Self-Censorship Rampant in Albanian Media, Study Says

Links between politics, business and media have undermined journalistic excellence in the Albanian media and generated censorship or self-censorship among journalists, said the BIRN Albania study published on Tuesday. 

The study, based on interviews with 121 journalists, media owners and media experts, concluded that owners’ economic interests, their political links and media outlets’ financial inadequacy are the key factors pushing journalists toward self-censorship.

“When I was a journalist, I faced censorship dozens of times from my editors over news I brought to my TV or newspaper newsroom. Dozens of times as an editor, I faced the desperation of my journalists after I censored news they produced,” one of the interviewed editors told BIRN on condition of anonymity. 

More than 70 per cent of the professionals surveyed for the study believe that journalists in Albania avoid coverage of certain news stories.

Almost half of the respondents admitted they have avoided covering news stories often or very often.

The main reason is because businessmen have become media owners and assumed market domination, the study said.

Their media have been funded or kept alive by their business earnings, while they maintained close relations with politicians.

Journalists in the survey listed big advertisers, state advertisement and public institutions as additional factors putting news reporting under pressure, but not as significantly as owners’ economic and political interests.

The study concluded that poor working conditions and lack of physical security also creates the basis for censorship and self-censorship among journalists. 

“This is the main problem, survival. A journalist who does not get paid will produce bad journalism. Media is a profession but also a passion. However, a journalist cannot feed his children with ,” an editor-in-chief in Tirana told BIRN.

Apart from the lack of job security, physical security is another concern that emerged in the study, especially – although not exclusively – among journalists who work on the crime beat, in political news and especially those working in local media outside Tirana. 

While openly accepting censorship and self-censorship, the journalists surveyed could not identify a single solution to the problems they face.

Their suggestions focused on promoting and supporting media owned by journalists, and developing online outlets as a response to the Albanian mainstream media’s failure to be independent.