Albania ranks lower in media freedom

TIRANA, May 3 – Albania ranked 102, or a post lower than a year ago, at the Freedom House ranking list on the freedom of media in the world. The Albanian media is better than Kosovo in all the Balkans and the southeastern Europe. That is a clear loud ringing bell to the local media, civic organizations, the government and the political parties.
Albania ranks 102 as partly free together with Maldives but just behind Haiti. In Central and Eastern Europe/ Former Soviet union it ranks 16, leaving behind only Kosovo and 13 other former Soviet Union member countries.
Freedom of the Press 2011 identifies the greatest threats to independent media in 196 countries and territories. Released on May 2 as part of the UNESCO World Press Freedom Day celebration in Washington, D.C., the report shows that global media freedom has reached a new low point, contributing to an environment in which only one in every six people live in countries with a Free press.
The Union of Albanian Journalists also expressed its concern on that ranking and called on all the journalists to focus on their professionalism. It also expressed concern on the fact that there are still 12 trial cases for reporters or media outlets. It was problematic, it said, that many journalist have shown their political side during the electoral campaign now. It called on the government and other institutions to invest themselves and release the media of its financial dependence on the political groupings, which is seriously damaging its professionalism.
OSCE head Ambassador Eugen Wollfarth encouraged the Albanian media, state authorities and political parties to work together to improve the quality of information provided to the public through the media.
“Greater transparency and openness to the media on the part of state officials and political parties, as well as higher professional standards on the part of journalists are instrumental in ensuring better quality of media information,” Wollfarth said.
OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Aߵbalis called for OSCE states to do more to protect journalists.
“We cannot tolerate these threats to the safety of journalists, nor the chilling effect that such threats can have. OSCE participating States must do more to fulfill their media freedom commitments and ensure that effective legislation, law enforcement practices and judicial instruments are in place to guarantee the safety of journalists.”
The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), recalls that there is still a long way to go until media workers can enjoy press freedom. Threats, assaults, harassment and diverse types of pressure are part of a journalist’s daily life in South, East and Central Europe.
In 2010, SEEMO registered 406 press freedom violations in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine.