Troll of the Month: Media Indeks Online

The Balkan Troll of the Month is an individual, a group of individuals or a media outlet that spreads hate based on gender, ethnicity, religion, or other diversity categories. The Balkan Troll is selected based on hate speech incidents identified across the Western Balkan region.

Media Indeks Online, a popular media outlet in Kosovo, published a video on its social networks showing a woman in a clearly emotionally distressed state. The outlet stated that the woman in question had told the police officers present at the scene that she had been raped by three men. It was also reported that the police had called an ambulance and launched an investigation. The video was published exclusively by this media outlet despite there being no official statement issued by the police.

In response to this, media lawyer Flutura Kusari used her personal Facebook profile to request that the media remove this video. “Please, please, please, remove the terrible scenes of the victim immediately, do not destroy her life and privacy even more.” Please!”, she wrote.

Subsequently, the media removed the clip from Facebook but uploaded the same clip the next day. The clip was not removed from their Instagram page. The news was also published on social media platforms of a few smaller media outlets, but they soon removed the clip.

Hundreds of commentators commented on the clip on Indeks Online’s social media, many of whom used derogatory and hateful language towards the victim, with only a small number of commentators insisting that hate language should not be used against the woman.

The incident is particularly concerning in the context of persistent gender stereotypes and victim-blaming attitudes in Kosovo, where women still face significant judgment based on their clothing and perceived behaviour. In cases of verbal or physical harassment, including sexual violence, women are often subjected to victim-blaming narratives suggesting that they were responsible for what happened, had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, provoked the perpetrator through their clothing or behaviour, or were perceived as sexually available. Such attitudes can contribute to the normalisation of victim-blaming and undermine recognition of perpetrators’ responsibility for acts of violence.

Bearing in mind that the Kosovo Police did not issue a formal statement on this case, the choice of Indeks Online to post the video of the victim only serves to expose her to public judgement and hatred online. Furthermore, posting the video jeopardises her anonymity and risks her being identified by users online. Rape and other forms of sexual violence are serious crimes that should be discussed and reported on sensitively and cautiously. The victim, who is already in distress and a victim of a horrific crime, risks being re-traumatised by being publicly exposed online. Media outlets should uphold their moral and professional responsibility to report on cases of crime in adherence to ethical and journalistic standards while preventing hatred and sexism from spreading online through their comment section.