Ownership, crucial cause for the crisis of newspapers in Albania

Abstract

Albanian daily newspapers are in crisis. A part of it is caused by interventions of newspapers’ financiers in their editorial policies in order to realize their influence. Albanian newspapers are funded mainly by business. In this research we will prove the hypothesis that publishers have managed to distort reporting of journalists and that they in fact are the real editorial authorities of daily newspapers in Albania. Result of this intervention is the decreased quality of the press, censorship and self-censorship on journalists. This has led to the decline of public interest for newspapers.

This research will be based on interviews with leading directors of newspapers but also newspaper financers, articles that address issues of media ownership in Albania, field research through surveys with journalists, and various reports of media monitoring.