Tag Archive for: journalists

Albania: Government should withdraw “anti-defamation” legislative package introducing state regulation of online media outlets!

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On 3 July the Albanian Government’s Council of Ministers approved a series of amendments known as the “anti-defamation package” which include amendments to law Nr.97/2013 “On Audio Visual Media in the Republic of Albania and law Nr.9918 “On Electronic Communications in the Republic of Albania.” The legislative package is a cosmetic review of highly-criticised amendments submitted in December 2018.
26 July 2019
Our organisations raised our grave concerns with the proposed legislation during our June 2019 meeting with Prime Minister Edi Rama, urging that the amendments be brought into line with international standards. However the revised amendments of 3 July continue to fall far short of OSCE, Council of Europe and international best practice. The OSCE and local journalists and civil society have repeatedly raised their serious concerns that this package would be detrimental to freedom of expression online. We join Albanian civil society and independent media in calling on the Government of Albania to withdraw these two bills and call on parliament not to approve them.
Amendments to law Nr.97/2013 “On Audio Visual Media in the Republic of Albania
The draft laws approved by the Albanian government would empower a state administrative body to regulate the content of online media outlets. These draft laws seek to impose a regime of administrative control on online media through the Audio Visual Media Authority (AMA), a measure which is unprecedented in democratic states. Article 11/2 states that “the scope of work of the Complaints Council is to oversee the provisions of this law, the Code and regulations approved by AMA, particularly related to the respect of dignity and fundamental human rights.” The AMA is an institution whose board members are nominated and dismissed on the discretion of political parties. Through the Complaints Council that is part of AMA, the draft laws seek to replace a model of self-regulation of online media restrict the role of courts.
The changes proposed in the law Nr.97/2013 “On Audio Visual Media in the Republic of Albania,” indirectly impose the registration of the ‘provider of media services’ as a precondition to receive ‘fiscal benefits and other benefits of the kind.’ This draft law gives the Complaints Council the power to oblige electronic publications service providers to publish an apology, remove content or insert a pop-up notice in cases of violations of provisions on dignity and privacy. The obligation imposed on online media outlets to protect the ‘dignity and privacy’ of citizens is overly broad and vaguely defined.
We are concerned that it could empower the Complaint Council to become a censorship body, by ordering the removal of online media content on an almost discretionary manner and without a court order. An administrative body, such as AMA, cannot and should not shoulder competencies to review defamation, which should be adjudicated by the courts through criminal and civil procedure.
The draft law also empowers the Complaints Council to impose administrative fines that vary from 100,000 lek to 1 million lek (from €820 to €8200), which have to be paid before the legal review is exhausted. These administrative fines do not differentiate between private citizens and national broadcasters, raising concerns about proportionality.
Law Nr.9918 “On Electronic Communications in the Republic of Albania”
Amendments proposed to the law Nr.9918 “On electronic Communications in the Republic of Albania,” open the way for superimposed regulation of online media, not only from AMA but also from the Authority of Postal and Electronic Communications (AKEP). Changes proposed to article 137 of this law, expose ‘providers of electronic communications’, which do not abide by AKEP rulings/orders that relate to the acts and decisions of the Complaints Council of AMA, or any other body with legal competences in this field, to fines up to 100 million lek (€820,000).
Both proposed draft laws go against international best practices that aim at the self-regulation of online media and not its regulation by the state, through administrative censorship bodies. These draft bills also have not been drafted through a transparent procedure in consultation with all interested stakeholders, a concern we raised in a meeting with Prime Minister Edi Rama during our press freedom mission in June 2019.
We call on the Government of Albania to withdraw these two bills and call on parliament not to approve them, on account of the objections raised by journalists, civil society and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Instead of seeking further administrative regulations on defamation, the government should seek its complete decriminalization, as suggested by best international practices. We urge the government of Albania to ensure that a meaningful consultation process with journalists and civil society is undertaken with the next draft of the amendments.
ARTICLE 19
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF)
Reporters Sans Frontières/ Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO)

Statement: Government of Albania should retract proposed laws on online media

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In democratic countries, laws aim to protect citizens from the government and not the government from citizens

BIRN representative Gjergj Erebara and AMC representative Koloreto Cukali, during the press conference presenting the declaration against the 2 draft-laws that threaten the freedom of the online media.

