The Albanian Media Council reacts to the audio-tapping of the journalist: Shameful case! The Board of Ethics to take urgent measures

The Albanian Media Council reacts to the audio-interception of the journalist Adriatik Doçi as he shows how he imposes fines on various businessmen, but also on politicians connected to the government of Edi Rama.

KSHM considers the act not only shameful, but also a serious breach of the journalist's Code of Ethics.

 In an official statement, KSHM announces that it will ask the Ethics Board to convene in an urgent meeting and formulate a position that not only deals with the case, but also the context.

Statement on audio-taping from the Public Live portal

The Media Council has followed with concern the media reports of an audio-interception where a member of the journalist community, Mr. Adriatic Doçi.

As the audio conversation hints, the wiretapped journalist verbally articulates some serious violations of the journalist's Code of Ethics.

Advertisements in exchange for silence or non-attack, monthly fees received from businesses in exchange for not reporting problems of commercial products that harm the lives of consumers, are only part of the arsenal that the person in the audio-tap admits to having and using, unethically, but also illegally.

It is also the case when the intercepted character talks about an agreement with drug traffickers that is not only unethical, but also shameful.

The Media Council has witnessed reports, never proven, that there are journalists, especially black chroniclers, who receive monetary sums to distort information, or spread fake news, which favors one criminal or group and harms another.

What the journalist admits in this audio recording is the first public indication of media blackmail involving journalists.

The Media Council views with alarm the audio-interception and the information that comes out of it, and condemns this act, as it condemns any case when journalists do not follow and do not respect their mission, to be guardians of violations of power and powerful people .

Problemi i gazetarëve gjobëvënës është problem i medias, por gjithashtu problem i pushtetit dhe faktit se si ky pushtet përdor gazetarët të caktuar dhe media të caktuara për të instrumentalizuar lirinë e shprehjes dhe goditur kundërshtarin politik.

Këshilli i Media do t’i kërkojë Bordit të Etikës që të mblidhet në një mbledhje urgjente dhe të formulojë një qëndrim që nuk merret vetëm me rastin, por edhe kontekstin.

Gjithashtu, u bëjmë thirrje organizatave lokale dhe ndërkombëtare të medias, të senibilizohen në lidhje me raste të tilla, që përbëjnë një front të ri lufte në betejën e medias dhe operatorëve të saj për mbrojtjen e të vërtetës dhe integritetit profesional.

The media, journalists, businesses, citizens must publicly denounce cases of fines, which is no longer journalism but a criminal crime. Violators must be publicly shown the finger, prosecuted and expelled from the journalistic community.

We request the law enforcement agencies to investigate this case, which not only violates the law, but shows signs of a passive society towards the instruments of democracy and their malicious and illegal use.

Finally, we inform the public that this case cannot and should not be taken as an excuse for the government's "anti-defamation" law. That law was not designed to catch these "journalists". The Republic of Albania has the relevant legal framework to deal strictly with all types of blackmail.