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Despite the surrounding turmoil, the law had been prepared with great care and with substantial outside advice from the Council of Europe and others. On paper, it stands up well in comparison to many media laws of the region. A law to permit and regulate private broadcasting in Albania had been under consideration since at least 1995, and the first law on this subject had been passed in May 1997, but with a delayed effective date of a year. Up until the time it was passed, no private television was operating in Albania and only a few small private radio stations had started. They were “grandfathered” by the 1997 law, that is, permitted to continue operating until the delayed effective date. Curiously, although not grandfathered, local private television stations began to operate later in 1997, as did increasing numbers of private radio stations, changing the face especially of Tirana, Albania’s capital and by far its largest city. On September 14, the day of the attempted coup, state television was taken over by an armed group that announced that all state organs were in their hands (a message which went nationwide). In the capital, however, citizens stayed home and watched the private television stations reporting a different and fluid situation. The government re-established control by evening and a special point was made of thanking the private stations. The May 1997 media law technically had gone into effect in May 1998, but it was known that it would be replaced and it was not enforced. While it was similar in many respects to the recently enacted law, among major differences, it contained minimum capital requirements (ranging from about US$70,000 for national television stations to about $2,500 for local radio). The new law removes these requirements. The seven-member National Council of Radio and Television, which had been established under the May 1997 law, now has the flexibility to make licensing decisions based on the overall application, including its assessment of the adequacy of the financial capital declared in the application (see articles 23 and 28). In both the 1997 law and the new one, buried in the long list of competencies of the National Council of Radio and Television is the statement that the Council is to articulate the reasons for a license refusal and that the refusal is subject to review in court (see article 7 par. 6). This is one of many attempts being made in Albanian laws to increase the transparency of governmental actions, and if it is applied in fact, it will be a good step. Perhaps the most controversial part of the new law is the requirement in article 20 that “no natural or juridical person, Albanian or foreign, shall have more than 40 percent of the total capital” of a company that is licensed for national radio or television transmission. Similar requirements are not uncommon throughout the region or even more widely; indeed, the 1997 law was considerably stricter in this respect. It limited the amount of capital that an Albanian person could have in such a company to 25%—even for local stations. Foreign persons were limited to 20%. In addition, no one who had more than 15% of one radio or television company could have more than 15% of another radio or television company, and no one who controlled a newspaper whose circulation exceeded 10% of the national total could be licensed at all for radio or television transmission. Nonetheless, there was little discussion of these requirements, the reason probably being the delayed effective date of the law and the fact that in May 1997 no major private stations were operating. By September 1998, on the other hand, both the publisher of Albania’s major weekly magazine and the publisher of a large circulation non-party daily newspaper (currently also an independent deputy in Parliament) owned private radio and television stations in Albania’s capital and doubtless had thoughts of nationwide expansion. Thus, even a more modest restriction of ownership than the 1997 law had contemplated became a major issue. Albania is a small country and not a rich one, and it would seem unlikely that the country can support more than one or at the most two national television stations. (State radio and television will become “public” within six months under the new law, raising other questions, including that of its ability to compete with the private stations). However, there was little public debate about the impact of broadcast media concentration and consequently there is little public awareness of the issues involved. Another aspect of the law is its failure to define beneficial ownership and extend the 40% restriction to it. In other words, juridical persons owned by the same person or group of persons, or natural persons who are close relatives, may end up being the shareholders of an applicant (and presumably of a licensee). This is not an unknown phenomenon in other countries with similar restrictions and it seems a likely road to be taken in Albania. The evolving situation will be interesting to watch, and one hopes that it will lead to better broadcast media coverage all over the country. Kathleen Imholz
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