Media threatened by politics

The Minister of Integration, Majlinda Bregu, mentioned the relations of politics with the media. The Minister of Innovation, Gen Pollo, mentioned one of the most controversial topics: the public advertisement issue, adding that critics are welcome so that this process can improve.

“Regarding the controversial topic of public advertisements, we think that public agencies should distribute their public announcements to the private media with neutrality, and not by using tax money to influence their editorial line. For this reason, the government passed a decision on August 2008 to regulate this relation. In December 2012, three weeks ago, the Parliament amended the Public Procurement law by implementing the most recent European directives. We will welcome every advice and assistance to improve our secondary legislation on this matter. The government is directed to support every solution for which we all agree. I would like to announce two government initiatives regarding transparency and government involvement. The draft-law for Public Announcements and Consultation will establish rules, norms, procedures and deadlines so that every act given by the government and its agencies will undergo a full consultation with all groups of interest. We are planning the draft law for the right to information, which is important to everyone, but especially the media”, Pollo declared.

The EU Ambassador in Albania, Ettore Sequi, declared that the media freedom is very important for Albania’s integration, to the same level as holding free elections and protecting property rights.

“Media freedom is very important for the country’s integration, to the same level as holding free elections and protecting property rights. We need free media, not only freedom of speech. Media freedom is important for Albania’s standards, and this is mentioned in the report. It is up to you to take concrete steps for decriminalizing slander. It is up to you to test the financing of public advertisements. The media should be free and you must be their agents”, Sequi declared.

The Chairwoman of the Parliamentary Commission for the Media, Valentina Leskaj, listed all the problems that the Albanian media is facing, starting with a biased NCRT (National Council of Radio Television), the clientelist distribution of public advertisements and selective fines.

“The existing law clearly states that regulatory authorities should be independent, NCRT on this case. But I cannot say that NCRT has reached these standards. On the contrary, it is an entity that works far from the standards of an independent entity. It clearly shows they select its members who must come from civil society. NCRT today is full of militants. Media pluralism is guaranteed when there is free competition, but the NCRT report in Parliament admits “that same as in the previous years, most of the NCRT decisions were not executed by the Tax Directory, bringing negative effects and failing to realize free competition. I would say that the corruptive licensing process and the selective fines have not allowed honest competition in the market. NCRT admitted the same thing regarding copyright protection, which is a highly sensible issue of concern coming from the EU, same as the public advertisement issue was mentioned by the US State Department or the recent declaration of the Commissioner for the Media, Miatovic, during her visit in Albania. They all express their concerns regarding the public advertisement issue. There are a series of mechanisms that are being used by politics for their daily needs and threaten the media freedom. We have seen economic instruments such as selective fines to the media that don’t submit to the government, and favours to the media close to the government”, Leskaj declared.

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