“Media Yaris”
1.
The Court’s decision to prohibit the media from publishing information about the Toyota Yaris file is not good news. First of all, it is not good news for the media. Not only because most of them will have nothing to grind for these summer days, but it is bad news for the supposed freedom of the media in their duty to inform the public.
Of course, parts of the file would be used by some media for show, but the professional media of this country – and there are several of them – would use the Toyota Yaris file in order to seriously inform the public about this matter of great importance.
With this decision, the media must understand forcibly that it is not they who decide what is important to the public, but a legal elite, which is not even born from natural processes, but is an elite born by caesarean section from a not very digestible mix of foreigners and Albanians in power.
2.
The blockage is not good news for the public. First, the public is being treated like a pre-adolescent who the court decides what is good to hear and what is not. In the absence of information, the public, just like during the dictatorship, will be informed through word-of-mouth. In the wake of disinformation and misinformation, the public is being deprived of even the few tools (read: few responsible media) that can professionally process information.
The Toyota Yaris file, to be clear, is already in many hands, from those of lawyers, politicians affected or not, and some media people. So, the file is not a secret for another “elite” that has access. The only thing left for the public is to imagine what is in the file when they listen to the “messengers” of various interest groups on this file in television dinner debates, where the latter send coded messages about information in the file that they have the privilege to know.
3.
The blocking of information on this file is even more of a problem for the court. It turns into a dangerous precedent, where the Court decides to enter a field that is not its own and behaves like a “sheriff” over informing the public. This approach is absurd at a time when new justice institutions, like the old ones, are constantly leaking information, in a selective manner, to the benefit of various interest groups.
4.
Not only when the media is irresponsible, but also in countries more media-stable than Albania, the court can partially block information. Often this is done to protect the very rare individual, the public; as in the “Toyota Yaris” case.
In a country without secrets like Albania, where Russian photographers enter military bases without invitation; where there are constant rumors of ministers-agents who are appointed by neighboring countries; where for every Albanian database you have to ask how much the Iranians are selling it for; and where everything is on the Bazaar; it seems a little strange that the court is trying to keep a file blocked, the information of which is of high public interest. But, there is no surprise here. Albania is the country where only abusive state contracts are kept “secret”, and the lack of transparency applies to any information that could harm individuals in power. Unfortunately, the court is behaving with the same mentality. Maybe, it doesn’t know or won’t do anything differently.
Koloreto Cukali u lind në Tiranë, ku dhe u diplomua për Filozofi në Universitetin e Tiranës.
Që nga viti 2000 Kolo ka punuar në media të ndryshme: radio, TV, shtyp dhe në mediat e reja. Prej mbi 15 vjetësh ai është një kolumnist i shpeshtë nëpër gazeta të ndryshme ditore dhe në media të reja.
Kolo është gjithashtu dhe kineast, duke realizuar filma, serialë e dokumentarë të ndryshëm, si skenarist, regjisor e producent.
Që nga viti 2017 Kolo shërben si Kreu i Këshillit Shqiptar të Mediave, një organizatë gazetarësh qëllimi i së cilës është të vendosë standarde etike dhe të ndërtojë mekanizma të vetë-rregullimit në vend.
