[ALBSA-Info] From The Free Media Albanian Forum

[Mero Baze]

The Prime minister, Ilir Meta, wants to show as a support of America, the space he bought for commercial in the "Washington Times."


To:        Editor in Chief The Washington Times

            Wesley Pruden     



The Prime Minister of Albania, Ilir Meta, has decided to give your newspaper an amount of 100 thousand dollars for the publication of an addition for the ocation of the Albanian national feast. Shtojca, the summary of whitch will be discused by offcials of the Albanian government , will be published, based on the official document "for propandastic purposes". The official order also contains an amount of 70 thousand dollars for a pro-governmental newspaper in Tirana, which has started it publishing only 5 months ago, while the elections and after the hard tries of the Prime minister to be reelected in the elections of June 24, 2001.
Many publishing houses in Tirana, including those close to the government, have strongly opposed this decision of the government, not because it was this certain amount was adressed to your newspaper, but because this decision enforces a work practic that the albanian prime minister, Ilir Meta, who since his election two years ago, has had as his goal the control of the media by bying it. In this case the mentioning of your newspaper's name in a list of donations "for propagandistic purposes" is an offense made to the profession of a journalist whose job is not to create a propagand, but to inform the press about what is going on with its government. I don't know what this adds are going to contain, however i know that goes on in my country and what i would have to write, if i had permission to write such an add for our national feast.
Allow me to describe some of these problems so that you can understand why the actions of the Prime Minister for creating a propagandistic window in the Western press, seeking to hide the truth, are an offense for albanian journalists. First Albania is living through a legitimate crises of the government created after the elections of June 24, from OSBE/ODIHR and also from the commision of Helsink in the American Congress. The Prime Minister Ilir Meta is responsible for what happened in Albania in June 24 and two months later till the elections the elections were over, the longest elections in a democratic country. To cover up the truth about the manipulations of the elections, the prime minister used a sum of 500 thousand dollars for the printed press. The newspaper for which i work was the only one that didn't get anything from this fund, because of it's criticism towards the prime minister. 
After the much criticised elections, the prime minister tried to ensure his mandate as a minister inside his party, a mandate that he got in a strange way. The Leader of the Socialist Party in power, in a political debate, acused the prime minister of a deviation from purchasing, the votes of the socialists. There are many creditble facts that the prime minister paid large amounts, to the socialist deputies in order to gain their support within the party, for a prime minister. The leader of the socialist party has accused the prime minister that he is involving the party in a moral crises with the promises that he has given the citizens. In this fund is inlcuded the amount of 100 thousand dollars that he gave to your newspaper, which he wants to present before the public opinion in albania as a way of support from the United States of America. The Prime minister, Ilir Meta, simply wants to show as a support of America, the space he bought for commercial in the "Washington Times." 
It would be an honor for our little country with a lot of problems, which is in the midst of the Balcanic Crizes, if your newspaper paid more attention to what is happening in Albania. Albania has a lot of problems, which, if seen whith responsibility and realism, can be solved, but if covered with political interest of the moment, can become worse and can also lead to other crises. 

 We would be more than pleased if your newspaper would dedicate some more pages to our country and its problems especially in the month of November, and no pages prepared to be selled for " propandastic purposses" from the office of the Albanian prime Minister. I hope that such a decision would honor your newspaper, and would also give courage to hundreds of albanian journalists, who are dealing day after day with the decisions of the prime minister who considers them, not the spreaders of the free speech, but as mechanisms of "propaganda", a word which we forgot after we have been separated from the communist regime for about 11 years.

Mero Baze
Editor in Chief  "TemA" 

 

Chairmen of  "The Free Media Albanian Forum"



 

 

Editor in Chief
Wesley Pruden

 

The Washington Times
3600 New York Ave., N.E.,
Washington, DC 20002
Tel: 202/636-3000
Fax: 202/269-3419

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