The Capture of Kosovo’s Media: Open Letter to Defenders of Press Freedom

Kosovo’s media faces a crisis as investigative journalists are intimidated by organised crime networks. Immediate international action is needed to protect press freedom.

To the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), and Reporters Without Borders:

Press freedom in Kosovo stands at a crossroads. Beneath the façade of a free and independent media, a darker reality looms—one where organised crime, corruption, and disinformation intertwine to subvert the very institutions meant to protect democracy. As a journalist with over a decade of experience reporting on conflicts, politics, and human rights, I have watched these developments unfold with increasing alarm.

My name is Vudi Xhymshiti, a London-based Kosovar-British journalist and a member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). Today, I feel compelled to sound an urgent alarm about the hijacking of Kosovo’s media landscape by individuals and networks with documented ties to organised crime and U.S.-sanctioned figures.

At the centre of this alarming reality is Berat Buzhala, a former politician turned media…