On 17 November 2025, SCiDEV, in cooperation with Faktoje and with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, convened a high-level roundtable in Tirana to discuss the European Commission’s 2025 assessment of freedom of expression and media freedom in Albania. The meeting brought together journalists, MPs, regulators, civil society and international partners to examine why Albania continues to register only limited progress in this area. The discussion reaffirmed a central message: the challenges the EC identifies each year are not isolated problems but symptoms of a structurally captured media ecosystem.

Participants analysed the core issues highlighted in the 2025 EC Report, including concentrated media ownership, weak institutional independence, lack of transparency in state advertising, and safety concerns and working conditions of journalists as well as the growing influence of propaganda and disinformation. They stressed that Albania must align with European and Council of Europe standards, particularly through the decriminalisation of defamation, adoption of anti-SLAPP protections, and ensuring the real independence of AMA and RTSH. Concerns were also raised about the use of public funds to influence editorial lines, barriers to accessing information, and the spread of hate speech and coordinated smear campaigns against journalists.

Looking ahead, the roundtable underscored that 2026 must mark a shift from incremental improvements to structural reform. Priorities include transforming the financial model of the media, ensuring full transparency in how both media and state institutions operate, strengthening newsroom integrity mechanisms, and improving legal and economic protections for journalists. Participants noted that progress will require coordinated action from institutions, media actors, civil society and international partners, but also sustained bottom-up pressure from journalists and the public to ensure accountability and genuine media independence.