Media Pluralism

Although physical attacks against journalists and their relatives remain limited in Albania, the cases that are reported are not always thoroughly investigated. Otherwise, harassment and intimidation, verbal abuse and smear campaigns, both online and offline, remain quite common and often come from the highest echelons of power, undermining the very fabric of free speech and freedom of the press.

There is no hard market data on the Albanian advertising market. The size of the advertising market in the media is estimated based on financial statements of key media power houses. According to the estimates published by the economic weekly Monitor, the whole advertising market in Albania, including

Despite its many shortcomings, for many years the Albanian media was perceived by researchers as vigorous and fairly diverse - mainly due to the large number of outlets competing in a small market. However, new data on audience and market concertation probed by the MOM team, suggests that the perception of plurality is an illusion

As opposed to 'real' censorship, where someone from the outside forces journalists to suppress or alter a certain piece of information, self-censorship means that journalist do it themselves pre-emptively, often due to the fear of injury to themselves or their families, fear of lawsuits or economic consequences that threaten the livelihood of the reporter