The OSCE Commissioner for the Media, Dunia Miatovic, after the first meeting with the Albanian Parliament Media and Education Commission underlined some important issues, such as the removal of slander from the penal code, when our state and courts apply big fines against journalists and the media, and the guarantee of an environment with truly free and independent media, and also the digitalization process.

“It would be good if the law would decriminalize slander. I would offer the assistance of my office for changing these dispositions and making a full decriminalization”, Miatovic declared.

In other hand, a Democratic Party MP Mark Marku underlined that there are very unique cases when a journalist has been punished for slander or untrue information. The government of Mr. Berisha, said Mr. Marku, has prohibited all state officials to sue the media for slander.

An important part of the discussion was that of the unequal distribution of state advertisements, bay using the money of the Albanian tax payers to the media that defend the government. As result, the other media are discriminated, without forgetting the lack of an independent National Council of Radio and Televisions. /albeu.com/