http://www.brusselsreporter.org/

South East Europe TV (SEETV)**
and
Journalists @ Your Service (J@YS)

are pleased to invite you to a public discussion/debate:

Date: 12 May 2006
Time: 14h30 – 16h00
Place: International Press Centre,
Résidence Palace, 155 Rue de la Loi, Bloc C – « Passage Room »

While negotiations on the future status of Kosovo are taking place in diplomatic circles, how are the people in Serbia and Kosovo informed about the issues at stake? Public perception is largely shaped by media coverage. But Serbian and Kosovar media have a strong tendency to cover the conflict along the official line taken by “their side”. Is it possible for journalists to report objectively in this context, and to “cross the official line”? Is it possible to break prejudice and to achieve balanced reporting? How is media coverage shaping solutions for the final status? And how is the Kosovo issue reported in European media?

To spur the debate, selected extracts of the award-winning documentary film “Greetings from Kosovo” will be screened. This documentary, of which Dusan Gajic (Serbia) and Fatos Bytyci (Kosovo) are the co-authors, is an attempt to break the usual reporting stereotypes, and to provide a comprehensive and balanced view of the nature of the conflict. The documentary was broadcast on television both in Serbia and in Kosovo – and this is a first.

Panel Speakers:

- Torbjorn Sohlstrom, Special Envoy of SGHR Javier Solana in Kosovo
- Tim Judah, Journalist: The Economist, New York Book Review and others.
- Dusan Gajic, Editor, South East Europe TV Exchanges (SEETV)
- Robert Shaw, IFJ Human Rights and Information Officer
- Fatos Bytyci, President of the Association of Professional Journalists of Kosovo (APJK)

Please confirm your participation by e-mail to: [email protected]

N.B. - The debate will take place in English.

**South East Europe TV Exchanges (SEETV) provides news coverage of EU events and policies to Balkan broadcasters, and produces documentary films. www.seetv-exchanges.com