Even after 23 years of market liberalization, there are still no public reliable data on the state of affairs in the media sector. Dependence of media operations on parallel businesses of their owners, and sometimes on state advertising, creates a media market whose operation is guided more by political and private interests rather than market principles. The large number of active media outlets by no means points to media pluralism. It rather indicates an artificial maintenance of the levers of influence on political decisions. The role of the state is hardly helpful: cases of media close to the government receiving the largest portion of state advertising are not unknown.  Media outlets can hardly survive unless supported by other lucrative businesses of their owners. The conduct of media owners, their concealment of ownership links and various forms of media instrumentalisation have taken their toll on media integrity. “We know who the owners are, but we don’t know who owns them”, pointed out Remzi Lani, the head of the Albanian Media Institute during the regional conference on media integrity organized by SEE Media Observatory in mid-June in Tirana.

 

The 2013 law on audiovisual media once again failed to establish a system that guarantees independence of the regulatory authorities. The new Albanian government immediately announced reform of the public service, but so far the parliament has failed to elect the new regulatory bodies. The regulatory body has suffered influence from both political and economic interests and its decisions are not always implemented.

 

The PSB regulatory body also remains passive. Although laws stipulate that positions in the Steering Council of RTSH should be occupied by competent representatives of various segments of the public and civil society, in practice this body is either passive or under political influence.  Financial scheme of the PSB’ remains a challenge – the share of advertising revenues in the total income of public services is one of the lowest in the region, although the license fee collection method has been enhanced and became more efficient during the past few years.

Professional journalism in Albania has experienced varied progress in the two-decades of transition.  Professional and economic degradation has not triggered an organized resistance on the part of journalists. Efforts to become self-organized mainly came on the initiative of donors and international organizations, but activities usually grounded to a stop once the external financial support was exhausted. Labor relations remain a key concern for media professionals. This concern often leads to self-censorship and tailoring media content to interests other than public ones. 

 

The complete study on media integrity in Albania can be found on the link here.