An interesting collaboration between a journalist who organizes weekly news shows with Albanian politicians and civil society activists, a philosopher and a professor interested in language and image dynamics, has brought to the Albanian readers a new book.
Gerti Shella and Artan Fuga have produced a well-thought out analysis of television production, scanning three problematic areas: the role of televised media in the anti-corruption discourse, the parameters of comparison between politics and civil society and, lastly, the semantic approach to the anticorruption agenda.
There is a significant reversal from the beginning of the transition period when political decision making was seriously on the media agenda. Today, the media has become the focus of the politics agenda. The term, “media democracy” is heard quite frequently, even in consolidated democracies
Starting from this and developing a list of indicators, the study objectively assesses the media actors’ performance. Some of this study’s results are: not all civil society representatives have the access to communicate a powerful message despite a good background and civil society gets much less media time than politics in Albania, though the trend is changing.
The few analysts and civil society “icons” who now possess access and influence have acted as new idea generators, as opposed to politicians who continue to display what is seen as an old and consumed vision.
The study also recommends ways to generate a public impact by interest groups and NGOs, referring specifically to the media outlets. The study has been conducted as part of the project, “Integrating the anticorruption agenda of civil society into the political decision making agenda,” implemented by the center for Public Information Issues. The book has been published by the DUDAJ publishing house, which has experience in scholarly publications. It will be distributed free to some universities at the start of the academic year.
