OSCE: NCRT to be independent

Mijatovic mentioned the independence that is needed for the National Council of Radio and Televisions and the Public Television, in a time when they are asked to complete the digitalization procedure.

“Without a financially independent public broadcaster and regulation entity, it is impossible to create an environment where the media can be free and alive. The Albanian Public Television and the NCRT need reforms, so that they can be protected from political influences and secure their financing, especially now when Albania is starting the digitalization process”, declared the OSCE representative for the media, Dunja Mijatovic.

Mrs. Mijatovic declared that in the meeting she had with the Albanian Prime Minister, he declared that the media freedom is a priority for his government.

“I welcome the declaration of the Prime Minister, who declared that the media freedom is one of the main priorities for his government. I will follow this commitment of the prime minister and I will remind him if there will be any movement in the opposite direction. It is necessary to understand that the media must serve to the public, not businesses or politicians”, Mijatovic declared.

But the journalists in Albania find it hard to receive information in many institutions, although they enjoy the right to be informed, which is granted by the law for information. Mrs. Mijatovic declared that this law, as many others, is not implemented in Albania.

“I think that the law for information is a very good law, but it is not implemented. There is the need to put this law into practice, not only for the journalists, but also for the public”, declared the OSCE representative for the media.

An important point is the issue of the state owned advertisements that are distributed only to some televisions that support the government. The OSCE representatives declared that this is a fact that can be easily identified.

“You don’t need too many resources for this, because it can be easily identified. I have spoken with different authorities and our office is making analysis. It is evident that the state advertisements go only to some given media, and I asked the authorities to make an open and transparent distribution”, Mijatovic declared.

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