The precedent of Grida Duma and Edi Rama's "regime"

11 Nëntor 2022, 02:40Op-Ed TEMA
The precedent of Grida Duma and Edi Rama's "regime"

When I began to host a daily political show in Vizion Plus almost a decade ago, the only thing that remained the same from the first day, until Berisha (through financial means) forced the owners of the TV Channel to cancel my show, was that, no representative from the Democratic Party was allowed to be a guest in my show. The reasoning behind this was that I was a journalist critic of Berisha and his government.

Personally, I have never worked in a public office since 1990 and have always been a journalist with a clear positioning. However, the fact that I was a critic of Berisha at the time was enough for him to ban all representatives of the Democratic Party from appearing as guests in my show. He went as far as using puppets like Agim Nesho to blackmail the owners of Vizion Plus, at times seducing them through financial fairy tales and other times by simply blackmailing them, until they had no other choice but to cancel my show. Perhaps it was for the best, since they could not ruin their business for Berisha’s interests. Furthermore, they remain traumatised to this day from Berisha and invite him in several shows in an attempt to make amends.

Every other journalist at the time had to make concession either personally, or through the owners of the media that they worked for with Sali Berisha, in order for the latter to appear in their shows or even allow representatives of his party to be there. This was Berisha’s standard when it came to the freedom of media back then.

Now let us fast forward to Edi Rama’s “regime.” There are currently eight people closely related to Berisha (i.e. his official spokesmen or family representatives), who run several TV shows in national broadcasting channels, including Albania’s public broadcasting channel. Four of his official representatives and one member of his party’s National Council currently run different TV shows. Three of them work in Top Channel, the very broadcasting channel, which during his time as Prime Minister Berisha terrorized financially. A spokesman for the Democratic Party is the host of a show in Albania’s public broadcasting channel and luckily for her, she remains as unbothered in her job as she would be if her party was actually in power.

Personally, I have nothing against them, especially when it comes to those who run TV shows, since they are simply doing their job. However, this is enough to compare the different standards when it comes to the freedom of media during Berisha’s government and that of Edi Rama. During Berisha’s time, there was only one show that criticised him and even that had to go under constant psychological and political pressure. Meanwhile, Rama’s “regime” not only allows Berisha’s spokesmen to work in national broadcasting channels, but the Prime Minister is willing to appear in their shows.

It would be enough to compare Beirsha’s inhumane hatred against the President of Top Channel with the fact that Berisha’s daughter in law now runs a show in that very TV channel. There is a great difference between a terrible monster that does not stop even when it comes to defaming the dead and a new generation that employs his daughter in law without any problem in their media channels.

Public debate also suffered greatly during Berisha’s government. I remember being invited by students of journalism in the fall of 2010 to participate in an open lecture. It was a core of students who were interested in public debates and I took the whole thing rather easy. As soon as I arrived at the university’s building, I found the door was locked. Artan Fuga, the so called “open minded intellectual,” who back then was the head of the journalism program had simply locked the door to prevent my lecture. Some rebellious students managed to break the lock and we could hold the lecture in one of university’s auditoriums that was filled not so much because of what they expected to hear, but rather by the ignorance of self-called “intellectuals,” who used to lock doors and now claim that their voice is not heard enough. I have never banned his articles from appearing in my newspaper, only so that everyone is aware of who our “intellectuals,” really are.

Now anyone can complain regarding the freedom of media in Albania, but one cannot complain in the name of Berisha’s collaborators. They are all employed and even respected by the government. If they are facing any issues with their salaries or social insurances, then they can complain to the Prime Minister. I doubt that Sali Berisha would have respected them as much as Edi Rama. But, after this, one cannot speak about free and independent media in our country, since the work of a journalist here is pretty much equalled with Berisha’s PR employees.

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