Five years after working in national television, Saimiri decided to quit his job to continue his career in another media.
But he was shocked to learn a few weeks after leaving work that four years of social and health insurance had not been paid out of five years.
“It was horrible when I realised that I only have one year of insurance paid. From the very beginning, I had agreed for my insurance to be paid, and now I was faced with the fact that out of five, only one year was paid to me”, says Saimiri, also had the minimum salary paid in the bank and the rest in cash.”
“I did not know what to do! I considered the start of a lawsuit, but in the face of such a powerful media, I would risk not only losing the lawsuit but also my current job, maybe even my career as a journalist,” said the 29-year-old on condition of anonymity.
But Saim’s case is just the tip of the iceberg.
Informality in the Albanian media is a long-standing problem, which not only has not been solved but has been deepening year after year. The consequences fall on the future of journalists!
Ana has been working for four years in an online media, on the 3rd floor of a building in December 21, in an apartment adapted as a newsroom. On condition of anonymity, the 25-year-old declares that she has not paid a single day of social and health insurance.
“I received my salary from the first day in cash. I have never been paid in a bank, and during these years I have only once asked my boss to sign a contract, but this has been denied to me,” she said, adding that the entire editorial office where she works with seven people work informally.
“We have never had controls by state institutions,” said the journalist, who is uncertain about her future.
“I will certainly be a poor pensioner,” she adds, raising one of the biggest problems for the future of journalists if things go this way.
The profession of journalist in Albania is not regulated by law, and there have been no serious attempts to regulate it.
Many local organisations have failed, say journalists who have little faith that things will improve under these conditions.
Everything has an end, journalists in action!
In the last 30 years, the media climate in general, and the work of journalists in particular, has been fragile!
Informality, dismissals, censorship, self-censorship, pressure and blackmail have accompanied reporters for the past 30 years. While domestic organisations have been powerless in the face of politics, businessmen and the political-business relationship at the expense of journalists, foreign organisations have repeatedly sounded the alarm that not only are things not going well, but the crisis is deepening.
But there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.
Journalists have recently taken the first steps towards creating a legal framework for “Journalist Status”, a legal form that would once and for all extinguish this chaos in which they are immersed.
The ” Movement for Journalists” is the group’s name, which is initially working to expand the group, inform colleagues about what they want to achieve, and in parallel have contacted a law firm to launch procedures for an initial draft that can be turned into a project. -law and then in law.
The purpose of the Movement of Journalists is our union to promote the adoption of a legal framework “On the Status of Journalists” – it is written in a status on the social network Facebook of the “Movement of Journalists”.
“A status that must guarantee fundamental rights and freedoms while practicing the profession!
A status that will make it possible for our profession to be a “Regulated Profession”
- In 30 years we have not succeeded! Will we make it in 2022? “- the article continues.
The initiative of journalists does not seem to have come only as a present necessity! Against the background of a fragile environment of media freedom, and the deteriorating situation, they think that right now is the time to take action.
“In conditions when international reports raise concerns about the freedom of the media and the deterioration of indicators, in conditions when this profession is attacked and sought to be delegitimised, an order and a status on which this profession should function is necessary. “- says Everest Dedaj who has been practicing the profession of journalist for 13 years.
“Undoubtedly, this initiative should have been taken years ago, but it is never too late, today we have taken it seriously and we will” fight. “- he adds as he says that within February 2022 it is intended to be ready a draft and an action plan.
Journalist Eni Ferhati also thinks that the initiative is delayed, emphasising that: “ In Albania, journalists have been fired with verbal orders, their rights are not respected, they are threatened, blackmailed.”
Great confrontation with politics!
In terms of the Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders from 180 countries ranked Albania at 102nd place in 2013. In the following years, the position of Albania in this index decreased and increased, rising to 75th place in 2018 but falling again to 84th and 83rd places in 2020 and 2021, respectively.
In the latest Reporters Without Borders report, a stream of accusations are levelled against the left-wing government led by Edi Rama, which has consolidated a third term in office.
“The government is already restricting journalists’ access to state-owned information and is using licensing to control the broadcast media landscape,” the report said, adding: “The government’s attitude towards the media has encouraged businessmen and pro-government officials to sue journalists, while the use of denigrating language has turned journalists into potential targets of attack. Physical assaults are common, and the authorities fail to punish them. At the beginning of the coronavirus crisis, Prime Minister Edi Rama asked the public to “protect themselves from the media” and refused to help when the pandemic worsened financial problems.
The head of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo, Xhamajl Rexha says that Journalists should have the proper legal protection that creates an environment for doing work in the public interest, without pressure.
Rexha further states that the disorganisation of Albanian journalists has been a worrying problem while welcoming the initiative for “Journalist Status” in neighbouring Albania.
Local journalists are aware that in the face of a polarised Albanian politics, which seeks to get something for itself in any case, nothing will be easy, but neither will it be impossible.
“Nothing is easy in the face of polarised politics, especially when asked to be given status and credibility in the pursuit of truth. In an age of propaganda, truth is detrimental to the propagandist. “- says Everest Dedaj, who is currently a Political Journalist on RTV ORA.
During the campaign for the April 25 elections, the former candidate for prime minister, the leader of the Democratic Party of Albania, Lulzim Basha, promised journalists that when he comes to power, he will propose and then approve the status of journalist, while it is still unknown whether PD holds the same position and will support this initiative of Albanian journalists.
“In the face of Albanian politics, everything is complicated,” said Glidona Daçi, a journalist at Klan News, who expressed confidence that: if there is a will among colleagues, then everything is simple and neither politics nor anything can get in the way.
In addition to politics, another problem seen on the horizon by journalists themselves is the confrontation with media owners.
“Certainly the initiative can be hindered by certain interests of media owners who in cooperation with politics, the vast majority love and keep journalists under pressure for the workplace” – says Eni Ferhati,
Media situation in 2021, Criticism of the government!
The election of Armela Krasniqi as head of the Audiovisual Media Authority on July 7, 2021 by the socialist government without the presence of legitimate opposition was severely criticised by international institutions.
The European Union Delegation to Albania a few hours before the vote made a clear call to the assembly to postpone the election of the AMA chairman until September.
“We invite the authorities to consider continuing with this appointment during the next legislature in September, together with the appointment of the Authority’s board members, as the best way to reach consensus and widely accepted legitimacy,” they said in a press release from the office of the European Union delegation in Tirana.
Calling Krasniqi a “close associate of the ruling Socialist Party”, five foreign organisations criticised the process and called for the depoliticisation of the AMA.
The problematic relationship of the media with the government became even more complicated when the government “RAMA 3” approved the establishment of the so-called Media and Information Agency, which in Albania was widely labeled as “Renaissance of the Ministry of Propaganda”.
In response to these international concerns, local media organisations and journalists strangely decided to remain silent, leaving both the media and reporters alone in the daily battle!
Note: Ana and Saimiri are names invented to preserve the identity of journalists who spoke on condition of anonymity
This article is republished with the permission of the author.
