RTSH: Agron is right from the outside, Thomai from the inside

If you look at it from the balcony of someone who doesn't watch RTSH, who doesn't know what channel it's on, and who believes that any public money is better spent on salaries than on a symphony orchestra, you'll say: Agron Shehaj is right.

But if you go inside, not into the offices and studios of the institution, but into the core of what RTSH should be, you will understand that Thoma Gëllçi still has a word to say and it must be listened to. It must be listened to understand and not to respond. 

Why is Agron Shehaj right?

RTSH has no audience to justify either the staff or the budget. Period. This cannot be hidden.

The audience of RTSH is small. If a public media outlet cannot work for the citizen, then why should it be maintained?

When a pensioner, like any family member, pays the fee for RTSH, they have no idea what they are paying for. They do not see quality programming, they are not better informed, they do not feel that they are represented. They see old movies bought cheaply, news stories of "he said, she said" and tired "debates".

RTSH today has more channels than followers of any program. … With all due respect for thematic plurality, when you are in an audience crisis, maybe you need one good channel at first before you keep 17 and “fill them up”! Maybe you need to make 6 very good programs before you run around and produce 60 “programs”

When Agron says "increase responsibility, reduce the budget," there is a logic that doesn't allow you to easily ridicule it.

But when responses to Agron turn personal, it creates the impression of an institution that is protecting itself, not the public.

And this gives points to Agron, not to RTSH.

Why is Thoma Gëllçi right?

RTSH is not a news supermarket, but a house of collective memory

RTSH has archives that no one else has. It's the only window to old documentaries, to events that aren't on YouTube, to heritage that you can't download with a VPN. And this isn't measured in clicks.

A nation without a decent public media is a nation that speaks only in memes.

When the entire media space is dominated by shows, screams, beatings, punches, and debates about Çelo's mustache, there must be a PUBLIC BROADCAST that says: "stop." And for this, not cuts, but increased funding are needed.

RTSH is done.

Can it be denied that during Gëllç's time, broadcasting was modernized, digitalization began and was created. RTSH was created. Now, (which is no longer the case) HD was introduced, the signal was restored in many areas? Television rights were purchased (which are no longer the case). So, it's not that nothing has been done and that "whatever you do there won't be done". It was proven that it can be done with those people who are there even without increasing the funds. And it's not just about the technological aspect and improvisations and spontaneity

A development strategy was drafted, editorial standards and a Business Plan were approved that served to increase independence and separation from politics. And in a survey, RTSH was ranked as the most trusted media of all public media in the region and the most trustworthy in the country.

But everything stopped as soon as more service and spectacle were demanded of her than standard. (And the desire to destroy the institution must also be sought in the unprecedented persecution meted out to Thoma Gëllçi! Time has proven him right and time will also prove justice. And time is merciless and with its sycophants and servile people).

RTSH is not one of the 66 television stations that abound in the country.

It has a duty to educate even those who don't like education. It is not built to keep the audience entertained, but to raise the standard, even when the crowd doesn't like it. And for that, support is needed, not backstabbing.

In a tired, media-uneducated society, it is normal for proposals like cutting funding to sound appealing.

Agron Shehaj is right… if he sees RTSH as a balance sheet. And Thoma Gëllçi is right… if he sees RTSH as a common asset. One represents the spirit of economic efficiency that does not ask about the soul of the institution; the other represents the ideal of an RTSH that, despite its mistakes, has something that private companies will never have: an obligation to the public, not to clicks.

The enemy of RTSH is the status quo. It cannot remain as it is, nor be preserved as a museum. It must start building trust again. To justify the budget, with quality content, not with nostalgia and servility. To be critical of the government and of itself. To return as a voice, not as a faded echo of the past.

Because if RTSH doesn't speak properly, those who want to shut it down will speak longer.