Tag Archive for: mediat e reja

Statement on the Draft Law on Media

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The Civil Society Organizations call upon the government of Albania to withdraw the two draft laws proposed to Parliament and showcased in public as the “Anti-Defamation Package”. We also call upon the Parliament of Albania that, in case that the government doesn’t withdraw the bills, to dismiss themwithout delays.

The importance that the freedom of expression has in a democratic society is reflected by the ample protection given to it in international law, both at global and in regional level, including in Article 19 of the The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on the article 19 of the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, the article 19 of the American Convention on Human Rights and as well, the article 10 of the European Convention on Human rights.

The First Amendment of the United States Constitution, approved about 230 years ago (in 14 December 1791) prevents the government from making laws which regulate an establishment of religion, prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the right to peaceably assemble, or the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.

Signatory organizations note that the two draft-laws of the anti-defamation package provide for the Albanian Media Authority and Albanian Communication and Postal Authority, quasi-tribunal competences, of sanctioning nature against media outlets, while these bodies, although independent by definition in the law, provide no functional guarantees to operate independently in practice, as should are the courts.

Albania has enough laws to regulate cases when media violate the rights of others and in this context there are precedents judged in our courts.

The need to have self-regulation of the media and NO legal regulation of it, is a matter of special importance in countries in transition to democracy, as it is our country, where often media is connected with known interests of the businesses or political parties. Self-regulation is the combination of standards imposed by ethical codes of conduct for the media, which are necessary to support freedom of expression and to enable that this conduct is monitored and held accountable. Self-regulation preserves the independence of the media and protects it from the partisan interventions of the government.

The signatories call upon international bodies, (such as OSCE, EU or Council of Europe), which presence in Albania contributes to the rule of law and human rights, to take a clear and public stance regarding these two draft laws, as initiatives that violate freedom of expression.

List of signatories:

BIRN Albania

Civil Rights Defenders

Citizens Channel

Faktoje

Instituti Shqiptari Medias

InstitutiShqiptariShkencave

Këshilli Shqiptar i Medias

Komiteti shqiptar i Helsinkit

Lidhja e Gazetarëve të Shqipërisë

Qendra Res Publica

Qendra Shqiptare MediaLook

Qendra Shqiptare për Gazetari Cilësore

Shoqata e Gazetarëve Profesionistë të Shqipërisë

Unioni i Gazetarëve Shqiptarë

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)

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)