Edi Rama’s speech at the Media Freedom summit held yesterday, caused many Albanian and foreign journalists to react. A Montenegrin journalist even called Rama’s stance similar to that of the US President, Donald Trump.
Top Channel also expressed yesterday how we understood the Prime Minister’s speech and his behavior with journalists.
We said that different from other days, ERTV was not the exclusive channel broadcasting Rama’s speech, but other cameras were allowed as well. This is how the Prime Minister reacted later:
Albanian PM Edi Rama’s status on social media:
“Hahn, and the Media Mishmash”. This is the title used by Top Channel, which you can see attached here. This article, as you can see, says that the Prime Minister thinks that media sources in Albania cannot be trusted. Yes, it is true. That is what I think. And to prove with their words how they cannot be trusted, Top Channel has been informing the public that the Media Freedom conference and the press release with the EU Commissioner, was not broadcasted on ERTV. You can see with your own eyes what a big lie this is, since it is the second or the third post of the day on this page. The question is: If a national TV that has made history thanks to the geniality of the late Dritan Hoxha, today has stooped to the point of telling lies so openly, how can we say that media outlets in Albania can be trusted?”
In fact, it is not the first time that a Prime Minister confronts Top Channel. To some point, being confronted with the government is normal with our job. But it is the first time that a Prime Minister tries to attack the most credible TV outlet in the country, using just syntax lapses. Especially when Top Channel, on that day, as many other colleagues, would be standing by Albanian journalists and not by the government, as we did a few weeks ago when the Prime Minister made a harsh verbal attack against Parliament reporters.
Top Channel is not an internet portal. It is the most credible TV in the country. It is the TV Station that broadcasted with video and audio what had happened in Gerdec, what was happening with the Berisha government, what happened on January 21st, how the May 8th result was changed for Tirana, and it was Top Channel that investigated how voters were being paid for the local elections of 2015, and we were also the first ones to bring the investigation case for the Habilaj clan from Catania.
Because news go through us first, as they have gone in the past and as they will do in the future. As for the credibility of Top Channel, let’s let Albanian viewers to be the judges.
Top Channel
