TIRANA (Albania), April 25 (SeeNews) – Media outlets in Albania are suffering from widespread self-censorship and 80% of journalists have no confidence in their professional future, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday.
“Regulatory standards are manipulated in the government’s interests and ownership of the broadcast media is concentrated in the hands of a few big businessmen,” the non-governmental organisation said in its annual World Press Freedom Index report.
Journalists are exposed to a climate of insults, with some of the insults coming from "Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has called journalists trash, poison, and public enemies,” according to the report.
Albania ranked 75th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2018 World Press Freedom Index, improving its standing by one position compared to the 2017 edition of the index.
In last year's ranking by Paris-based RSF Albania climbed six places to 76th position.
Published by RSF annually since 2002, the World Press Freedom Index measures the level of freedom available to journalists in 180 countries using the following criteria – pluralism, media independence, media environment and self-censorship, legislative environment, transparency, infrastructure, and abuses.