Austrian ambassador to Tirana, Christian Steiner told Euronews Albania that our country hasn’t seen any progress or improvements in terms of press freedom, the main reason being intervention from the government and big business.
“Freedom of the press and free speech are important criteria in the process of EU accession talks and this was also reported in this year’s report of the European Commission as well as last year’s, which both, unfortunately, concluded that they couldn’t point out any progress in the field,” – said the ambassador.
In addition, he also added that it is crucial for good journalism to do its job without outer intervention from the government and the business sector.
As it pertains to the newly established Agency of Media and Information in Albania, Mr. Steiner said that there is no analog structure currently in place in Austria.
“Not exactly like that, no, but I believe we used to have a similar example, the Federal Media Service, which used to operate until recently but was in fact abolished and dispersed into other structures of the Federal Chancellery,” – said the ambassador.
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