The recent closure of Al Jazeera Balkans marks a significant blow to media freedom and employment in the region. This event exacerbates existing concerns about worsening surveillance and censorship, as detailed in a recent BIRN report. The shutdown not only displaces a large number of media professionals but also highlights a broader trend of shrinking independent media spaces in the Western Balkans.
Key Takeaways
- The closure of Al Jazeera Balkans leaves approximately 250 media professionals unemployed, intensifying competition in a limited job market.
- This event coincides with a broader trend of media workforce reductions across the region, including N1 Croatia and USAID-funded outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- A BIRN report highlights increasing surveillance and censorship in the Western Balkans, with governments using spyware, digital censorship, and legal harassment against journalists and activists.
- The report notes that while legal frameworks often align with EU standards, practical enforcement is weak, leading to inadequate protection for freedom of expression and digital rights.
- Emerging trends include the widespread use of biometric surveillance and facial recognition technologies, raising significant privacy and ethical concerns.
Al Jazeera Balkans Closure: A Blow to Regional Media
The closure of Al Jazeera Balkans is set to have profound consequences for the media landscape in the Western Balkans. An estimated 250 highly qualified media professionals, including reporters, journalists, presenters, technicians, editors, producers, and camera operators, are now without work. This sudden influx of experienced individuals into a constrained job market is expected to increase competition, potentially leading to poorer working conditions and lower pay across the sector.
This development is not isolated. Other media organizations in the region have also reduced staff this year. N1 in Croatia recently laid off 26 employees, and several smaller, non-profit media outlets in Bosnia and Herzegovina faced workforce reductions after USAID funding ceased. Additionally, journalists and correspondents for Voice of America (VoA) and Radio Free Europe have lost jobs due to changes within the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM).
Worsening Surveillance and Censorship
The closure of Al Jazeera Balkans occurs amidst a deteriorating environment for media freedom in the Western Balkans, as highlighted by a recent BIRN report. The report, covering developments up to early 2025, details an alarming increase in surveillance and censorship practices:
- Expanding Biometric Surveillance: Technologies like facial recognition are rapidly expanding in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia, raising significant privacy and ethical concerns. Examples include Albania’s “Smart City” projects and Serbia’s widespread deployment of facial recognition without legal safeguards.
- Spyware and Digital Censorship: Governments are increasingly using tools like Pegasus spyware to target journalists, activists, and civil society members. Instances of devices being secretly infiltrated have been reported, violating privacy and press freedom.
- Legal Harassment and Narrative Control: Journalists and human rights defenders face growing digital censorship and legal challenges. Governments employ security laws to restrict online content, use defamation laws against journalists, and exert control over media narratives through informal tactics and intimidation.
- Weak Enforcement of Digital Rights: Despite legal frameworks often aligning with EU standards, practical enforcement is lacking. This leads to weak protections for freedom of expression, privacy, and digital rights, with vague provisions allowing for government overreach.
Megi Reci, BIRN Digital Rights Programme Research Lead, emphasized that surveillance technologies are increasingly weaponized to stifle dissent and control public discourse. The pervasive fear of being watched leads to widespread self-censorship, further undermining independent journalism and democratic engagement in the region.
Sources
- Surveillance and Censorship Worsening in Western Balkans: BIRN Report, Balkan Insight.
- Al Jazeera Balkans’ Closure Adds to Regional Media’s Woes, Balkan Insight.
