TIRANA TIMES
TIRANA, April 26 – The Central Election Commission decided that all national media outlets are obliged to use the tapes given to them by the political candidates of the May 8 local elections.
That move sparked a loud cry from the media and also civic organizations referring to the independence of the media.
That decision was also not supported by the opposition parties and their representatives in different institutions, like the CEC and also the Media Monitoring Board.
ODIHR spokesman Giuzeppe Milazzo has been reluctant to give any opinion on the issue, though it is sure that will be included in the report the international observers will file.
Four members of the Board majority argued that television does not need to reject tapes as they have received them even in 2009 elections. But balancing time between candidates is a deficiency of the code, which they tried to arrange with their proposals.
They were rejected by three minority members, who have argued that they cannot change the electoral code. They said it contradicts the most basic principles of the journalist profession.
Two journalists associations expressed their anger in a statement on Monday.
“That decision and its application would make up an unacceptable practice for the role and mission of a professional reporting in journalism,” the Union of Albanian Journalists and the Journalists’ league said.
They also sided with some media outlets that had refused to use such a practice.
It has become a practice that political parties give tapes and the edited story of an activity of their candidate which should be broadcast as they are by the TV stations.
The Electoral Code has defined the distribution of the timing they should normally do to opposing political groupings and any change cannot be done or imposed in the middle of the electoral campaign.
Governing Democratic party candidate for Tirana city hall Lulzim Basha had complained he was not covered by a private TV station, Top Channel. But on the other side he also did not let outside reporters and cameraman to follow his daily activities and also did not let the media know of the daily agenda beforehand.
Consequently Top Channel declined to cover his activities and covering his time with that of his political party with other activities.
