Round's 'threat' to journalists, Union of Journalists: Intimidation to freedom of reporting!

The Union of Journalists of Albania has reacted after the 'threat' of the State Police to those journalists, who, according to Chief Police Officer Muhamet Rrumbullaku, tried to smear the institution that leads the murder of 42-year-old Eglantin Proga.

In response to the statement of the Union of Albanian Journalists, it is said that the police investigations "for mudslinging" are intimidation against the reporting freedom of journalists.

Statement of the Union of Albanian Journalists

Police "smear" investigations are an intimidation of journalists' reporting freedom

UGSH has been following with utmost concern and attention the accusations, criticisms and especially the denunciations of journalists in the case of the death of 42-year-old Egli Proga, in the city of Pogradec. The various reports about the event and especially the tragic death of the parent with two minor children, have clearly exposed critical aspects of the delay and information practice, but mostly of the reaction in our local reality.

UGSH appreciates the fact that the State Police, the Prosecutor's Office and the local court were forced by the reports of journalists and the media to issue clarifications for public information, having a substantial difference in the evaluations and judicial procedures regarding the case.

UGSH notes that in the practice followed since the first moment of the criminal event, the law enforcement and scene investigation bodies have shown slowness and delay in informing the media and especially the public.

The Director General of the State Police, Mr. Muhamet Rrumbullaku, in a public appearance before journalists on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, among other things, attacked the right of reporters to have their own sources of information and to follow the principle of data intersection for the truth in the service of the public, offering himself as a reliable source only his official source.

Meanwhile, the head of the State Police defiantly declared that investigations will be launched for journalists who "smudge" the police.

Mr. Rrumbullaku even admitted to reporters that he has given an order for the case of Pogradec: "The directorate of media relations in the state police and the respective departments that deal with criminal prosecution are researching social networks and preparing the criminal report regarding each individual and each social network in relation to this intentional disinformation".

Prime Minister Edi Rama has joined this order with support, with the call, "to fight disinformation and intentional misinformation of the public..."

This reinforced statement reflects our concern, as the largest organization of journalists in the country, for an intimidating statement against the right and freedom of self-reporting of every journalist and professional media in the country. Investigations of this nature, through social networks or media blogs, clearly create a police enterprise on plural reporting in the mediums and reporting spaces of free journalists.

UGSH assesses that the reporting persistence of many media and our colleagues, towards the case of Pogradec, has served to increase civic sensitivity and show a reactionary conscience to the drama that has been caused to the family of a parent who lost his life and left two children and their mother , at the mercy of unknown social and economic fate. The reporting intensity of our colleagues made it possible to bring to the public eye the report of the innocent victim with a problematic perpetrator who is still not presenting the profile to the official institutions.

Union of Albanian Journalists