Albania

[AL] Public broadcaster adopts editorial guidelines

IRIS 2017-2:1/6

Ilda Londo

Albanian Media Institute

The public broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH) has approved its first editorial guidelines. RTSH presented the editorial guidelines in a meeting on 18 November 2016, before receiving the approval of the Steering Board. Previously, the draft guidelines had been consulted internally and with stakeholders and civil society organizations focusing on media, while OSCE enabled the external assistance of EBU. The guidelines were based on the BBC rules of conduct and the Slovenian public broadcaster editorial rules. The guidelines cover not only radio and television, but also online media and the online presence of RTSH. In addition, they do not only apply to RTSH staff, but also to persons or companies cooperating and co-producing with RTSH.

The editorial guidelines try to list as many ethical dilemmas as possible, since they aim to cover in detail even cases not covered in the general Code of Ethics. In this respect, the guidelines cover several areas, such as the editorial and professional standards, diversity and balanced reporting, electoral campaigns, reporting on politics and parliament, production standards, relations with state authorities, imitation and anti-social behaviour, investigative reporting, elaboration of information, respecting values of the public, programmes for groups with special interest, portraying specific social groups, children and minors in RTSH programmes, etc.

The guidelines also attempt to regulate in detail the relations and conduct of staff within the newsroom, especially relating to censorship and self-censorship, conflict of interest, and chain of responsibility. In this aspect the guidelines address problems related to interference, the right to reply, the role of the Council of Viewers and Listeners, the obligatory references, legal aid to journalists and editors, dress code, conflict of interest and obligations, feedback from audience, and role of social and online media.