One-legged media,lame democracy

Abstract

Bosnia and Albania reflect two different but related problems for the operation of democratic media in societies that, in European and also in global terms, can be described as ‘marginal’. Albania is Europe’s poorest country, and also has its least-developed civil society. The concept of democracy is poorly understood, and often deliberately distorted, by many of those who have the power and influence to affect its growth. The media in Albania have been manipulated almost as cynically as those in former Yugoslavia - but under the guise of operating in a democratic environment. Moreover, governments have used democratic processes, and the kind of laws and regulations that are common and often necessary in advanced democratic societies, to regulate the media in such a way as to ensure their compliance or drive them out of existence. For instance, new media laws have been deliberately delayed to keep independent radio stations in a legal limbo that allowed punitive action against them whenever the authorities wanted.