Publisher Nikolle Lesi says that nowadays, power has been bought and corrupted by media owners, who in turn, put pressure on journalists by imposing self-censorship.
In an interview for Euronews Albania’s ‘NOW with Erla Mehilli’, Lesi said that today technology has dimmed the passion for true journalism.
To illustrate this, he recalled an event from back in 1994, when renowned journalist Arjan Cani, who was working in his newspaper at the time, had once spent 5 hours in the rain in front of the Socialist Party headquarters just to get a news story.
“When the SP went on their big strike against Berisha back in ’94, Arjan Cani went to the party’s headquarters and stayed outside for 5 hours in the rain just so he could get the news story. And after some 5 hours, he speaks on the radio and asks me: director, what should I do, nothing is happening here. Then he says wait, I just heard a chicken bone crack from the third floor. So, there it was, SP’s hunger strike and the chicken bone. He came back to the office and shared the news,” Lesi recalled.
