Attacks and denigrating campaigns against journalists/ SafeJournalists expresses concern about the situation in Albania

2025-02-21 16:34:00, Aktualitet CNA

Attacks and denigrating campaigns against journalists/ SafeJournalists expresses

The SafeJournalists Network has expressed concern about the increasing hostility towards independent journalists and media professionals in Albania, including verbal attacks, anti-media rhetoric from senior officials, and denigrating campaigns against journalists, including women.

This concern follows a series of attacks on journalists and independent media outlets, including an attack on Prime Minister Edi Rama and Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, as well as a smear campaign against journalist Glidona Daci. SafeJournalists highlights the danger these attacks pose to media freedom and democratic accountability, calling on the authorities to stop these campaigns and protect journalists in their work.

On February 11, 2025, Prime Minister Edi Rama called BIRN Albania a turret – a narrow crack in the fortress walls used to shoot guns – framing the media not as an independent journalistic entity, but as a selective and targeted aggressor. This attack, followed by further rhetoric against the media on February 12, sought to discredit investigative journalism and undermine the role of the media as a pillar of democratic accountability by referring to them as a “political-media swamp” or “medieval market court” or as “the quagmire of the political-media swamp”. Similarly, Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj, following his arrest on corruption charges, launched degrading and inflammatory attacks on journalists covering the issue, calling them “scum” and branding the media as “slugs”.

On February 17, 2025, journalist Glidona Daci became the target of a misogynistic and defamatory smear campaign. She was attacked in anonymous posts on online social networks, filled with sexist insinuations and fabricated accusations, with the aim of discrediting her both professionally and personally.

The SafeJournalists Network also notes that, in a politically polarized media landscape, journalists covering corruption and justice issues are increasingly facing verbal attacks, intimidation and online harassment. Independent media outlets, such as Faktoje, have been targeted by smear campaigns, portraying them as instruments of foreign influence. These attacks come from various media outlets, public figures and online platforms.

These ongoing attacks pose a direct threat to media freedom and democratic accountability in Albania. The targeting of journalists, whether through inflammatory rhetoric, online harassment, or institutional pressure, undermines fundamental democratic values, weakens public trust in journalism, and creates a climate of fear and self-censorship.

We call on the authorities to stop organizing such campaigns and attacks on journalists, to punish those who carry them out, and to allow journalists to do their work. We also urge political leaders and public officials to respect the role of independent journalism as an essential mechanism of checks and balances and to engage with the media in a manner that respects democratic principles.

The SafeJournalists Network remains committed to monitoring and documenting threats to media freedom and will continue to report on these alarming developments. We stand in solidarity with independent journalists in Albania and across the region, who continue their vital work despite increasing hostility and risk.

The SafeJournalists Network will inform relevant national and international stakeholders.

Any attack on journalists is an attack on the public interest, democracy, and the rights of all citizens.