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Rama's attacks on the media, VOA: Deterioration of freedom of expression indicators

2022-11-02 19:53:14Fokus SHKRUAR NGA MIMOZA PICARI
Rama's attacks on the media, VOA: Deterioration of freedom of expression
Media in Albania: Deterioration of freedom of expression indicators

The media in Albania continues to function in the spiral of new and old problems which are harming the freedom of expression. Even the last report of the European Commission highlighted shortcomings related to its independence. Journalists and analysts told the Voice of America that the transparency of institutions has deteriorated and that now there is less and less information on public contracts with a corrupt background. Even the online media in their judgment requires legal regulation, to avoid phenomena such as blackmail, pressure and anonymity.

In Albania, the community of journalists and social groups that monitor developments in the media spectrum, express concern about the continuous violation of freedom of expression. Finally, the EC report highlighted that no progress has been made in the field of media, and that the combination of political and business interests continued to hinder its independence and the quality of journalism. Analysts and journalists find that more and more media is turning into an extension of politics. Public institutions say they have worsened transparency, mainly in providing information on issues related to corruption affairs by hindering investigations on corruption, concessionary contracts, and on how the state budget money is spent.

"The institutions are resisting more and more to provide the information they previously provided easily. We are in a perpetual battle, ever worse now, to obtain information about contracts, which public authorities entitle themselves to make confidential, to protect themselves primarily in these contracts, and to put a veil over informing the public" - BIRN journalist Aleksandra Bogdani told Voice of America.

Analyst Lutfi Dervishi, says for the Voice of America, that the lack of transparency of public institutions has left an open path for government propaganda to easily penetrate the public, as a result of rapid technological developments.

"Unfortunately, we see a continuous deterioration in obtaining information, based on the law on the right of public information on official documents. This is not a bad law, but its implementation has been deteriorating. It's ironic when you think that hackers get what they want and journalists don't get what the law gives them," said analyst Lutfi Dervishi for Voice of America.

According to analysts, such a lack of transparency was also seen in a recent case when Prime Minister Edi Rama met the president of this country, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Turkey some time ago and did not give any press release on the content of this meeting.

The head of the union of Albanian journalists, Aleksandër Çipa, expresses regret when he says that new problems are added to the old problems, referring to the chaos in the functioning of online media. The government has withdrawn from what is known as the anti-defamation package for online media, which gave the audiovisual media authority the attributes of a court. In the EC report, self-regulation in this area is underlined, where disinformation is repeated. But Mr. Çipa goes further when he talks about a legal framework that promotes the registration of online media, with the aim of removing journalism from many negative phenomena.

"Today we have an inflationary online media scene, about 750 online media. The lack of legal regulations in this media sector has exacerbated the problems related to the legacy of the transition, such as issues of informality in labor relations, financial irregularities, gossip, fake news, anonymity, blackmail, intimidation and at the same time contaminated the ethical climate lacking in the country" - Aleksandër Çipa, Union of Albanian Journalists, said to the Voice of America.

One of the serious concerns for the journalist community in Albania is related to media ownership. Many media are financially supported, in addition to funds from the advertising budget, also from income from the owners' activities in the business field. This worsens freedom of expression, analysts say, for several reasons.

"The development of journalists' work is hindered by the interests of media owners. Here we have a lack of transparency of funding ownership and no clear law on public funding. At the moment when a state company or state institutions finance a certain media, it no longer has the mission of informing the public and making a critical report or examination of the facts, but tends towards propaganda", continued Lutfi Dervishi, analyst.

Journalist Aleksandra Bogdani, sticking to the same argument, says that the profitable interests of the media owners have damaged the information of the public.

"The media has become a weapon in the hands of the owners. They don't go into this business to inform the public, they go into this business to be as close as possible to politics and other interest groups. And if in the morning an owner is negotiating a building permit or a big contract with the government, what will the media do in the afternoon? It will keep this institution under control so that the public interest is protected, or in fact it will simply hide news and censor journalists who will try to do their job", said Aleksandra Bogdani, BIRN journalist.

The media in Albania has not made any progress in 2021, as stated in the EC report, but journalists say that, on the contrary, it has made steps behind. Old problems remain suspended and new ones are constantly added. Quality journalism seems to have entered a crossroads due to numerous obstacles coming from all sides. The Union of Albanian Journalists says that only in the last 3 months, 32 journalists from newsrooms and in-depth reporting have moved from one audiovisual media to another. This, according to this union, shows the tense and uncertain climate in the media sector. And it seems that in the end what pays is the quality of informing the public./ VOA


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