Albanian Media Institute
ALBANIAN MEDIA NEWSLETTER, April 2008
GLOBAL PRESS FREEDOM IN DECLINE, FREEDOM HOUSE REPORTS
According to Freedom House global survey on press freedom, global press freedom underwent a clear decline in 2007, with journalists struggling to work in increasingly hostile environments in almost every region in the world. The decline in press freedom—which occurred in authoritarian countries and established democracies alike—continues a six-year negative trend, says Freedom House. This survey ranks Albania 105th in the world in the ratings of press freedom, as a partly free country. Although the score through the recent years changes only with one or two points, the country has gained two positions compared to the last couple of years. The country report states that the media continued to reflect a diversity of viewpoints in 2007, but key outlets tended to support one political faction or another. In addition, journalists practiced self-censorship to support the political or economic interests of their employers.
MINISTRY OF FINANCES ISSUES CONTROVERSIAL ORDER ON NEWSPAPERS’ EMPLOYEES
The latest controversy related to labour relations in the media and relations between government and the media arose with the order that the Minister of Finances issued on January 17, 2008. According to this order, after consulting with the professional associations, checking the number of insured media employees, and verifying staff numbers in the websites of the media outlets, there is a large difference between the number of employees reported as insured and the real number of employees working in this sector. In order to improve the situation, through this order the Minister of Finances authorizes the General Directory of Taxes to take immediate measures. The Order determines that national employees should have a certain number of employees insured, in accordance with the numbers of pages of newspapers. More specifically, for 16-pages newspapers, there should be 18 employees insured, for 24-pages newspapers, there should be 30 employees insured, and for 32-pages newspapers, there should be 40 employees insured.
Several publishers and journalists’ associations protested against this order, claiming that it had no legal grounds. In addition, they claimed that the Ministry has not had proper consultation in this area and hence does not have the necessary information. Moreover, they claimed that the decision to insure employees based on the numbers of pages of newspapers is arbitrary and uninformed, given that it does not account for the number of collaborators, the uneven importance among locations of pages and work done by them, and other factors involved in the production of a newspaper.
SEMINAR ON MEDIA TRANSPARENCY IN BERAT
The series of seminars focused on media transparency and media reporting on corruption continued with the seminar organized in Berat on April 22-23, with the participation of 30 local media owners, 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 DIGITALIZATION
National Council of Radio and Television (NCRT), in cooperation with OSCE, organized a conference on the future of digital switchover in Albania. The main aim of the conference was to discuss the future steps and strategy for digital switchover in the country, attempting to complete it until 2012. Participants were representatives of main electronic media outlets, civil society organizations, media experts, etc. NCRT presented the main scenarios envisioned in the strategy for digital switchover, aiming to also receive the feedback of participants in this regard. While for more than three years there is a fairly developed terrestrial and satellite digital platform in Albania, it has yet to receive a license. The Parliament approved the law on digital broadcasting in June 2007, but the regulatory has not yet started to license digital broadcasters.
TRAINING ON WEBMASTERS’ SKILLS
A training course focusing on webmasters and related skills was organized at the Albanian Media Institute on April 16-18, with the participation of 10 journalists from print and electronic media. The course aimed to introduce journalists to the main principles and skills related to online journalism and basics needed to act as webmasters. Trainer Mitrulla Thodhori, IT expert, introduced the participants to online journalism, current stage of its development, the main characteristics of this form of journalism, etc. In her lecture she focused on specific ways that the participants could practice online journalism, including search engines in Internet and their specific features, catalogues and databases, the diverse search strategies, and the practical usage of Internet in today’s reporting. Other topics included writing for online media, blogs, forums, and adapting style for online writing. Introducing journalists to the main websites of interest to journalist, the trainers provided practical examples for the participants. This training course was organized by Albanian Media Institute with the support of Albanian Mobile Communications.
DAILY NEWSPAPER CELEBRATES 15th ANNIVERSARY
“Gazeta Shqiptare,” one of the main daily papers in the country, celebrated its 15th anniversary in the market. The celebration of this important anniversary gathered important personalities in the areas of politics, media, business, etc. This newspaper competes with 24 other daily newspapers in the market and is the only foreign-owned daily newspaper.
