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Media and the formation of political opinions
Albanian citizens, like citizens of other democratic countries, elect their representatives on the basis of a political opinion or position, and an idea of how their expectations will be met. But, both before and after electing them, they do not have frequent contact with their representatives. Many people do not have time to follow every plenary sitting in Parliament.
Nor does everyone have the opportunity to meet an MP. So, to form or develop their political opinions and positions, citizens establish some degree of contact through the media. On the other side, various politicians have public relations advisers on their staff who take care to convey the most positive image possible of their bosses.
By covering representatives’ activities, the media amplify their work. Meanwhile, through contact with the media, citizens obtain arguments that they absorb and turn into a factual basis for forming their opinions, and for developing a sense that their expectations have been fulfilled.
For Russ-Mohl, news coverage is part of the political system itself: it affects the prospects of parties and programmes, and politicians’ chances of election or re-election. Journalism communicates political and administrative decisions and shapes the public response to those who make them[1]. This makes clear why politicians seek to capture the media: precisely to give themselves the greatest possible assurance of success.
Funding and the interests linking media and politics
But why do the Albanian media “want” to be captured by politics? According to Blendi Kajsiu[2], this is because of the financial support politics can provide. He calls Albanian media “an instrument that seeks to serve the interests financing it, rather than grow its audience”[3].
Meanwhile, the academic Artan Fuga describes how most media, with some exceptions for those operating through cable platforms or subscription cards, do not follow a market-economy model. He notes that “to a considerable extent, media are financed by non-media companies owned by the same operators”[4].
Fuga also identifies another problem: the government’s distribution of public money to media through advertising or favours in other sectors of the economy. Here, then, it becomes clear why Albanian media “want” political capture: for the benefits.
“The media, like metaphors, transform and transmit experience”[5], says Marshall McLuhan as he describes media as translators. It follows that the premises on which representatives are elected in Albania are not only citizens’ opinions and positions at the moment they are asked to vote, but also media capture for reasons of mutual interest. Expectations, in the absence of direct contact with politicians’ performance, are shaped by organised media campaigns that then dictate “sympathies”.
[1] Stephan Russ-Mohl (2010): “Gazetaria” [Journalism]. Translated by Ardian Klosi. K&B. Tirana, p.27
[2] Blendi Kajsiu, researcher and lecturer, a graduate in economics and political science
[3] Quoted in Jonila Godole (2014): Gazetaria shqiptare në tranzicion [Albanian Journalism in Transition]. Papirus. Tirana, p.88
[4] A. Fuga; B. Gjergji; G. Skura; I. Luarasi; J. Godole; M. Marku (2014): Media në demokratizim [Media in Democratisation]. Papirus. Tirana, pp.72–73
[5] Marshall McLuhan (2013): Instrumentat e komunikimit – Media si një zgjatim i njeriut [Instruments of Communication: Media as an Extension of the Human Being]. IDK, Tirana, p.73