|
| |
KOHA SUMMARY
No. 139, 5 March 1997
MEDIA: PURGE IN SATELLITE TV?
by KOHA / Prishtina, Tirana
What has been talked since long ago about Kosovar Satellite TV
in Tirana, has become true. Different clashes, not only program-
wise, made the most privileged and most influential Albanian
media suffer changes. By decision of the Government of Kosova,
i.e. the Ministry of Information, Sali Kelmendi, editor in chief
of the TV program, Ramadan Mu‡olli, editor of the radio
programs, Zeqir Hamiti, dramaturge, Fahri Hysaj, director and
Mustafa Mu‡aj, speaker, were removed from Tirana. Following
this act, came the reaction of the removed and the KIC. According
to the latter's comment titled "The Minister Dismisses Four
Prishtina RTV Employees" it is said that "he has thus
placed full personal control over the informative programs of the
TV and the radio, after he dismissed the quality of the program
management". The dismissed claim that the Minister of
Information, after taking over the funds of the RTV, has
established the arbitrary dictate over the management and
editorial policy, he has cut off their wages since last month,
meanwhile the five continued living and working in Tirana,
depending on a solidary fund. It seems that they are still in
Tirana, hoping that the Kosovar institutions will make another
decision, for even the Presidency in Prishtina has been informed
about this event. According to KIC, the Presidency opposes such
an act of the minister, considering "that the Minister's
involvement is intolerable".
However, last week came the order banning the five of them to
even enter the premises of the Albanian TV. Even, one of them,
speaker Mustafa Mu‡aj, had declared that he had just sold
his house in Prishtina in order to settle in Tirana, and that he
had nothing to do with any political disagreement that could have
happened.
On the other hand, the people in charge of marketing (who have
also been dismissed) of the Kosovar TV in Tirana, state that this
institution has been financing itself since four months ago.
Minister Shatri declared to KOHA that this move had no political
connotations. "These steps were undertaken because there was
a need for that, because this is a very expensive media and which
for years has not proven any success and that it doesn't present
a bit of the Kosovar reality - and this is no way to go",
says Shatri. "We are forced to intervene and annul the
anarchy, which is completely natural, for the TV is considered to
be a statal institution. In regard to speaker Mu‡aj, for the
time being, his status remains undefined. In brief, we can't pay
anyone 800 DEM a month for a two hours work in thirty days! And
we won't pay anyone if there are no concrete results of their
work. These measures have been undertaken purposely, to put some
order in this important national institution: work according to
the European criterions, firstly in the professional aspect and
then the economic one too. And if it is so, let's say that Sali
Kelmendi was paid 900 DEM month for his work, i.e., a salary
bigger than Sali Berisha's. None of them will be dismissed. Sali
Kelmendi, Fahri Hysaj and Zeqir Hamiti were removed from Tirana,
in order to go back to Prishtina and work with the team there.
There is no decision yet on Ramadan Mu‡olli, who had been
coming occasionally to Tirana. In order to reduce the staff, the
decision is that none of the journalists will go from Prishtina
to Tirana. These would be only unnecessary expenses",
continues Shatri. "The Government was asked by these people
to pay phone bills that were as high as 17 thousand dollars, that
all salaries and other expenses were provided, without being
liable for any of the work done. The agreement at the beginning
was that they should finance themselves and should also provide
the new equipment for their needs - and this was something they
didn't do."
To our question: Were these people removed from there because
they belong to Rugova's lobby?, Shatri responded with: "I
have no knowledge whether they belong to this or that lobby, and
I consider that RTV Prishtina should be an institution that
doesn't belong to Rugova, Shatri, nor anyone else, but that this
is a national institution that belongs to Kosova. Sali Kelmendi
was editor in chief of this program and the program was a failure
- there is no personal spite. Our intention is to make this
institution independent in a legal and constitutional way, and
thus should the managing staff also be elected. If there is any
space for dissatisfaction and criticism, I believe that this is
only because these measures have not been undertaken at least two
years ago. But, as the proverb says: better late than
never", concludes Shatri.
On the other hand, Xhemail Mustafa, Rugova's counsellor for
Information, gave the following statement to KOHA: "All what
has happened in regard to the Kosovar team in the satellite TV,
can't be interpreted as an engagement and effort to try and set
control over the television. We are in favor of having some order
in the appointment of the team, i.e., its composition, that would
be the competence of the managers of the TV, its director and not
other institutions, as is the Ministry of Information. This is
not a struggle for control, but there must be some order, a
procedure, some legality". Mustafa thinks that this is not a
matter of a disagreement between the Presidency and the
Government, but only what he declared...
In the meantime, as the removed employees complain, the Ministry
insists on some order as well as the Presidency, the problem
remains - to have some order and principles and by all means some
work in the satellite program! Moreover knowing that so far the
complaints about the quality of the program were so big, and
especially those that were related to the limited or controlled
possibility to listen to other voices that were not of the
"official" line, etc. Can the small earthquake in our
only satellite TV produce professionalism and the elimination of
politics from the media? Let's wait and see.
|
P.O. Box, CH-8031
Zürich, Switzerland