Parties and candidates did not respect media freedom and transparency

Although they had called on political parties and candidates to respect the fundamental principles of media freedom, transparency and democratic debate, the organizations note that, "unfortunately, numerous violations of these principles were observed in the months before, during and on election day."

The problems with campaign transparency are related to the lack of access for journalists to the campaign.

"Although political parties and candidates did not impose formal restrictions on journalists' access to election activities, in practice the ability of journalists to independently cover campaign activities was limited," the statement said.

Political actors also did not make their agendas public and hindered media efforts for independent and comprehensive coverage, and several incidents on election day directly hindered journalists' ability to report independently, further violating the fundamental principle of open and transparent elections.

The main problem remains the "ready-made tapes" of parties and candidates for the media, as the statement emphasizes, "political parties continued the entrenched practice of distributing ready-made video and press materials to the media throughout the campaign."

"The lack of clear declaration on the origin of these materials blurred the line between independent journalism and political propaganda, severely damaging transparency and hindering the public's ability to critically evaluate election information," the civil society statement emphasizes.

The organizations list a number of other problems related to transparency, lack of media balance, lack of debate and confrontation of offers, etc.

"The 2025 election period highlighted an unbalanced media landscape, with unevenly distributed coverage that mainly favored the two largest parties," the civil society statement states.

The government's order for a one-year suspension of the TikTok platform is also seen as an act of censorship that severely restricted online political discourse during a critical election period.

Instead of fair and independent media coverage, the organizations emphasize that "spectacle replaced content, excluding discussion on concrete policies or government performance and minimizing public trust."

The statement concludes with a call for political parties, state institutions, regulatory bodies and other relevant actors to immediately address these shortcomings and reaffirm their commitment to media freedom, transparency and democratic accountability.

Signatories:

Science and Innovation Center for Development (SCiDEV)
Albanian Helsinki Committee (AKHH)
Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM)
Albanian Media Council (KSHM)
Association of Journalists of Albania (AGSH)
Citizens Channel (Citizens.al)
Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Albania (BIRN Albania)
Institute for Political Studies (ISP)
Civic Resistance (QQ)
Albanian Center for Quality Journalism (ACQJ)
Albanian Center MediaLook
Center for the Study of Democracy and Governance (CSDG)
Association of Professional Journalists of Albania (APJA)
Faktoje.al

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