TIRANA, Sept. 16 /ATA/ – The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has backed the reform and institutional transformation of Albania’s public broadcaster RTSH, stressing the need for institutional stability, sustainable funding and a structure adapted to rapid changes in the media sector.
Speaking before parliament’s Committee on Human Rights and Public Information Media, Radka Betcheva, the EBU’s head of member relations for Central and Eastern Europe, highlighted the importance of a stable and adequately funded public broadcaster.
She said RTSH’s current structure, with separate management for television and radio, posed challenges for reorganising the broadcaster and adapting it to rapid changes in the media industry.
Betcheva said the television tax remained an important funding mechanism for public broadcasting because it established a direct link between the public and the institution. Any changes to the funding model, she added, should reflect RTSH’s actual needs and the services it is expected to provide.
Committee chair Jorida Tabaku said faster restructuring would require additional funding, while government approval of the broadcaster’s budget created a potential conflict of interest.
“We need faster restructuring, but that comes with a higher financial cost,” Tabaku said, adding that RTSH’s funding requests had not been fully accommodated in the past two budget cycles.
Betcheva also called for institutional support to digitise RTSH’s archive, warning that some archival material was deteriorating over time and that its loss would represent a broader cultural loss, not just a setback for the broadcaster.
She described the RTSH archive as part of Albania’s national heritage, saying it documents important aspects of the country’s history, culture and identity.
“Take action to support the digitisation of the archive,” Betcheva urged Albanian institutions, citing the Czech Republic’s experience in preserving and digitising audiovisual archives.
The EBU representative also expressed support for RTSH’s transformation process and its director, Eni Vasili, linking the broadcaster’s development to institutional stability, sustainable funding and modernisation.
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