EU Journalism Awards: A Tactic to Muzzle Kosovo’s Investigative Reporters

The EU’s awards for investigative journalism in Kosovo are not about promoting excellence—they’re about suppressing scrutiny and controlling the narrative of corruption.

Journalistic excellence is a lofty ideal, one that investigative journalists dedicate their lives to pursuing, often at great personal risk and for little material reward. Yet, when institutions with political power offer rewards for "excellence," the integrity of the profession comes into question. The European Union’s Investigative Journalism Award, now a familiar annual event in Kosovo, serves as a prime example of how political entities seek to control narratives and limit the journalistic eye that should be trained on them.

The origins of this practice, introduced by the EU mission following multiple corruption scandals in Kosovo, signal troubling intentions. Since 2014, when investigative journalists exposed EULEX's deep-rooted corruption and mismanagement in Kosovo, the EU's mission in the country has faced little to no further professional media scrutiny. One wonders: have the scandals vanished, or has the EU's new-found fondness for awarding journalists strategically minimised further exposure of its own flaws?

One cannot forget the harrowing details of EULEX’s most infamous scandal in 2014, when internal files leaked by a whistleblower—British prosecutor Maria Bamieh (The Guardian) revealed EULEX officials’ improper contacts with suspects in criminal cases, including the alleged receipt of €350,000 in bribes. The EU fought fiercely to control the damage, insisting on its internal investigations while actively pressuring journalists to stay silent. Bamieh’s claims were dismissed, her career ruined, and little came from the EU’s belated internal investigation (Balkan Insight).

Yet, as that scandal rocked Kosovo and reverberated across Europe, the EU quickly recalibrated its approach to media in the country (EU Monitor). The best way to control criticism, it seems, is not through gagging, but through more subtle means—awarding journalism that fits the EU’s narrative. The “Investigative Journalism Award,” backed by a consortium of reputable media development organizations, presents itself as an honourable recognition of journalistic courage and skill. However, it cannot be separated from its origin: an EU-sponsored initiative launched after the mission’s integrity was thoroughly shaken.

How often have we heard of major EULEX corruption stories since 2014? The silence is deafening.

Journalism, by its very nature, should be independent. The Pulitzer Prize, arguably the world’s most prestigious journalism award, is granted by independent bodies, ensuring that the highest accolades in the field are untied to government institutions. David Barstow, a three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, has famously said that journalism must act as a “watchdog of the powerful.” The EU’s mission in Kosovo, through its award scheme, threatens that essential function. It encourages journalists to focus on “safer” topics, corruption in local governance or the private sector—while the scandals within EULEX fade quietly into obscurity. It is no coincidence that investigative stories focusing on EULEX's own operations have all but disappeared from Kosovo’s media landscape.

This sudden absence of scrutiny is not due to a sudden improvement in the EU mission's conduct but rather because awarding journalists acts as a smokescreen. The prestige of an EU-funded award can distract the journalistic community from what should be its primary role: holding power, including the EU itself, to account.

Jeta Xharra, one of Kosovo’s most renowned journalists, recently celebrated on Facebook that her colleagues at KALLXO.com won first place in the EU’s Investigative Journalism Award.

"Colleagues, the best investigative journalists in Kosovo (says the EU)! They’ve won first place again, like almost every year!" she exclaimed, highlighting how KALLXO.com has consistently won these awards.

But what do these victories signify? That these journalists are exemplary in their craft? Perhaps. But when awards are granted by the very institution that should be the subject of intense scrutiny, they also signify something far more disturbing: an increasingly blurred line between journalism and propaganda.

Xharra’s colleagues at KALLXO.com were awarded for their investigative work on local corruption in Brezovica, exposing illicit activities of businessmen and local officials who allowed hundreds of illegal constructions in a protected area. This investigation, while important, is notably focused on local corruption, not the activities of the EU mission or the international organisations operating in Kosovo. The EU has strategically shifted the gaze of journalists, offering financial rewards and prestige to those willing to shine the spotlight elsewhere.

The EU’s current strategy of offering journalism awards directly compromises the integrity of the press (Kosova Press). It creates an unhealthy dependency where journalists and newsrooms compete not for the truth, but for accolades, money, and recognition from political actors. In Kosovo, the EU’s biggest foreign mission has gone from being the subject of investigative journalism to becoming the benefactor of the very profession meant to hold it accountable.

The EU’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. As journalism shifts toward appeasing the hand that feeds it, the critical gaze on EULEX’s ongoing operations and mismanagement has all but disappeared from public discourse. To further obscure this shift, the EU has carefully crafted its awards to highlight corruption in lower levels of governance and obscure institutions, diverting attention away from its own accountability.

As we celebrate investigative journalism, we must also ask ourselves whether it is appropriate for any political institution, be it the EU or otherwise, to fund and reward the media tasked with holding it accountable.

“Investigative journalism cannot flourish under political sponsorship,” as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh once remarked.

When governments and powerful institutions begin offering awards for “excellence,” we should question what kinds of stories are being encouraged, and which ones are being quietly sidelined.

What we are witnessing in Kosovo today is an insidious strategy: a façade of media freedom while investigative journalism's true purpose, the relentless pursuit of truth, even when it implicates the powerful, is quietly neutered. The EU’s journalistic awards, far from promoting excellence, are a mechanism to suppress scrutiny and ensure that its own scandals never resurface.

The time has come for journalists to reconsider the price of their silence. No reward, no matter how prestigious or lucrative, is worth the sacrifice of integrity. As long as the EU’s hand guides the distribution of these accolades, the media will remain compromised, and Kosovo's citizens, as well as those of the broader Balkans, will be the ones paying the price.