TIRANA, Oct. 16 – A documentary investigating the death of a teenage worker in a recycling facility at Tirana’s municipal landfill has been watched more than 65,000 times on YouTube, after it was posted there by investigative journalists who said the national television they were contracted from told them the documentary would not be broadcast as scheduled.
The documentary producers said in a statement their work had been censured, albeit they had no direct proof of outside pressures to do so, while television executives told local media the producers had quit on their own before the documentary production was fully completed and reviewed.
Representatives of the main opposition Democratic Party have accused Tirana’s Socialist Party administration of pressuring the television station to censure to the program.
Both the municipality and television executives have repeatedly denied the existence of pressure to stop the broadcast for political motives.
The documentary by the Publicus production company, “The Little Hill of Death,” contains interviews with family members of the dead teen, Ardit Gjoklaj. It also looks into a document trail that alleges improper ties between the Municipality of Tirana and a recycling firm, 3K, at the Sharra Landfill. The company had hired the 17-year-old worker off the books when he was crushed to death by a trash mover at the landfill in early August. The municipality has since suspended the contract with the company and its owner is on the run, wanted by police.
The South East Europe Media Organisation, a regional media advocacy group, said in a statement it was surprised to learn about the cancellation of an investigative TV show in Albania’s Vision Plus TV, after only three episodes on air.
The show had previously focused on investigative stories exposing political and governmental issues in Albania, among which was the issue of monitoring waste imports into the country.
“An abrupt cancellation of an investigative show is disturbing,” SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said. “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.”
SEEMO also noted that only two months ago, in August, the editor-in-chief of A1 News TV, Alida Tota, was dismissed, after trying to air a report relating to the same matter.
SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe and its press freedom work is supported by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom project, as part of a grant by the European Commission.
