Albanian Media Institute
ALBANIAN MEDIA NEWSLETTER, May 2008
PRESIDENT OF TOP MEDIA COMPANY DIES IN A CAR CRASH
Dritan Hoxha, 40, president of Top Media Company, died in Tirana on May 24, after losing control of his car. He was the founder of broadcasting company owning national Top Albania Radio and Top Channel TV, as well as an advertising agency. He was also the majority shareholder in the company that owns Digitalb, the Albanian digital satellite, terrestrial and mobile broadcasting platform.
Hoxha’s sudden death caused grief among the employees of Top Media, as well as among other Albanian media. Many Albanian media outlets and foreign ones sent consolation letters and messages. Many well-known personalities in the media, politics, and other areas appreciated his contribution to the development of Albanian media. He was considered as a revolutionary figure in Albanian media, especially with regard to the pioneering in new technologies and digital television, as well as in the high professional levels that the media he owned maintained.
CONTROVERSY OVER MEDIA COVERAGE OF DEAD MEDIA MOGUL
Media covered the accidental death of the president of Top Media company and its aftermath extensively, but many of the media outlets did not mention the fact that he was with a woman at the time of the accident and that she was also dead. This led some newspapers to write on use of double standards, claiming that newspapers chose to remain silent in this case, although they did not hesitate to intrude in personal life in other similar cases. The statement of the ruling Democratic Party, through its spokesman, fuelled the debate even more. The statement criticized the decision of media outlets and alleged that the media was censuring the news of the death and were not being fair and human to the other victim. This statement led a group of more than 120 journalists to sign a declaration that reacted against DP's statement. The journalists’ statement claimed that the Prime Minister was “leading a disparaging campaign against Albanian media,” taking advantage of the death of a girl for political means. One year ago Top Media Company was fined with € 13 million by tax police, but later this fine was withdrawn. Top Media at the time claimed this was a political attack, aiming to reduce government criticism.
SEMINAR ON MEDIA AND POPULISM
A seminar focused on media and populism was organized at AMI with the participation of 25 journalists from both print and electronic media on May 20-21. The seminar’s main objective was to examine and discuss media’s relations to populism tribunes and the way that media coverage affects the society in this aspect. The seminar focused initially on defining populism and identifying examples of populism-affected coverage in Albanian media. Special attention was paid to opportunistic policies followed during elections’ campaigns and the way media represents these campaigns. Lecturers discussed with participants the distinction between left or anti-global populism and right or xenophobic one. The history of the emergence of this movement and its evolution to present days was also addressed during the course. In addition, lecturers addressed with participants the role of charismatic leaders in populism movements, bringing specific historical figures. More specifically, the participants and lecturers discussed the impact of populism on democracy and society, focusing on modern examples of both East and West Europe. The seminar was organized by AMI and supported by Balkan Trust for Democracy.
REPORTER THREATENED BY LOCAL JUDGE
Ksenofon Ilia, an investigative journalist reporting for Fiks Fare, a TV programme addressing mainly corruption, sought to interview a judge in the District Court of Burrel on May 20. He was rejected the interview and was threatened by the judge’s brother, who was carrying a gun. Ilia insisted on asking questions and clang on to their car, while the two men started the car and ran away, causing the reporter to fall on the sideway, sustaining injuries. The High Council of Justice condemned this act and subsequently announced that legal proceedings will be initiated against the judge. A few days later, USAID, which had a project of support for the District court of Burrel, announced the interruption of this project in view of the incident.
MEDIA POLICY FORUM ON ACCESS TO INFORMATION
A media policy forum on international documents affecting media, which aims to brief journalists and editors with main documents, implementation, and consequences, was organized on May 30. The participants were briefed on the main international documents that cover access to information, such as Universal Declaration of Human Rights, European Convention of Human Rights, several declarations and recommendations of Council of Europe, UNESCO’s Bucharest Declaration, EU’s Data Protection Directive, etc. The participants also became familiar with the main aspects of Albanian legislation on this area and discussed with Lutfi Dervishi, well-known journalist, on the way the law is implemented, its main deficiencies and the recent attempts to amend the law in several aspects. This media briefing series will continue with other areas and is organized by Albanian Media Institute with the support of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.
SEMINAR ON MEDIA TRANSPARENCY IN TIRANA
The series of seminars focused on media transparency and media reporting on corruption continued with the seminar organized in Tirana on May 6-7, with the participation of 30 editors and journalists. The Albanian Media Institute presented its research on media ownership and independence, discussing with the participants the main factors that influence media independence and the specific difficulties and advantages local media faces in this respect. Some of the topics discussed by lecturers were media financing, media advertisement, and transparency of funding in the media market. Participants stressed the need for transparency in the market, both in funding of the media and in guaranteeing regular work contracts for journalists as a key step in improving media ethics and independence.
Another topic addressed in the seminar was the main trends in corruption reporting. Given the pervasive phenomenon that corruption constitutes in Albanian life, public debate, and hence media coverage, lecturers discussed with journalists the main areas of corruption and on different angles of reporting on it. Some of the key issues discussed were the most recent international reports on the situation, the government efforts and plans to stall this phenomenon, the different angles and phenomena that media coverage can cover in this respect, etc. This seminar was organized by the Albanian Media Institute with the support of the Balkan Trust for Democracy.
CONFERENCE ON CONTEMPORARY JOURNALISM PROBLEMS
A conference focused on phenomena and problems of contemporary Albanian journalism was organized in Tirana on May 30, with the participation of journalists, journalism students, academics, and media experts. Some of the topics addressed during the conference included investigative journalism and access to information, freedom of press, relation of politics to journalism, the language used, crime reporting, international reporting, self-regulation and journalists’ status, and digital media and its perspective. The conference tackled problems in Albanian language media in the region, such as the experience of conflict coverage in Macedonia, the challenges that Albanian media in Montenegro face, crime reporting in Kosovo, etc. The conference was organized by UFO university in Tirana.
