Kleaves Kosovo, with the aim of fair and full information of public opinion, explains the circumstances regarding the removal of several portal employees and strongly opposes the presentation of this issue as a case of free work search, or outside contractual obligations and job description.
Case raised relates to organising Big Brother coverage V IP Kosova by portal staff, a format that constitutes the product of the Kosovo Clan and a direct part of its media activity.
Friday begins the fifth edition of this television format. Because it is the largest television company not only in Klan Kosova, but also throughout the Kosovo television scene, it requires additional staff engagement, but also engagement by all employees on television.
For this reason, television has introduced a practice since the first edition of the Big Brother format, which envisions that each member of the staff who will have to work extra hours outside the hours of work and pay extra.
In this way, in addition to the engagement of additional workers only during the Big Brother broadcast, all workers receive additional payments with regular contracts in Klan Kosova, who engage off-the-line work schedule for the project. Today, there are dozens of regular workers of the Kosovo Clan, who are paid additionally, for additional commitment to the realisation of the Big Brother.
Even portal employees, the management has expressedly clarified them, even through written communication, that no regular overtime has been required, nor has compensation been denied if such a commitment is required. As with the past four editions of Big Brother, the portal editorial has done their work professionally, responding to the public’s requests for information, which in the concrete case has the public’s great interest in informing them of news from the Big Brother TV format.
Big Brother is one of the world’s most popular TV formats, even among Albanians for the most popular TV show. Because of the remarkable popularity, all are witnesses that other media also produce a lot of news about what happens in the Big Brother format, not just the producer, in this case, Klan Kosova.
In view of these facts, we have not agreed that some employees in portal editorials, in form of blackmail (when Big Brother begins broadcasting), ask for additional payments during regular working hours. The way and time to submit demands, as well as attempt to turn the dispute into public pressure, raise serious concerns about the instrumentisation of this situation to impose additional financial conditions outside of contractual obligations.
Klan Kosova respects employee rights and does not contest their right to raise concerns or seek to address their claims on institutional roads. However, this right cannot be used as a cover for selective fact presentation, for creating a false perception of employers’ actions, or for exercising public pressure at a significant moment of company activity. Employers’ rights deserve protection, but even actual truth, company reputation, and the public’s right to be informed merit the same seriousness.
In this context, the reaction of the Kosovo Journalists’ Association is hasty, unilateral and irresponsible of the consequences it can produce, as it was published without a comprehensive mirror of circumstances being provided without the discussion of written communication and not literally hearing the company’s position. Protecting journalists and their rights is a legitimate mission, but this mission does not justify prejudice of a disagreement, nor turning the claims of one side into uncontrolled public conclusions. Such an approach risks violating the credibility of the verification process itself and fuelling the mismanagement that institutions and professional organisations should help prevent it.
Klan Kosova is ready to make available the Association of Kosovo Journalists with written communication and relevant documentation, respecting the privacy of persons involved. At the same time, it requires that the AGK reconsider its position on the basis of verifiable facts and publicly correct any statements that create an incorrect or biased mirror of the case.
Honestly,
Klan Kosova