In early October 2024, the Council of Media Ethics in Albania (Këshilli Shqiptar i Medias – KSHM – https://kshm.al/) and the independent researcher Blerjana Bino became the focus of defamatory campaigns. These attacks have amplified concerns about a growing trend of hostility towards independent media and civil society organizations in Albania.
On 6 October 2024, over an online platform, Blerjana Bino (@BlerjanaB), a researcher and executive director of Science and Inovation for Development (SCiDEV – https://scidevcenter.org/), was verbally attacked in a smear campaign. The attacks were in response to the on 25 July 2024 published shadow report on media freedom in Albania, published in collaboration with Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT – https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng) from Italy. This report, part of the European Commission’s 2024 Rule of Law assessment, analyzed media freedom and highlighted key challenges in Albania’s media landscape. In the campaign Bino was accused of producing biased reports. Inflammatory language that jeopardized her safety was used.
You can read the report here: https://www.balcanicaucaso.org/eng/Occasional-papers/Media-Freedom-in-Albania-a-Shadow-Report. Bino also cooperates with the West Balkan Safe journalists network.
These incidents followed a separate attack by one other online platform, which retaliated after a ruling by KSHM Board of Ethics. The article misleadingly framed the Board’s decision as an infringement of press freedom, reflecting a worrying trend of media retaliation against regulatory bodies.
Both online platforms employed similar rhetoric to undermine advocates of ethical journalism in Albania.
SEEMO also condemns the attack on Top News journalist Alketa Shaba and member of her camera team during a live broadcast of a political protest in Tirana on 7 October 2024.
During the reporting one person verbal attacked and physical assaulted Shaba and members of the Top News team. A group of citizens, who were in the near of the incident, stopped the attacker from continuing the attack. Shaba informed about the incident the police office in Tirana.
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns this campaign of defamation and will be monitoring the situation closely to ensure that media freedom and journalistic integrity are upheld. SEEMO also urges the authorities in Tirana to conduct a fast and transparent investigation connected to the attack on Top News team and arrest the responsible person for this attack.
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is a regional non-governmental, non profit network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in Southeast, South, East and Central Europe. SEEMO members are in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova (with the territory of Transdnestria), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye / Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Austria, Italy, Vatican and San Marino have a special status in SEEMO. SEEMO has over 3000 individual members, and additional media as corporate members.
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