In this article
International news and the case of Turkey
If we consider what happened during this period, the first half of 2015, across the region and beyond, alongside what the media reported, the conclusion is predictable: all the developments in Europe will have been treated in Albanian media, as developments outside the borders have always been treated, as events involving “the other”, rather than developments that affect the Albanian public too. This can be anticipated from experience with the country’s media.
Even in their shallow reporting, the main focus is always on stories that often lack topical relevance and offer only sensationalism. Under this approach, reporting also lacks a defined editorial policy and is generally not filtered to account for the interests or viewpoints of the countries from which the news has been “imported”.
According to Arben Muka, “In Albania, the media have no real tradition of covering international news. Space for international stories is managed routinely, without qualified staff and sometimes, to use an unprofessional expression, simply to ‘fill’ pages left empty on days when there have been no important developments, or when the journalists themselves have not had a productive day and have not filed many stories”[1]. We can illustrate Muka’s point with a concrete example.
On Sunday 7 June, parliamentary elections were taking place in Turkey. Of all the newspapers monitored, only Panorama devoted an article to announcing the political event: “Turkey votes: elections seen as referendum on Erdoğan’s power”. Even a quick reading makes Muka’s contention clear.
First, not a single line mentions Albania’s interests or viewpoints. During President Erdoğan’s visit to Tirana on 13 May, his open demand that the Albanian state close every investment of the “Hizmet” movement inspired by Fethullah Gülen stood out. This movement is known in Albania for its many investments in education, and Erdoğan’s demand was followed by confusion over how to understand the situation.
Meanwhile, this article, which has neither a named author nor an information source, clearly states that Erdoğan blames Gülen’s movement for the corruption scandal in which he had recently been implicated. Yet it does not mention at all that the movement is also present in our country. These details suggest that the information was covered as “routine”, as Muka puts it, just to “fill” a page, a page the other newspapers had found ways to “fill” without even needing to report this event.
Reporting on ISIS
Another case that provides an even better illustration of this shallow reporting is the activity of the terrorist network known as ISIS (Islamic State of Syria and Iraq). For more than a year, there have been reports, always superficial, of various Albanians participating in the fighting there. The terrorist network also has its own propaganda machine, various online portals, and on 5 June, a documentary video produced by precisely that machine became news.
The documentary featured various fighters from the Balkans threatening the peninsula with a future ISIS attack. Among them were two people speaking Albanian.
The video, published on 4 June, appeared in all the country’s general-interest newspapers except Panorama.
But the news reports were nothing more than a transcription of the words of the two Albanian ISIS figures threatening the Balkans. This is a clear case of news being sold for its sensationalism rather than any other quality. Unwittingly, the print press, and not only the print press, fell prey to ISIS’s “tactic” of spreading terror.
By covering material distributed by the terrorists without filtering it, the print press became an instrument of their propaganda. On 5 June, newspapers sold fear to their readers, when they could instead have investigated or sought a statement from a senior Albanian official and produced the opposite effect. The story could have been presented from a balanced perspective, for example: “The Defence Minister and Interior Minister guarantee that nothing threatens the country’s security!”.
MAPO, for its part, unlike the other newspapers, reports the first and last name of one of the two figures.
According to the newspaper, this imam from Pogradec acted as a recruiter and was named by a relative of another fighter. MAPO cites no source, and the journalist’s name is not given either. The newspaper indicates that it identified the person solely by the distinctive mole on his face.
Meanwhile, “Gazeta Shqiptare”, which during this period also received a threat against its journalists from ISIS fighters, reports the ISIS video threat in the same way as the other papers. But it leads its front page with a “problem” that in this case belongs only to “Gazeta Shqiptare”. Alongside the video report sits the “crude irony”.
The threat against a woman journalist by ISIS in Albania is news even for the “NY Times”, but not for the other Albanian newspapers. Their failure to report it weakens its credibility for domestic readers, encouraging stereotypes such as “Oh, she made it up herself”, or “She must be after asylum”.
This case clearly shows, first, a lack of professionalism; second, a primary focus on consumerism, “the press sells fear to readers”; and third, how disinforming this shallow reporting becomes, especially when an international development also involves Albanian figures. Interest here is limited. According to Besar Likmeta, “Albania is a small country, and Albanian readers’ interest in the world is limited.
“Nevertheless, the media should have an educational role, and reporting important events in the region and the world is part of their mission.” Likmeta believes that if reporting in Albanian media were of higher quality and written for an Albanian reader, rather than the reverse as widespread current practice dictates, “interest in the region and the world would be greater”[2].
Coverage of developments in Macedonia
If we turn to regional news, we find precisely what Muka described as “filling space with news as a matter of routine”. One example is the aftermath of the events in Kumanovo. Albanians in Macedonia began protesting over the situation, especially politicians’ indifference to changing it.
But these protests and developments in Macedonia were covered very superficially by the Albanian press. The 13 June protests in Skopje were reported by Panorama and Shqip, while Shekulli published only a box on its second page. “Gazeta Shqiptare” alone did not report the situation on 14 June, the following day, when a print newspaper could report the event, but on 15 June, two days after the protests had taken place.
This clearly shows how much interest and weight regional developments carry for this newspaper.
News about Albanians living in the region, as Likmeta says, is “often very basic, focusing on major events, such as ‘Kosovo’s status’, without conveying the heart of the matter or explaining thoroughly what is happening. The same then happens with other events. The complexity of life in the region is not conveyed, and even when it is, the news is often clothed in nationalist tones, denying readers the right to judge dispassionately and objectively”[3].
This is a brief description of how international developments are covered in the Albanian print press. Its shallow reporting leads us to say that “foreign news arrives as something foreign”.
[1] Interview with Arben Muka, DW correspondent in Albania. Tirana, 28.09.2015
[2] Interview with Besar Likmeta, director of BIRN Albania. Tirana, 27.09.2015
[3] Interview with Besar Likmeta, director of BIRN Albania. Tirana, 27.09.2015