TIRANA, Oct. 27 – Prime Minister Edi Rama has drawn the ire of organizations protecting the rights after journalists after he bashed media’s coverage of the Tahiri affair and urged journalists to “read more” and not ask “idiotic questions.”
Rama appeared very angry over the fact that journalists were not making a distinction between the permission to investigate and permission to arrest in the case of the lifting of immunity for MP Saimir Tahiri.
“Before making such out of place questions, try to read about what is the role of the Parliament, because these questions come from the lack of knowledge. It’s not the problem that you lack of the knowledge, because these things are outside your area of expertise, but you should read about this, because it is not rocket science. Your role is not to amplify gossip,” Rama said.
After a journalist asked if Rama was in favour of Constitutional changes to remove all immunity for MPs, Rama said that was the case already.
“This is an idiotic question, and my answer to this idiotic question is that that is what we have our Constitution,” Rama said, visibly agitated.
In reality, prosecutors must still ask for permission to arrest MPs, which can be interpreted as a partial immunity, legal experts say.
In an unprecedented move, the reporters interrupted an impromptu press conference with the prime minister and walked away.
Several media organizations has issued statements in protest of the prime minister’s comments, including the Union of Albanian Journalists, which said the PM had used derogatory language and showed an arrogant communication style. The union said Rama had history of offending journalists and the media through derogatory labels.
As a result, the Union called on journalists to boycott any activities of the PM for a day by not following or reporting on them in protest. Similar reactions were also issued by the Association of Professional Journalists and also by the League of Albanian Journalists, which said Rama had used “verbal abuse” against the media.
Opposition parties also issued statements protesting Rama’s comments and in the defence of the media.
