Government propaganda will cost taxpayers 'little less' in 2025

The budget of the Agency for Media and Information, which functions as the "ministry of propaganda" for the prime minister and the government, will cost taxpayers 149 million lek, according to projections in the 2025 draft budget.

Yes, this figure was described as low by the director of this agency, Alteo Hysi, during a hearing on Tuesday at the Parliamentary Committee for Education and Public Media, where the new budget is being discussed in principle.

"It is lower than the budget ceiling", said Hysi in the commission, adding that operating expenses were reduced by ALL 18 million.

The fund of 149 million lek will be used mainly for salaries and insurance for 69 employees who are part of this agency and who work mainly for the prime minister's agenda by producing ready-made materials from his meetings or other activities.

In 2024, the MIA budget was 156.9 million ALL, while in 2023 it was 122 million ALL.

Opposition MPs asked for information on the budget that was spent on the coverage of Prime Minister Rama's other activities outside of his role as Prime Minister and accused Hysi that the agency he headed was used only for government propaganda and not for public information.

"How much is spent on Prime Minister Rama's podcasts and in which budget are they reflected" - asked the deputy of the Democratic Party, Eralda Bano.

Hysi claimed that Rama's Podcast was an activity outside of his public function and as such was not covered by the agency's budget, even though this agency notifies the media every Sunday about Rama's Podcast guests and sends his videos ready for publication.

Asked by BIRN about this contradiction, Hysi did not give a clear answer as to why MIA was committed to covering this activity of Rama, which is not a public activity.

"The WhatsApp channel that you refer to is used simply for ease of communication with journalists," he said, while insisting that "financial resources, human resources, or logistics that are financed with money from the state budget in function of the activity of the MIA, are not are used for the purpose of producing the podcast".

Hysi was involved in a debate with the other DP deputy, Oriela Nebijaj, who raised concerns about the role of this agency. "It is not necessary because it is in the prime minister's service," she said.

But Hysi replied that with the MP's logic, even the White House would not have a press office.

The establishment of this agency at the end of 2021 and the appointment to its head of Endri Fuga, Rama's closest adviser, was met with criticism by freedom of expression organizations that compared the new institution to a "propaganda ministry".

In the VKM for its creation, it is foreseen that the agency controls the appointment and dismissal of the spokespersons of the central institutions and that it also controls the public activity of the ministers, including their press conferences.

International organizations for freedom of expression in a statement published in October 2021 called the creation of the agency "disturbing" and a step towards the deterioration of media freedom in Albania.

Media freedom is a repeated concern in the progress reports of the European Commission for Albania./BIRN