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BIRN: Parliament elects a political board to lead RTSH

Politiko 2025-03-17 20:14:25

Fatjon Hoxhalli, 38 years old, with almost a decade of work experience as an advisor to Niko Peleshi in his duties in the executive and parliamentary group of the Socialist Party, from Monday will be the chairman of the RTSH Steering Council, an institution that legally must be independent from politics.

Along with Hoxhal, most of the members who were voted in on Monday after a political consensus between the majority and the opposition, come from direct or close engagements with politics.

In the plenary session, Petrit Beci, Rajmonda Bulku, Osman Mula, Bujar Kapexhiu, Robert Budina, Enio Civici, Alket Braho, Lorenc Vangjeli, Pano Xhixho and Zamira Kita were voted in as new members of this institution.

The criteria for being elected members are open to any person with no less than 10 years of work experience in the fields of media in general, media technology, art, culture, economics, justice, etc., prohibiting candidacy only for members of political parties and associations and persons with a conflict of interest with the office.

The Journalists' Association of Albania reacted by expressing disappointment over the vote in the Assembly and described the vote as a predominance of narrow party interests over the public interest.

"Members of the Media Committee and then of Parliament today denied the public the opportunity for RTSH to be a dignified and politically uninfluenced institution," the organization's statement said.

In addition to Hoxhalli, the list of members also includes other names with political connections. “The following were also elected members of the council: the spokesperson for the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Blendi Çuçi; the external advisor to the Speaker of Parliament Elisa Spiropali; the former Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Socialist Party; a member of the National Council of the Democratic Party of Albania; and a former member of the Democratic Party of Albania,” the AGSH statement said.

The procedures for the new council were opened after the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Media decided to dissolve the previous council, accusing it of legal violations and conflict of interest in the procedures initiated for the election of the new director of RTSH.

After approval by the Assembly, this council will elect the new director of RTSH, a position left vacant after the resignation of the previous director of RTSH, Alfred Peza, whose election was also contested due to his long political career with the Socialist Party.

Peza faced criticism for mass dismissals of journalists and employees of this institution during the year he held office.

The public broadcaster is in theory a politically independent institution, but the board of directors is elected by parliament through a formula where the two main parties select their preferred candidates. Reporter.al