A group of organizations for the protection of human rights, freedom of information and journalists associations demand from the Prime Minister to drop proposals on regulation of online media.

We inform the public that the two proposals endangers freedom of expression and could turn Albania in a undemocratic country and in the same time, are not helpful in tackling existing problems of the media, including hate speech, defamation, propaganda or disinformation.

The two draft-lawsi aim to create a registry of online publications and provide rights to an institution known as the “Complaints Council” to sanction online media based on third party requests, to order their closure or block of the access on such media in the territory of the Republic of Albania.

The draft-laws provide legal mechanisms for Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA) and Tax Authority to fine or close down online media without clear procedures. As such they pose a threat to seriously increase the level of censorship and self-censorship already present in Albania’s media scene.

We observe that the argument provided repeatedly by AMA and other officials, including Prime Minister Edi Rama, that the proposals are based on “Croatian model” is inaccurate. We have investigated such claims and found that no such laws exist in the Republic of Croatia.

If the ruling socialist parliamentary majority will enact these proposals, our hybrid democracy will inevitably slither toward an authoritarian regime. In democratic countries, the aim of the law is to protect citizens from the government and not to protect government from the citizens.

While acknowledging the numerous problems that currently plague online communications, including unnecessary offensive language, libel and hate speech, we believe that the current proposals fail to tackle such issues while in the same time, they have the potential to be used as pressure tools by the government against journalists and critics.

Self-regulation of the media, education and public awareness campaigns aiming to improve media literacy; awareness of propaganda, disinformation and fake news are the adequate tools to counter these problems – both online and offline.

Being aware that Albania has to align its legislation with that of the European Union, we observe that the two proposals risk setting back the process of European integration of the country.

List of signatory organizations:

BIRN Albania

Association of Professional Journalists of Albania

League of Albanian Journalists

AIS/Open Data Albania

Civil Rights Defenders

Albania Media Council

MediaLook Center

New Media Network

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Proposed laws are: ADDITIONS AND CHANGES TO LAW NR. 9918, DATED 19.5.2008 “ON ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA”, AS AMENDED, CHANGES AND ADDITIONS TO LAW NO. 97/2013 “ON AUDIOVISUAL MEDIA IN THE REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA”, AS AMENDED

Meeting with journalists and media representatives about self-regulation

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On 20 March 2018, the Albanian Media Council organized an informal meeting with journalists, and media representatives to discuss on ethics and self-regulation also the role of the Council as a promoter of self-regulation acting as watchdog for the implementation of the Code of Ethics.

Representatives of BIRN, Politiko, Dita newspaper, Tema newspaper and Albania Daily News and the members of the Board of Ethics at the Albania Media Council attended the meeting.

 

According to the participants the lack of self-regulation has led to a decline of journalism. This situation has weakened public confidence in the media.

The topics of the discussion focused on the challenges faced by journalists to maintain a balance between the application of ethics and daily challenges of the profession.

Aleksandra Bogdani (BIRN) said that an all-inclusive media debate would bring results. “We must find a way to get all the media involved and to be part of this discussion,” she said.

While Mark Marku, a professor of journalism and a member of the Board of Ethics at the Albanian Media Council, said: “The council should be an intermediate party that serves as a buffer between the public and the media. For Mark, these violations of the Code of Ethics we see in Albania would cause tens of law cases per month if it was in any EU country.”

Alfred Lela of Politiko.al, suggested that members of the Council make a tour through newspaper editorials to explain the functioning of the Council but also the Code of Ethics.

 

Executive Director K. Cukali said that “The role of the council is to mediate this process and to make the code of ethics work. It is an important process for the media and citizens. Cukali said, “The period of being free of rules will not last long. If self-regulation does not happen it will be the state that will intervene to resolve the situation”.

The Albanian Media Council aims to ensure the implementation of the Code of Ethics as a form of self-regulation through a mechanism that solves complaints and monitors ethical violations. With the support of Civil Rights Defenders, the Council will launch a project for monitoring code violations.