This weekend Prime Minister Edi Rama has set a record for the time spent talking live on television with “ordinary people.” Following a well-established twentieth-century tradition, the Prime Minister spent nearly 5 hours talking within 24 hours.
On Friday evening, the Prime Minister held a “public consultation” (without, however, following the procedures lined out in the Law on Public Consultation) about the draft budget for 2018, even though there is no draft budget yet or any document referring to it. During the meeting, Prime Minister Rama spoke for 70 minutes straight, transmitted live on several TV channels.
During a visit in Vlora on Saturday starting at 09:05, he spoke 3 hours and 48 minutes during a live show on his own Facebook TV channel ERTV and several TV channels. During this period he held a speech in front of ministers, deputy ministers, and local politicians. The speech lasted 1 hour and 5 minutes, containing a variety of explanations, advices, requests, and orders on a variety of themes including healthcare, public order, urban development, and local problems in the Vlora region.
The speech was followed by a “co-governance with parents” meeting, in which held forth in front of parents and teachers for 50 minutes. Around 12:50, the Prime Minister stopped at the house of a local family in Kanina, where he spoke 38 minutes with his hosts, again transmitted live on ERTV and through several TV channels.
Finally, at 17:00, the Prime Minister held a meeting with local directors of the Vlora region. Again, he talked uninterruptedly for 1 hour and 2 minutes.
In total, the Prime Minister talked for 285 minutes within a 24 hours’ timespan. Even though this may seem insignificant, the fact that hours of live TV are spent on monologues of the Prime Minister, without question, interruption, or analysis, shows that the aim is clearly propagandistic, rather than informative.
