Prime Minister Edi Rama addressed the Forum under the title “Journalism Will Survive! Risks and Opportunities for the Future.”

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To tell the truth, I was actually wondering whether I would attend this Forum and I was unsure until the last moment.

I finally decided to come over here since I was told you were waiting for me.

It would perhaps be imprudent not to welcome so many people, who come to Tirana from many countries to talk about the survival of journalism.

I heard Oliver saying “politicians are very important to journalists.” Of course, politicians are just like calories for human beings, as one can’t survive without calories. Politicians are a very precious “meat” too.

However, I will do my best to be as good as I can, although it will certainly be still insufficient, and share with you some thoughts about the survival of journalism and the fight for freedom of speech.

I don’t think that the question is “whether journalism will survive?” I think that if the world comes to an end, journalism will be the last one to die out. This is for sure. The thing is “will the truth survive?”

I think that for many reasons “the truth” rather than journalism is in great danger nowadays and, again, for many reasons journalism has turned into a huge concoction of truth and lies and, in my view this is a fact.

Just a few weeks ago, I had a very interesting conversation with Timothy Garton Ash, a fervent believer of journalism and the freedom of speech, a man who believes in all the great causes of journalism. However, among many other things, a saying, which I had never come across earlier, stuck in my mind: “Opinions are cheap, facts are expensive.” This is what we are facing today.

Here I learned about 21 assaults, threats issued against journalists in Albania.

However, most relevantly I am pretty aware of what an attack against a journalist means, since I have experienced it firsthand. Due to the circumstances, I happened to know and I know the fight for the freedom of speech when such a war was going on. I also knew the respect for the freedom of publishing and it was all about a long time ago.

However, I know how the two are being abused now.

Any attacks, any threats against journalists is absolutely a heinous action. However, how many journalists attack people?

I know that “politicians are not humans,” yet there is a tiny bit of a human in every politician. Not that much, but a small dose of it.

Anyway, politicians have families too. They have children and frankly I completely agree and express my full solidarity with any journalist who faces threats and attacks and I fully understand the “why”, the “how” and all the reasons that every journalist organization stands up for them in any incident.

However, I wonder whether these journalism organizations and associations ever turn against themselves, against certain individuals within their groups who, on behalf of journalism and claiming to be journalists, reserve the right to do what some times ago – and I don’t mean a century ago, but during my lifetime – it was absolutely unimaginable.

A few years ago, we encountered an incredible adverse reaction to our efforts, our political party attempt to launch an effort aimed at regulating in a minimalist way the online media and such an attempt keeps haunting me just like a ghost in the sense that although we backtracked, not because I have changed my mind, but because it lead to a completely abnormal dispute that actually ran against the idea of what we wanted to fix and this continues to pop up as a stigma, as an ideological crime and just the fact that we had this idea it caused a serious trouble.

The counterargument back then was that self-regulation was the solution. Several years have passed and I see no signs of self-regulation at all. I see only a few people who, because they work seriously as journalists and I see many others who, since they think that being a journalist means being free to do whatever you want, do whatever they wish to do. So they do whatever they wish to do, self-regulation is nowhere to be found and the number of attacks, the number of lies, the number of spreading half-truths is incredible.

I understand the idea, politicians should be targeted for the day’s burning at the stake, but it can possibly happen and how is one supposed to put the other side of the medal into some kind of frame? By earlier saying that I knew what respect for the right of publication was, I meant my first contact with free world journalism, when I was asked to publish an article in “The Guardian” newspaper. It was the early 90s, and I had never imagined that one day I would be publishing an article on “The Guardian” and for me it was like being told I was going to meet the Pope. I sent the article to “The Guardian” and as soon as I returned home in the evening, I was living in Paris back then, I heard a voice message on my answering machine from “The Guardian” saying: “It is impossible for us to publish your article tomorrow, because we need to check and verify some facts with you.” I couldn’t sleep all night because I thought I had done something very wrong. The next day, I called them and I was told that they were asking for my permission for the title, which was perfect, and they wanted to verify with me two corrections which I think were of no value at all. When I asked them whether this is the only reason they didn’t publish my story, they replied: “Yes”. “Why?”  – I asked them. The person on the other end of the phone was taken aback. “What does ‘why’ mean? You are the author” – he told me. Now imagine the difference nowadays.

