The Association of Professional Journalists of Albania has decried what it considers attempts by Prime Minister Edi Rama and his government to dictate the questions that journalists are allowed to ask during press conferences.
On Thursday, Rama held a press conference to unveil the result of his government’s National Consultation—a 12 question survey sent to the Albanian people to receive their opinion on several policy matters.
During the conference, Rama asked journalists to keep all questions to the topic at hand—i.e., the national consultation—and not broach other issues.
“I’m hoping that our pact, the compromise we have made, that you will find another time for off-topic answers and will not distract from the current topic with your reports,” he stated.
Asked by BIRN about this so-called “pact”, the head of Agency for Media and Information, Endri Fuga, claimed there is no written agreement as such.
“It has become a bit of a habit that when someone comes out to speak about a certain topic, [journalists] then ask questions about other topics and the topic they came to cover in the first place is ‘forgotten’,” Fuga told BIRN.
The comments made by Rama and Fuga, wherein journalists have a tacit agreement with the government to remain on topic during press conferences, was rebutted by the Association of Professional Journalists of Albania.
“[The request] is just an informal barrier that leads to censorship and a lack of transparency,” said Aleksandër Çipa, head of the Association.
“Journalists serve public interest and their task is to inform. Prohibiting them directly or indirectly, anywhere and anytime for the performance of this task, is a violation of fundamental freedoms, is an obstruction of freedom of reporting and courage for information,” the Association reiterated in a joint statement.
The statement also condemned the Prime Minister’s comments that he would send a jouranlist for “re-education”, describing it as a “bullying tactic”.
