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News from the Field: New media tackles corruption in Albania

This month, Hapur Foundation, IREX Europe’s partner for the UNDEF funded Media, Transparency and Accountability in Albania project, launched a website at www.programihapur.com that features investigative TV productions from across the country.

According to Transparency International, Albania is one of the world’s most corrupt countries and among the poorest in Europe. However, the country has set an ambitious agenda for access to the European Union and meeting the Millennium Development Goals, including its own national goal of good governance. In the coming years, Albania faces crucial tests of its ability to move toward these objectives and broader democratic consolidation.

The main aim of the Media, Transparency and Accountability in Albania project is to contribute to strengthening the Albanian media as a key underpinning to the good governance and accountability required for democratic development. The project, supported by the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF), builds the media’s role in promoting transparency by improving its capacity 1) to investigate and inform citizens about corruption and issues of civic concern and 2) to develop, implement and enforce its own ethical and professional standards. IREX Europe approaches these project objectives through collaboration with two Albanian initiatives - the aforementioned Hapur Foundation and the Union of Albanian Journalists.

The launch of the Hapur website is just one of the achievements of the project. The project team produces various investigative television reports on corruption cases and other issues of community concern in Albania. In order to broaden access to these reports, a series of broadcasts is aired through a network of local partner television stations, which, in addition to the newly launched website, ensures that the stories reach a wide audience.

One of the project’s probing reports that the visitors can watch via YouTube by logging on to the website is The Powerful Story by journalist Yilka Kamenica of how citizens have come together to deal with their local municipality over land rights. The featured report outlines the struggle between local authorities who want to use a tract for development and the group of citizens who claim they hold title to the land.

By developing the Hapur Foundation as an investigative journalism centre producing TV programs and providing training, as well as and by strengthening the Union of Albanian Journalists’ capacity to monitor press freedom abuses and protect the ability of journalists to work independently, this project responds to the need for a media sector more able to serve as a watchdog and meet the information requirements of citizens in the Albanian evolving democracy.

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