Research Study on Albanian Online Media

The Albanian Media Institute, with the support of Austrian Development Cooperation, carried out and published a research study on Albanian online media. The object of this research study was the online media operating in Albania. The scope of this study was the portrayal, as completely as possible, of the history and the development of online media in Albania up to the present, by identifying approaches, specific developments and characteristics in comparison with global model characteristics, formats and models of publications. Furthermore the aim was to assess the extent and the efficiency in the application of techniques and capacities of the web practices and genuine cyber-media developments, the level of interactivity, the speed in transmitting of the information, the managing strategy and business models they have pursued and the individual profile each have established. The empirical research has been carried out through a monitoring of Albanian online media to identify specific developments in the Albanian web journalism. The period of monitoring extended from April 1, 2014 to July 1, 2014. The object of the monitoring and research were 45 most visited news websites, which were listed among the 300 most visited sites, according to an overall ranking for Albania presented from the statistical search engine Alexa, published on March 23, 2014. A considerable amount of quantitative and qualitative data has been amassed from questionnaire-interviews organised by the Albanian Media Institute during the period of March-April 2014 with managers or representatives of 39 of these Albanian online media.