“Digitalization, government should be cautious”

Eve Salomon, a media regulatory expert, gives details of how the project can be realized by keeping in mind that the market already has licensed digital platforms.

“If the existing operators are not licensed according to the international licence, it is up to the Albanian republic to decide how the frequencies will be used. Regardless of this, there are legal problems if the government decides to remove frequencies of existing companies that are operating for many years, without having a strong and convincing argument. Based on the international laws, these companies have the right to sue the government and ask large compensations”, Salomon declared.

Salomon sees as necessary to start measuring Albania’s audience, as a way to regulate the deformed media market that is encouraged through government owned public advertisements.

“Different countries implement specific laws for public advertisement, which allows governments to distribute advertisements through independent companies that guarantee fund transparency. Since Albania is included in the integration processes, they must keep in mind that EU has strict rules for public advertisements”, Salomon declared.

“The government is not allowed to spend its money by favouring some businesses. The Albanian authorities should have clear public advertisement legislation, so that the European laws and standards are not violated. We need a good media monitoring so that public advertisements will not go where they shouldn’t”, the expert underlined.

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