“Media freedom is an indicator of the state of democracy and an irreplaceable condition for respect for human rights.”
This is what President Ilir Meta said in a Facebook post in honor of World Press Freedom Day. He emphasizes that the regression that Albania has in relation to media freedom is unacceptable.
President Meta claims that “the consequences of the anti-constitutional package of” anti-defamation “laws, as well as the successive crises of the earthquake and COVID-19, are deepening the regression.”
According to the President, the preferential distribution of public advertising, non-transparent financing of private businesses, restrictions or direct or indirect pressures, have caused us to have fewer newspapers than a year ago.
In 2019, Albania ranked 82nd, but in one year it lost two places to 84th, due to deteriorating media freedom and attacks on journalists. The country has fallen 7 places since 2018, marking a serious deterioration in press freedom and the rights of journalists in an EU candidate country.
