The National Council of Radio and Television violates the law in the service of the party. Political compromise seeks to eliminate the independent media The National Council of Radio and Television violates the law in the service of the party Lesi proposed as candidate for Tirana, PS assaults RTV Koha Political compromise seeks to eliminate the independent media page 2

By ALEKSANDËR ÇIPA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF TV KOHA The National Council of Radio and Television, or, to put it more realistically, the State Commission (until now mistakenly described as the frequency commission), yesterday announced its decision to register radio and television channels according to their classification as national and local frequencies. This decision, announced hastily and arriving precisely at the height of the electoral climate in the country, cannot possibly be free of certain political services. And, just as in the division of “spoils” or privatization practices, this time too the State Frequency Commission has managed to carry out its arbitrary distribution of shares, according to service rendered or clan power. This division flagrantly affects—or amounts to a punishment meted out first and foremost to—the owners of the real “status” of independence. The political warning about this had been issued long ago. Meanwhile, the State Commission (the KKRT) had just as openly foreshadowed the forthcoming official punishment of the “independent” and “stubborn owners” through warnings during the bureaucratic phase of collecting documentation. On the other hand, this group of owners perhaps for the first time failed to react to the official trickery, or to the conditional thuggery of this State Commission, openly directed by the political segments acting under mandate. Their fatal mistake dates back to the moment they accepted the announcement establishing this commission. Its composition, in which 3 of the 7 members are former officials and seasoned employees of state television, was the first punitive act against ownership of the independent Albanian media. In its substance and mission, this Commission became merely a state body, when it should have been national. The majority within its membership, drawn from state television, openly compromised the interests and mission it still carries today. Meanwhile, as never before, the people of the free frequencies and free speech lacked vigilance toward this State Commission. The unforgivable mistake began with the very first official discussion of the claim that Albania would have only four national frequencies and many local ones, even though to this day nobody has officially shown even a single document bearing the signature of an agreement with the relevant international administration that would define this national allocation for Albania. All the more so because no such document exists, whether as an assertion supporting or opposing this figure. (continued on page 2)

- Page 8 - Alimuça’s two sons wanted internationally

The quarrel had begun in Belgium with his close friend Marenglen Hodo It seems that a woman provoked the massacre at Tirana’s Sanatorium on Saturday, where 2 people were killed and 3 others injured. It all originated in Belgium, where the enemies had once been friends with each other. Everyone in the city of Patos, where the opposing parties live, knows the story; it is a small city where everyone knows one another well. According to residents, and as confirmed by police sources, 25-year-old Gentian Hysenbelliu and his contemporary Marenglen Hodo had been friends until recently. But some time ago, though exactly when is not specified, a conflict arose between them in Belgium because of a woman. It is not specified what kind of relationship existed between the two young men and the girl. Page 9