Activity Details (ID# 7514)

Activity Synopsis

The objectives of the round-table were to present and discuss European standards and trends concerning media ownership, pluralism and transparency in order to provoke debate and raise consciousness in Albania of the importance of these issues in strengthening professional and independent media.

 

There were animated discussions which revealed inter alia a lack of awareness as regards who owns what media in Albania and the lack of properly registered information. There also seemed to be some confusion regarding the regulatory framework and the implementation of laws concerning media.

There was also not enough time (in one day) to exhaust the issues surrounding media ownership, pluralism and transparency in Albania and it was therefore difficult to explore in detail and discuss Council of Europe follow up to the event.

The event was well organised locally by the Albanian Media Institute. There were too many presentations (7 in total) which reduced the length of roundtable discussions. However, there was a good level of participation and the target audience was reached. There was also some media coverage of the event.
 

A draft 6-point action plan on media ownership and transparency was prepared by the Council of Europe Secretariat and experts during and after the roundtable. The Albanian Media Institute is currently disseminating and reaching agreement on the draft text so that it may be finalised and established as the agreed action plan of the roundtable.

The action plan will serve as a sound basis for future work in Albania in this field, the main message of which is that there is a need to promote greater awareness and action concerning media ownership and transparency in order to encourage greater consciousness among the media and greater accountability to the general public
 

Media professionals from the written press, television and radio, and representatives from the Parliament, NGOs and universities 

Mr David Ward (UK) and Mrs Zrinjka Perushko (Croatia) 

Lee Hibbard, Media Division, DGII