Albania’s Rama Dismisses ‘False Alarms’ Over Media Freedom

Albania PM Edi Rama (right) and the EU Ambassador in Tirana Luigi Soreca in Tirana, October 20, 2020. Photo: LSA

Rama commented on the issue for the first time at a joint press conference with the EU ambassador in Tirana, Luigi Soreca, on Wednesday, following the publication of the European Commission's latest Progress Report on Albania, in which freedom of the media features heavily and the country is described as having made "no progress" on the issue.

"Do you know what the Media and Information Agency is?" Rama asked rhetorically, to a BIRN question. "Modestly, I believe that you have no idea what you are talking about," he responded to is own question.

Rama's decision in September to create an agency that will be led by the government's spokesperson, whose position will be "at the same level as that of a state minister", was criticized by local and international activists as a likely propaganda ministry that would further limit journalists' ability to hold the government accountable.

The agency's head, who will be personally nominated by Rama, will control the hiring and firing of press officers in all central government institutions, including ministries, while the agency will "produce print and audiovisual materials" to "educate the public over the works of the Council of Ministers and the state administration".

Rama's administration is known for producing its own "news reports", which are later aired by mainstream media as independent reports on government activity.

It usually bans cameramen from the media from following Rama's press conferences, offering a feed from his controlled camera instead.

Critics suspect that the new agency will further develop this practice, further limiting the role of journalists and...

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