ON GOING PROJECTS

MEDIA AND CHILD PROTECTION IN ALBANIA: CREATION OF RULES OF PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE AND EFFECTIVE MONITORING OF CHILD PROTECTION REPORTING

UNICEF

The goal of the project is to increase the level of implementation by Albania of the CRC provisions by improving reporting of media professionals on children’s rights.

The main project activities are:

• The organization of a consultative round table with all stakeholders to share the objective of the project and receive feedback.
• The preparation of an Assessment of gaps in the applicable legislation and current media reporting practices on child protection issues
• The drafting of the Rules of Professional Practice to be incorporated into the provisions of the Order of Journalist and build upon the provisions of the Code of Ethics.
• The organization of four consultation forums with editors in chief and reporters of social issues of all printed and electronic media.
• Best practices study tour in a EU country
• Endorsement of the Rules of Professional Practices by media representatives.
• Up date of Journalism Department curricula to incorporate media reporting on child protection issues and the CRC.
• Media Monitoring of the of applicability by the media of the Rules of Professional Practices.
• Roundtable of AMI and NRTC to present the monitoring results.

IMPLEMENTING ETHICAL STANDARDS, IMPROVING MEDIA POLICIES

USAID/CASSALS & ASSOCIATES

The project will aim to increase the awareness of the media community on the existence of the Code and the need to support and cooperate with the Council of Ethics as a way of improving ethical standards in Albanian media. There will be several components in the project and different ways of achieving the overall goal.

The activities of the project include:

• Five ethical issues seminars with local journalists
• Six media briefings series on media policy issues
• Three TV debates on “Meet the press”
• Publication of two journalism textbooks
• Media monitoring on corruption reporting

MEDIA FREEDOM, MEDIA TRANSPARENCY AND MEDIA INDEPENDENCE IN ALBANIA

European Delegation

Through this proposal Albanian Media Institute intends to initiate realisation of a set of actions and development of a comprehensive package that will contribute towards promoting media independence, media freedom, and media transparency in Albania. The overall objective of the project is to promote media independence in Albania as an important aspect of the democratisation process.

The overall objective of the Project is: Promoting media independence in Albania as an important aspect of the democratisation process in the country.

The specific objectives of the Project are:

• Identification of the key problems, developments and trends on Media Ownership in Albania, through carrying out a Research/ Report and Local Roundtables on issues related to media independence.
• Investigation on the media’s ownership issues and promoting transparency in the media sector through Research, Round Tables, Conferences, etc.
• Encourage the public debate on the need for an independent media through the National Conference that will discuss the results and recommendations of the Research/Report.
• Raise awareness among media community and the public on the violations of freedom of expression through the establishment of a Media Watch.
• Improve media legislation in Albania in accordance with European standards through advocacy and media policy actions (briefing papers, roundtables, etc).
• Inform the public, journalists, and international community on the activities/events in the areas of media and freedom of expression in Albania through publication and distribution of the Albanian Media Newsletter.
• Improve the professional abilities of Albanian journalists and raise their awareness on issues of media independence through training courses in Political Reporting, Corruption and Media, Labour Relations, and Media Legislation Training Courses.
• Raise awareness of all media stakeholders (journalists, editors, owners, MPs, government representatives) on the need to draft and apply consistent media policies that would create the necessary environment for development of free and independent media.

The Project comprises the following components (activities):

• Drafting and publication of a Report (Research) related to the situation on media ownership in Albania and its impact on media independence and pluralism.
• Organizing three roundtables with local media in the districts (Shkoder, Gjirokaster, Korce) on issues of media ownership, media independence, and media transparency.
• Organizing a National Conference in Tirana on the topics of Media Independence, Media Ownership, and Media Transparency.
• Media Watch, which will monitor and report on cases of violation of freedom of expression to the international organizations of freedom of expression.
• Continuation of the publication of the Albanian Media Newsletter, which summarizes the monthly activities and current debates and problems in the area of freedom of expression in Albania.
• Training workshops for journalists and editors on the European standards and Albanian practice on topics relevant to media independence from political and economic interests.

The training topics will be the following:

• Political Reporting (How to report politics without politicisation)
• Corruption and the Media: Is the media immune?
• Labour relations:  How (un) free journalists are?
• Albanian Media Legislation vs. European Standards

INTERNSHIPS AND IN HOUSE TRAINING OF MINORITY MEDIA IN ALBANIA

SHC

The long-term objective of the project is:

• Strengthening the voice of minorities on the Albanian society through improving minority media. Increasing minorities’ access to Albanian media and their freedom of expression of their opinions.

• The short-term objectives of this project will be:

• Raising the professional level and capacities of minority media.
• Strengthening of the minorities’ media through building capacities in house and improving professional level of their journalists.
• Improving minority coverage in Albanian mainstream media, aiming at a positive change in the attitudes of the general public, media and local structures regarding the minority issues.
• Strengthening of relations  between mainstream media and minority media.

• The project consists  of these components:

• Two weeks Internships of Minority media journalists at the mainstream media. (8 internships in total)
• Four In house Training Courses at the Minority media on newspaper management, new technologies, professional skills etc.

NAB PACKAGE  January-June 2007

NAB

NAB package January-June 2007  includes:

Developing  pricing strategies of AMI.

Pricing strategies are an important component of AMI’s strategy of commercialization. The real cost calculation includes costs for overhead and reflect the total expenses for a servise, such as training. To achieve a higher level of sustainability, these costs will have to be incorporated and the clients will have to accept higher-closer to real-prices that charged so far.

Developing Branding and a New Marketing Policy of AMI

After the approval of the Business Plan and Market Research AMI has to work on Branding and a New Marketing Policy.

