Albania

[AL] RTSH Faces an Identity Crisis

IRIS 2004-6:1/11

Hamdi Jupe

Albanian Media Monitoring Center

The Annual Report on the Activities of the Albanian Public Radio Television (RTSH) presented to the Parliament of the Republic of Albania in March 2004 by the Chief Managing Council of the RTSH, pointed out that RTSH remains in an identity crisis, even though five years have gone by since the law on the transformation of this institution into public property was passed.

The report stated that the origin of the problem lays inter alia in the incomplete implementation of the law on private and public radio and television channels in the Republic of Albania. So it will take more time to convert the RTSH into a public service broadcasting institution accurately reflecting and defending the public interest. The recent situation is characterized by three problems: political interference in the institution's activities, the institution's financial dependence on the state budget and the lack of structural reform. The report, which is presented to the Parliament at the beginning of each year, was discussed in March 2004.