Adjudication of the Press Council of Kosovo in the Complaint of Mr. Lulzim Shala, KEP Trust Manager for Peja Region, versus Bota Sot
28 December 2009In its regular Board meeting held on 8 December 2009, while adjudicating on the complaint of Mr. Lulzim Shala versus Bota Sot newspaper in relation to an article published on 22.10.2009 entitled “KEP Employees ask for bribe for issuing a loan”, Press Council of Kosovo issued the following:
ADJUDICATION
-Not to uphold the Complaint
R E A S O N I N G
The Complainant Lulzim Shala, in his complaint versus Bota Sot newspaper in relation to an Article entitled “KEP Employees ask for bribe for issuing a loan” contents that untrue information, defamations and insults were published against him.
Following the overall review of the Complaint, hearing the representative of Bota Sot and administration of written documentation of Bota Sot in relation to the case, the Press Council of Kosovo adjudicated that the complaint should rejected.
From the expose of the representative of Bota Sot but also from review of documentation, it was found that newspaper has used an identifiable source for obtaining information, on which the newspaper based its article and has also made attempts to contact the other party, as a source and obligation deriving from the Press Code of Kosovo. Considering that on the day when the Article was published, the newspaper was objectively not able to contact the other party, it fulfilled this obligation the next day, by publishing the response of Lulzim Shala entirely.
Considering that the Article of Bota Sot possessed the source of information of one party and published the reaction of the other party after one day, the PCK Board held that Bota Sot newspaper did not violate the Code of Ethics.
The PCK Board did not adjudicate on the allegations in the complaint that are related to accepting of bribes as that falls with jurisdiction of prosecution and investigation authorities such as the Police and public Prosecutor
Based on the above, Press Council decided as indicated in the ruling of the present decision
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