Hahn: “Media freedom, an EU condition”

The EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Johannes Hahn, gave this message on the international media day. Hahn also spoke about the “fake news” phenomenon.

“Free and independent media reporting is essential for building democracy. We are monitoring the challenges that Western Balkan journalists are facing. There have been abuses and political impartiality. A critical report is very important for a democracy. Media outlet should contribute to build bridges and not to deepen divisions. Professional journalism is facing competition from those who produce fake news”, Hahn declared.

The Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, has criticized Albanian journalists and he used those critics again.

“We have an important problem, which is part of a transformation process. You can never trust a rich journalist. It is essential today to find all ways to give this freedom a sense of nobility, which has been lost and which has turned media outlets in Albania into institutions that the public cannot trust. The entire society has the obligation to not allow our media to degrade”, Rama said.

The Prime Minister mentioned the recent reports of Freedom House, which arrive to the conclusion that media outlets in our country are partially free and that their improvement starts with increasing transparency.

Top Channel