In the newsroom of NEWS24 TV Channel: Ethics on revealing a child’s identity

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  AMC paid a visit today to the Channel News24’s newsroom, one of the oldest information television stations in the country, as part of a toru through Albanian media newsrooms. This visit was the first in a television newsroom, and moreover, a newsroom that “feeds” with news many portals and newspapers.The conversation included recent events related to ethics in the country, the situation of journalists, the responsibility for unethical journalism of the media owners.The conversation tackled the ethical question of whether the child’s identity should be protected in the news if his/her life depended on this news. In the News 24 newsroom there were cases where the child’s parents sought the public’s help to crowdfund the medication of sick children, but in order to build credibility on these cases and to encite the empathy and citizen engagement, newsroom journalists were forced to reveal the image of the child. Mark Mark, an ethics expert, argued that the child’s life is the most important, and ethical violations (such as not revealing the child’s identity) can be circumvented in order to protect life. Journalist Klodiana Lala noted the declining quality of newsrooms, which employ unprepared and unread journalists. In relation to the “ready-made tapes” produced by the City Hall, the Government and political parties, and broadcasted by television without being verified as news, the journalists stated that this is a problem caused by the owners and that the journalists are threatened with “job lose” . Regardless, the AMC said that the professional conduct asks of a journalist to resist if owners and editors try to distort reporting, force them to produce unethical reporting, or pressure them to take away their independence.NEWS 24 journalists were very interested in joining the fight against media law, a law aimed at controlling the media from the Government through the AMA, using fines and sanctions on ethical issues.Visits to newsrooms, supported by OSFA’s media project, will continue in the coming weeks in other Albanian media outlets.

Mr Luigi Soreca openly stands against the new anti-defamation package

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Although with gloves, it seems that the EU has been obliged to openly oppose the second draft of the so-called anti-defamation package, drafted by the Albanian Government for several months without any consultations with interested parties and groups of interest.
As reported by BIRN, the EU Ambassador to Tirana, Luigi Soreca, spoke during the ceremony of the European Union Awards for Investigative Journalism at the House of Europe in Tirana, where it stressed that AMA could not perform a supervisory role for online media and that the only EU policy is media self-regulation as a way to fight misinformation and fake news.
“When it comes to combating disinformation, although we have the same concern as the Albanian authorities about disinformation, the commission recommends approaches that are less rigid, based on a self-regulatory approach. This is the approach that the European Commission proposes in [the document] Communication in Dealing with Online Disinformation,” Soreca said.
“The European Commission shares the concerns of other international organizations about the lack of legal clarity and the extension of the functions and powers of the Audiovisual Media Authority to include regulation of online media – because this can have negative effects on freedom of expression, Soreca said.
In relation to the draft laws proposed by Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government, Soreca said that while some concerns appear to have been addressed, the draft amendments do not ensure compliance with EU standards on freedom of expression.
After failing with the first draft of the so-called anti-defamation package, Prime Minister Rama has insisted on presenting a second draft, which has also raised much concern in diplomatic circles. This draft also kills self-regulation and eliminates the Albanian courts leaving ethics in the hands of the AMA. The package has been criticized as an attack on democracy in Albania by international human rights organizations as well as Albanian media and human rights organizations.
The bills have been sent to Parliament and are under review.

AMC among the students in Shkodra: “priests” or “sinners” in relation to ethics?

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The Albanian Media Council during its tour through student towns visited the University “Luigj Gurakuqi” of Shkodra where, accompanied by the Professor Vinçens Marku, students of journalism in Shkodra discussed with experts of Ethics and Media, Mr. Alfred Lela, Mr. Sokol Shameti and Ms. Aleksandra Bogdani.
The students were very attentive to fake news and especially to biased reports that favored one party. The question that arose was, why, even well-known journalists fail to be ethical in the online media they run.

During the debate, were discussed issues related to ethics and, whether you should be a “priest” or a “sinner”, in a time when ethical standards are strict and the need to adapt to the market requires to be flexible.
The project, funded by EU funds, is an attempt to introduce students to self-regulation, the Code of Ethics and the standards of an ethical media.

AMC talks ethics at the newsroom of Syri.net

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z. Mark Marku dhe Z. Sokol Shameti në bisedë me gazetarët e Syri.net

The Albanian Media Council has launched a friendly tour through several news media outlets to talk to journalists about ethics in the media. This tour comes after last year’s troubling findings, where in 40 media the average violation of ethics was 9 (violations) a day.

The last meeting was held at the Syri.net editorial board with the presence of 2 experts of ethics, Mr. Mark Mark and Mr. Sokol Shameti.

One of the points that was discussed was one of the most common violations in online media and that was “presumption of innocence and reporting of judicial practices”. In many cases, journalists consider the individual to be a criminal even though there is no court decision that he is. According to the Albanian Code of Ethics of Journalist no one should be considered guilty without a court decision.

This highly productive meeting for Syri.net journalists’ daily work, is part of a project supported by OSFA and the EU.

(in the picture, Dr. Mark Marku and Sokol Shameti in the newsroom of Syri.NET)