I don’t think that the world of fact-checking and the world of high ethics was an old world that had to be overthrown by the evolution of free speakers who would grant themselves every right to tell the public whatever they wish, without minding and caring at all whether what they publish is true or a half true, which is even a bigger lie.

Prior to coming to this Forum, I had to give an interview for an Italian TV station and I don’t know why after so many days since we revealed to the public the agreement on migrants with the Italian government I still have to answer about the alleged danger that 3000 African males pose to Albania, although this has never been the case. When the Italian Prime Minister clarified on the agreement during our joint press conference, she said that only pregnant women, minors and other vulnerable people would not be included in this programme. This is certainly because of their condition. The migrants rescued at sea will be immediately sent there where immediate help can be provided to them. This is clear. The news about this agreement was as follows: no women, but only 3000 African males will be sent to Albania. And this is the title of the news that was disseminated and I don’t know how many times I had to provide explanations over the past days and this title is embedded in all the fantasies that are usually triggered by all these lies to make way then to the political fighting. So, according to these news stories, some sex-hungry Africans will be sent here and God knows what would happen when one day they let their sexual desire out with white Albanian women and girls. The media has gone that far to make such speculations.

Again, I know you are human beings, whereas the politicians are not. However, the question one would ask you humans is as follows: How are we supposed to fight this? How can we fight this phenomenon? This is just an example involving two countries, because there is no difference when it comes to media speculation. This is happening not only in Albania, but also in Italy too. I know that Italians are Albanians wearing Versace, but this is also the case in Italy and everywhere else around the world, it is crazy.

The freedom to disseminate information has massively outrun the freedom of speech nowadays. What I am worried about is the fact that there is no longer dialogue. There is no longer dialogue, but there are trenches of hate instead! There are trenches of preferences about facts or alternative truth, as one would put it once. Everyone takes position in his or her trench and is totally unwilling to hear anyone and by taking shelter in that trench they are unwilling to listen or exchange, but just to attack against the opposite trench. And this might not be a big deal in the small, peaceful and democratic world of Albania, but this is the case on a fairly large scale around the world and this is not about something that exists between political parties or between politicians and journalists in a certain country, but between fairly large communities that fight and their best weapon are the lies and half truths. This is what worries me and what I wanted to share with you, because it would be terribly painful to read the speech that my team prepared for me. This is it. Not only would it be painful for me, but none of you would believe I’m telling you these things so what’s the point of me coming here to waste your time and mine if I were not to tell the truth? This is my truth! Assuming I’m not human, I’m merely a politician. I am the prey that raises the voice. I remember once I was invited to attend a similar forum on media ethics, which is very important. Among many other things, I said: Just imagine what would have happened to the world if the Nazis were to be granted the freedom to disseminate the information of today. And this was not my original idea, but it is an opinion expressed by a prominent Jew, Sasha Baron Cohen, whom I unfortunately didn’t quote today, and the only thing they focused on from that meeting was that I had supposedly likened journalists with the Nazis. And who claimed that? The ones who reported that were exactly the very journalists who attended the forum. Did I say that? No. Of course, I am not an angel, but I would just like to say that being a man who has fought for the freedom of speech, and since I had to taste blood, real blood and not metaphorical blood, in my mouth, because of this, I always find it hard to distinguish myself as Prime Minister or whatever from this part of my being that feels deeply insulted by this complete lack of respect for so many people, who even today struggle to gain the opportunity have a say, but they cannot, the lack of respect for so many people who have died because they said something and so on, so it’s quite personal for me.

I know this is not a good thing, but I am not truly a politician when it comes to this part and I know that this will not solve anything, but most importantly I know that you are not upset, because inviting friends over and annoying them is actually the ultimate setback. I’m sure you are not upset.

But I don’t mind the other part. If you don’t agree, it is not a big deal. Life goes on.

You can now “take the knives, cook the steaks and eat me tomorrow.” I will be alive, yet it is not easy at all and it is particularly horrible when you see your children, who don’t know what is going on. We have a little child and we have done our utmost effort to keep him away from the news, but he is no longer that little not to realize what happens around and facing the questions arising from this world of free speech is the most painful and toughest experience to cope with as a father. Thank you!

/u.sh/