An annual report on democracy in Central and Eastern Europe and Eurasia by Freedom House, mentioned the BIRN’s investigation “RTK’s Board Blocks High-Scoring Women from Top Jobs” published in September 2023, by journalists Jeta Xharra and Mediana Halili. The investigation dealt with gender discrimination in the processes of recruitment for high positions in Kosovo’s public broadcaster, RTK.

According to the report, citing BIRN’s investigation, RTK faced gender discrimination accusations over its recruitment process, after journalists Ilire Zajmi and Flora Masurica Durmishi and lawyer Mihrije Beiqi were not chosen for leadership positions they were applying for despite the fact that they came out first in scores in an open competitions.

“In September, the public broadcaster Radio Television of Kosovo (RTK) faced gender discrimination accusations over its recruitment process, after journalists Ilire Zajmi and Flora Masurica Durmishi and lawyer Mihrije Beiqi—all three of whom had worked at RTK since its founding in 1999 and were women—were not chosen for leadership positions they were applying for despite the fact that they were the top scorers in open competitions”, the US-based watchdog report said.

When the Kosovo Assembly, dominated by ruling party Vetëvendosje, elected the board of Radio Television of Kosovo, RTK, on July 25, 2021, it promised that the public broadcaster would undergo profound reform, leading to a complete reorganization of RTK.

An investigation by Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, showed that this reorganization was accompanied by highly controversial appointment processes that prevented three women from getting top management positions that they had been selected to take. 

Ilire Zajmi, Mihrije Beiqi, and Flora Durmishi were chosen in three different recruitment processes for leadership roles, but these positions were instead taken by male candidates who had received lower scores in the evaluations of the recruiting commissions. This suggests that the promised reform within RTK did not necessarily deliver gender equality.

The two journalists and one lawyer, who have been working at RTK since its establishment in 1999, told BIRN the story of systematic discrimination they experienced when they applied for top management positions that year.

All three women applied to three top jobs and came first, but the recruitment processes were in all three cases repeated solely, they claim, to prevent them from taking up the posts.

RTK, which is still represented by a male board chairman, male general director, male television director, male radio director, and male administrative director (who resigned in the meantime), has denied all these allegations, stating that meritocracy prevails and that  professional women are continuously supported. They even claimed that it is the media that ‘intimidate’ women from applying for high-ranking positions.