The Debate Flaka Surroi Didn’t Want You to See

Now, thanks to Nexha Gjema, you can. The recording once censored is finally aired, a victory for accountability and journalistic integrity. What follows is what you were not meant to see.

On a late-summer evening in Prishtina, in September 2024, a television studio gathered three people around a subject that should never be controversial but somehow always is: professional ethics in journalism. The conversation, recorded for “Tabu me Nexhën” on KTV¹, was meticulous, unhurried, and crucially public service. It featured the veteran sports journalist Agim Kasapolli; the programme’s thoughtful host, Nexha Gjema; and me. For more than an hour we spoke plainly about what a journalist owes the audience, what a newsroom owes the truth, and what a society owes its own security when information is the first line of defence. It was not incendiary television; it was responsible television. And then it did not air.

Weeks later, as I prepared to report abroad, I was told by KTV leadership that the episode had been halted, on the asserted grounds that I was “known for fake news.” The charge was made without evidence and without recourse. I wrote, repeatedly, asking for substantiation.

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