For the information of DEZA, Direktion für Entwicklung und Zusammenarbeit
Diaspora Shqiptare (Albanian Diaspora) Website is operated by Albania’s Ministry of Diaspora under the auspices of the West.
Ever since its launch. Albania’s PM and his associate Pandeli Majko are promoting an autocratic style of journalism in the diaspora blatantly undermining the Western media standards.
For years, Edi Rama has created and financed his own propaganda cells in the West which operate to influence the Albanian diaspora.
This is done in coordination with channels like RTSH – Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (Radio Television Albania), and videos posted on YouTube that promote the “party stars” in the diaspora, for the benefit of Edi Rama. According to one source, pushing party politics via media machinery in the Albanian communities abroad is a costly business that amounts to thousands of Euros.
On these grounds, Diaspora Shqiptare (Albanian Diaspora) website, operated by Albania’s Ministry of Diaspora, is a self-serving tool for the autocrat-in-chief Edi Rama.
THE PURPOSE OF DIASPORA SHQIPTARE: DEZA Funds assigned to Diaspora Shqiptare are being used to bolster the reins of power of Edi Rama in the diaspora, which is contrary to DEZA’s primary intention of strengthening democracy in Albania.
The media project has received DEZA funds with the specific designation, namely to strengthen Albania’s democracy. In flagrant violation of free and independent media, Diaspora Shqiptare Website is channeled through a government entity. Instead of boosting democracy, it is undermining it. Instead of speaking truth to power, it has been seized by PM Edi Rama to further bolster his own power and shore up clients and allies abroad.
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS: Established as an acknowledgment of the essential role played by the media, freedom of the press is included in the Constitution of Western democracies. It protects the rights of journalists to cover politics and any issues of public interest, without government control.
Instead of upholding the Constitution and safeguarding democracy from violators in power, Diaspora Shqiptare Website is using Western funds to help the Tirana administration violate the Constitution and protect the offenders at the top.
NO ACCREDITED JOURNALIST AT DIASPORA SHQIPTARE: A responsible journalist understands the burden that the freedom of the press carries with it. To a professional journalist, his or her reputation is the most valuable asset. To be able to hold the public trust and perform the duties of the profession, among other requirements, reporters apply and receive accreditation at and from the workplace. There are no such standards for Diaspora Shqiptare online reporters.
OUR FINDINGS: There are up to 2,600 postings signed by a no-name Reporter. The assumption would be that these are posts from other sites and news outlets therefore they are in violation of the copyright law, to say nothing of the poor spelling and mistakes in texts that appear unedited. Those that do sign their names are either former employees of Albania’s Ministry of Diaspora or a selected few members from the Diaspora who appear to satisfy Pandeli Majko’s requirement.
We have reached out to them and our requests for information have not been answered.
It is troubling that the self-proclaimed online journalists of Diaspora Shqiptare show no professionalism, no transparency, and ignore the requests by Albanian media outlets. The poor conduct of these so-called journalists of Diaspora Shqiptare undermines the very democratic institutions that the media is a part of.
In case the self-proclaimed journalists are compensated for their services in favor of Edi Rama’s government, then they are taking part in a sham. As residents of the Albanian diaspora, they know better than to enable the corruption of Edi Rama and his allies. They are not journalists no matter how many times they call themselves that! They give a bad name to the profession and denigrate the honesty and sacrifices of so many journalists that have worked hard for decades “to speak truth to power” in and out of Albania.
PUBLIC AWARENESS: Diaspora Shqiptare Website is abusing the public trust and the allocated DEZA funds by undermining democracy and violating the law by being a tool of the government and doing a disservice to the Albanian people. Years of exerting control on the state, justice, government institutions and employees, and relentless media abuses have taken its toll in Albania.
Diaspora Shqiptare Website is one example of how far Edi Rama and his enablers are pushing their agenda beyond Albania’s borders to undermine the media, to manipulate and divide the Albanian diaspora at large.
DIASPORA SHQIPTARE WEBSITE MAY BE DOING A LOT OF THINGS – ONE THING IT IS NOT DOING IS JOURNALISM
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