A thorough report on the current state of disinformation in the Western Balkans requested by the European Parliament, shows that Albania faces the biggest disinformation challenges in the region, along with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The study shows that disinformation is present across the political spectrum and among some of the biggest media outlets. One of the foremost examples of disinformation is that of Prime Minister Edi Rama, who was forced to apologize publicly in March of 2020, for “fabricating allegations that Spanish officials were deploying violent police tactics to stop the spread of COVID-19.” While in this case, the origin was a video from some clashes between Algerian police and protesters, this wasn’t a single episode.
The report shows that “disinformation is a common bludgeon deployed by the government and its friends against investigative journalists, civil society activists and others seeking to hold powerful interests to account.” Powerful political interests are also behind anti-disinformation legislation, with watchdogs accusing Rama of “tailoring anti-disinformation legislation to
silence opponents while leaving loopholes for his own extensive media resources.” But disinformation is used not only by the socialist majority, but by numerous politicians across the spectrum, with major media outlets sharing part of the blame, by disseminating false news for political reasons. All is done for short-term reasons, rather than long-term ones.
The financial opportunity that fake news presents for the media, is also one of the reasons why false information is present at such a scale. By attempting boost traffic clicks, through sensational titles and content, most of the media do not pay attention to the truth, but to financial gains. The report gives further space to disinformation related to COVID-19, where major mainstream media outlets are named as the main sources of disinformation, such as: Top Channel, JOQ Albania, SYRI.net, Lajme.al, Gazeta TemA and Lajmi Fundit. As for the distributors of disinformation through social media, the list includes again Top Channel, JOQ Albania and Gazeta Tema, and also Ora News among others.
Besides the EU, other important institutions such as the Council of Europe, have identified disinformation as a threat to Albanian democracy and security. Ironically, even the Albanian government which is presented in the report as a source of disinformation, considers it a threat. The report suggests that “foreign-source disinformation, on the other hand, is a relatively small part of the Albanian disinformation landscape,” with some evidence of Russian interference to undermine Tirana’s Euro-Atlantic integration commitment. Some space is given in the report also to the way Albanian media “have been awash with disputed Chinese claims about the country’s ability to control the virus,” and that the Turkish-Albanian relationship are praised significantly in the Albanian media.
The report recommends Albania to further increase the separation between the government and the media and to increase the transparency on media ownership. Also, it recommends that “the implementation of the new media law must be closely monitored, and pressure on the government to alter the law must be maintained.”
The report gives further information also about the disinformation in the other Western Balkan countries, where disinformation is a shared concern, and is “endemic and ubiquitous part of politics throughout the Western Balkans, without exception.”. For example, in Serbia, in Serb-dominated parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in North Macedonia, the ‘threat’ of a ‘Greater Albania’ is part of the information disorder in these countries.
“Mapping Fake News and Disinformation in the Western Balkans and Identifying Ways to Effectively Counter Them” report was conducted at the request of the European Parliament” Foreign Policy Committee, and included the time-frame 2018-2020.
