right to access to public documents.

The rest of the seminar provided a platform to exchange views between participants coming from different professions. In particular, judges and prosecutors where ‘held’ accountable by civil society representatives and journalists, while they tried to argue and present challenges they face while prosecuting and/or judging cases related to media, especially online media. Jurists and students also provided comments and opinions on various topics raised during the seminar. 

Another topic discussed was ethical standards applied by online media. Participants explored available measures to address ethical violation of media, including state regulatory and self-regulatory media bodies. 

Further, there were outstanding discussions between judges and prosecutors and journalists on how they perceive their role in society and they welcomed the fact that the seminar brought them together.

This event was implemented with the financial assistance of the European Union and the Council of Europe. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Union.