During this process AMI will design the new logo and branding; produce new promotional materials; develop a Marketing Strategy in support of a new pricing strategy and new services which will be offered; marketing and advertising (direct mailings, advertisements etc)

Equipments

Due to the very nature of the organization, which holds a part of its activities out of Tirana, and also due to AMI’s logistical needs (at least two activities take place every week) a (second-hand) car is essential in this case.

Organizing three Tailor-made training courses targeted for the market or linked with University

AMI is determined to gradually move towards a market-oriented approach in training activities, by introducing course fees for most of them. AMI aims to organize a series of training courses in professional skills or on some specific topics, which would be offered for journalists on commercial basis or would serve as supplementary courses for journalism students.

The courses will be about professional skills, where the need is greatest:

• Online Journalism
• Photojournalism
• International News Reporting

• The New Monitoring Media Landscape

This project is a continuation of the previous project on Monitoring Media Landscape.

TOWARDS A NEW NATO: IMPROVING MEDIA AND PUBLIC DEBATE

Norwegian Embassy

Project Objectives are:

• To improve the knowledge of journalists on NATO integration
• To encourage a debate on NATO reform and transformation, on NATO’s challenges and dilemmas.
• To hold a debate on the security challenges and problems in Albania, region, and world.
• To develop a realistic approach on the expectations related to the process of NATO integration.

The Project consists in:

• Monitoring and Research on the media coverage of NATO.
• Roundtable on the topic: “NATO in the global context and Albania’s integration into NATO. The media role.”
• Two Training Courses on NATO issues.

ALBANIAN DEFAMATION LAW: PROJECT EXTENSION

JUSTICE INITIATIVE

Albanian Media Institute and Justice Initiative, supported by Justice Initiative during the previous project, composed the new Draft of Defamation Law in Albania, in compliance with international standards.

Numerous debates and discussions accompanied the process of draft formulation. To this aim a series of roundtables with the relevant stakeholders were organized: journalists, publishers, media lawyers, and Albanian government and parliament representatives.

The draft prepared by AMI and JI experts was signed by 23 members of parliament, who started a legal initiative to pass it in the Parliament. The Media Commission examined and approved the Draft.

The new project phase includes:

• Contacts with MP’s, representatives of government, political parties etc.
• Meeting with a group of Albanian Members of Parliament (MPs);
• Discussing the draft amendments with interested parties ( two meetings);
• Presenting the draft amendments to the Albanian Parliament

"BRIDGES AND BARRIERS

A Regional Serbian - Albanian Television Co-production Project

EU-CEI

Media Center Belgrade and Albanian Media Institute will produce 6, 25-minute-long TV-documentary broadcasts to be aired on local/national TV stations in Serbia and Albania. The aim is to investigate relations between Serbia and Albania, and explore the various barriers preventing increased cooperation and improved relations, as well as defining possible bridges connecting both countries to one another and their common European future. The action's objective is to break down long-held stereotypes in the target audiences and raise public awareness about challenges and opportunities shared by there societies, thereby assisting the reconciliation process and creating common ground for improved relations. The project will end with a regional conference on the matters under discussion (supported by the CEI) and will attempt to establish a Serbian-Albanian Cooperation and Coordination Forum.

Research and Monitoring projects

SEENPM Subproject TV Prime Time Domestic News

- monitoring and analysis of TV news programs in 11 SEENPM countries

The objective of this project is to improve journalistic professionalism in primetime news programs on public broadcasting services in SEE countries; to help identify problems related to program profiling and based on that to make corrections to better represent public interests in the media.

Research questions should include: how the different televisions are selecting their news stories; how they are presenting the same events; which events and topics are reported; how much time is given to different topics; who is speaking in the reports; what are the dominant contents. Attention will especially focus on how public and commercial stations treat the same events.

“TV Across Europe 2”

The overall goal of this new OSI media monitoring is to contribute to the wider debate within Europe on the role of television in new and established democracies. The project will provide a short follow-up monitoring on key developments since the release of the original set of reports, in the main areas covered by the original monitoring. It will also form a central focus for a new OSI media website, to be launched later this year.
“Implementing Media Self-regulatory Practices as a Tool for Better Media Coverage and More Developed Civil Society”

The project aims at the following objectives:

• To identify the most frequent met violations of journalism ethics in the SEENPM countries.
• To analyze the reasons for those violations
• To offer concrete recommendations for the further prevention of the violations
• To strengthen the cooperation between key stakeholders in the media self-regulation in the region.

The monitoring process to last for three months (March– May 2007) and encompass key media outlets in the participating countries will allow the gathering of information with regard to ethical principles to which media in Southeast Europe adheres to, as well as will identify areas of media violations. This process will run in intensive cooperation among the researchers to allow for the earliest possible identification of common problems and potential solutions.

Labor Relations and Media - Analyzing the patterns of labor relations in the media of SEENPM-member countries

The objective of this research is to evaluate the observance of labor laws in the media sector of SEENPM countries; to identify the existing problems in the application of labor laws in relation with typical employees and atypical employees (freelancers) in the media sector; to propose solutions for the identified problems.

The eleven country reports will be put together in a final paper with a review of general regional trends and a set of recommendations. Projects findings will be publicized during in-country round tables/discussions. An executive summary of the major project findings will be distributed to all interested parties to ensure adequate publicity in the region

Monitoring media coverage on Children

This project, supported by save the Children will consist in the monitoring of a six-month period in the main daily newspapers, focusing on the coverage of children’s rights and specific cases represented. The analysis will be qualitative, quantitative, and comparative one. The report drafted will also include the respective recommendations for improving the situation.

After the monitoring, a Roundtable will be organized with the participation of media stakeholders.