Immediately following the floods and the recently created public narrative about crisis management, Prime Minister Edi Rama has launched a lynch campaign against journalists who have taken positions or raised questions about the government.
A week ago, the Prime Minister, in a communication on social networks, through several photos of plastic waste from Shkozet, stated that the throwing of garbage and plastic bottles by citizens on the side of the roads led to the flooding situation after they blocked the drainage channels.
This post was shared by journalist Klodiana Lala, who ironically addressed the real problem of non-management of waste despite major investments in plants like the Tirana incinerator.
The Prime Minister made a subsequent reaction with derogatory language and did not address any of Lala's concerns.
“A spokesperson for public opinion, with marked ignorance, tells citizens that the Tirana incinerator is to blame for the plastic bottles and bags that are thrown into the streets and end up blocking the canals […]” Rama replied to X.
This communication by the Prime Minister to journalists began with the flood situation in the first week of January, where public debate on governance and crisis management had increased.
On the Opinion show on TVKlan, host and journalist Blendi Fevziu stated that he had information about ministers who were on private trips abroad, while appearing in the media as if they were at work.
This led the Prime Minister to launch a lynching campaign towards Fevziu, also dealing with his personal life and generating visual materials with artificial intelligence.
Journalist Fevziu responded by criticizing the public communication of ministers in times of crisis, avoiding press conferences.
"Ministers and directors paraded through flooded areas, talking to themselves in front of the cameras," Fevziu wrote, emphasizing that such images were "moral ugliness" and "irresponsibility."
According to Fevziu, this approach of the ministers comes from "from the impotence of ideas, the lack of charisma and the crippled personality"But the Prime Minister continued his remarks to the journalist, further escalating the language.
Media organizations have reacted to this, condemning the situation, considering it an example of how power is exercised over the media, through exposure and intimidation, and not through transparency.
“[…] criticism of the government is treated as a moral defect of the journalist and not as part of a legitimate public debate”, the Network of Safe Journalists in Albania expressed on the case of journalist Klodiana Lala.
As for the campaign against journalist Fevziu, the Safe Journalists Network stated that "When transparency is replaced by spectacle and response by ridicule, power is exercised not to inform the public, but to discipline those who ask questions.".
According to the Network "disciplined" By publicly criticizing a journalist who is an important determinant of the public agenda in a small media market, the Prime Minister shows that institutional access and position do not offer protection from pressure from the government.
"The signal goes down: if a central figure in the media system can be exposed to constant ridicule and delegitimization, the implications for investigative journalists, local media, freelancers, and less protected voices are clear," the Safe Journalists Network said in a statement.
According to the Safe Journalists Network, this type of pressure relies on exposure and humiliation, allowing formal commitments to freedom of expression to remain on paper, while informal restrictions are strengthened.
At the same time, the Association of Journalists of Albania (AGSH) has also reacted. According to the Association, the debate raises a serious problem regarding the language and standard of institutional communication.
"Journalists have the right and obligation to raise questions about public policies, including waste management, public investments and the real functioning of costly projects such as incinerators. In this context, the Prime Minister's response, accompanied by derogatory language, labels and personal irony, is unacceptable for a top state official," the Journalists Association of Albania expressed.
They called on public officials to be transparent with the media in difficult situations for the country.
“…by organizing press conferences so that journalists have the opportunity to ask exhaustive questions on these issues", the Association concluded its statement.
Read also:
- Floods highlight crisis with emergencies and urban development
- Neither Veliera nor public tenders saved Durrës from the floods
- Albania faces climate crises without a reliable monitoring system
Erisa Kryeziu has completed higher studies in Journalism and Communication and Master of Science in Public Relations at the University of Tirana. She has been a journalist and project manager at Citizens.al for five years, where she reports on social issues and human rights, especially on issues of rights at work, in education, gender equality, marginalized groups, people with disabilities such as and for environmental issues. At the same time, she works as a project coordinator with a focus on youth and media education. User of new reporting techniques such as "Mobile Journalism" and citizen engagement tools in reporting (ECR-Engage Citizens Journalism).
