Albanian Investigative TV Show Shutdown Criticised

The South East Europe Media Organisation, SEEMO said on Monday that the cancellation of the investigative programme was "disturbing" and called for a clarification of the reasons why the show was pulled off the air.

'Publicus' was an investigative show on Albania station Vision Plus TV which was banned earlier this month from airing its third investigation into Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj and his municipality's ties to a recycling plant at the city's Sharra landfill, where a 17-year-old worker died in early August.

"An abrupt cancellation of an investigative show is disturbing," SEEMO's secretary-general Oliver Vujovic said in a press release.

"The editors have of course the right to decide about program changes, but the public should be informed what the reasons behind the shutdown of Publicus are," Vujovic added. 

In its brief lifespan, the show had built up a reputation after exposing the government's lack of preparedness to monitor waste imports into the country - a hot issue in Albania.

'Publicus' has claimed that it was shut down by the management of Vision Plus in a blatant act of censorship.

SEEMO expressed also concerns about the dismissal in August of the editor-in-chief of A1 News TV, Alida Tota, after trying to air a report on the municipality's links to the recycling plant.

The opposition Democratic Party accused Veliaj of censoring of the news, and several journalists held a protest last Friday.

Veliaj denied the allegations, calling them lies spread by the opposition.

"I have never contacted Vision Plus," Veliaj said.

"I challenge any journalist to prove the opposite,",he added.

The case had caused widespread debate about media freedom in the country.

The team of journalists...