TIRANA, May 27 /ATA/ – The Audiovisual Media Authority (AMA) has released its annual report, pointing out breaches of advertising regulations by TV stations in 2023.
Presented to lawmakers in the Parliamentary Committee on Media, the report highlights instances of covert advertising, ethical misconduct, and medication promotions.
Armela Krasniqi, head of AMA, told lawmakers that the audiovisual media watchdog had been focusing on 114 cases of audio and visual transmissions, uncovering 49 violations. She underlined that hidden advertisements made up 55% of these breaches.
“Throughout 2023, our monitoring remained rigorous, with a particular emphasis on child protection, hate speech prevention, and advertisement regulation,” Krasniqi noted.
“Out of the 114 examined broadcasts, we have identified violations in 49 cases, including covert ads, ethical breaches involving minors, medication promotions, and political advertising,” she added.
Krasniqi also reported a 7.9% increase in complaints processed by the Appeals Council compared to the previous year, with financial penalties imposed on six instances.
The report highlighted numerous instances of human rights and children’s rights violations, with 59.5% of complaints related to the former and 16.4% to the latter.
In addition to regulatory breaches, AMA prioritized efforts to combat television piracy, aiming to prevent unauthorized retransmission of live events. Krasniqi voiced concern over the proliferation of television piracy via the internet, noting the challenges in identifying perpetrators due to the global nature of the phenomenon.
“We are actively engaging in consultations to strengthen legal frameworks and introduce measures to tackle television piracy,” Krasniqi emphasized. “Proposed changes include legislative amendments to address this issue effectively.”
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