This week, this newspaper marked 10 years since its founding in February 2005
In this digital age of blogs, tweets and vines and of news outlets that open and close in a matter of months if not weeks — a decade of a journalism is a long time. The fact that Tirana Times is still here, providing quality coverage for our readers, in a very difficult media environment is a success in itself.
Of course, this newspaper is unique in that it serves a niche audience, a community of English speakers with an interest in Albania. But with that uniqueness come both opportunities and responsibilities.
We aim to be Albania’s newspaper of record in English. We don’t just report the news of today, but rather try to explain the reasons behind what is happening.
In addition, we lead other media in Albania, because we look at trends developing well ahead of others — trends that may not be making headlines today — but that will certainly do so in the future.
Looking through the pages of the more than 500 issues published in the past decade, you will see the newspaper picked up on problems with education, poverty, gambling, demographics and the environment years before they made headlines elsewhere.
Our coverage is driven to serve our audience and the society in which we work. In Albania, where media are under constant political and commercial pressures, we have for the past decade vowed not to take political or other leanings. We have a sole agenda: providing the best, impartial and independent coverage to our audience.
We are biased in only one way: Our coverage hopes to promote the modernization of Albania’s society and its embrace of Euro-Atlantic democratic values.
In addition to current events and politics, we also have a very strong focus on business news. This is partly because we believe the business community makes up a large portion of our audience, but also because we believe that a thriving business community and international investors can help Albania become a better place under the right circumstances.
And, of course, we aim to promote the best Albania has to offer in terms of culture and travel through frequent features aimed at an international audience.
We also realize that the newspaper business has evolved and is moving quickly online. We believe that the foundation of quality journalism remains the same through, as we present our stories to our audience around the world.
We recently entirely overhauled our web presence, allowing for a better reading experience and leaving a larger number of stories paywall-free and accessible to all.
We also set the highest standards when it comes to respect of copyright, a practice that is yet to be widely adopted by other Albanian media.
Today’s Tirana Times newspaper is the brainchild of its two founders, Jerina Zaloshnja and Albert Rakipi. They continued to foster it through the years with the help of tens of contributors both Albanian and internationals, who have made sure the newspaper evolves with the times to continue to serve its audience. For this we thank them all.
And we thank our readers as well — whether you are reading this in your office or home, on the tarmac at Mother Teresa International Airport, in a hotel lobby or at a coffee shop — thank you! And keep on reading!
Tirana Times organized an event on Feb. 26 to celebrate its 10th anniversary. There will be more coverage on the event and our history in the next issue of the newspaper.
