Anti-Corruption TV Program Goes Online in Albania

The Hapur Foundation, launched with support from IREX in 2007, has launched a website, http://www.programihapur.com, which features investigative TV reports from across the country. Website visitors can view via YouTubethe project’s probing reports, such as the powerful story of how citizens came together to fight their local municipality over land rights.

Land rights and property ownership have been complex challenges in Albania since the former communist regime’s nationalization efforts. In the featured report, journalist Yilka Kamenica outlines the battle between local authorities who want to use a tract for development and the group of citizens who claim they hold title to the land.

Grabitja e Pronave (Robbery of Property)--a report on how citizens in Tirana came together to fight their local municipality over land rights. (Albanian)

Each month, the Hapur Foundation—which has also partnered with IREX Europe for the Media, Transparency and Accountability in Albania project funded by the UN Democracy Fund—produces investigative television reports on corruption cases and other issues of community concern. These reports are then broadcast through a network of local partner television stations. Links to the television stations’ own sites are also available on the project’s Hapur website. In addition, the project team conducts televised debates about the reports in collaboration with local partner Ora News Television.

With the addition of the website, IREX Europe, Hapur Foundation, and the project team seek to broaden access to the reports, and raise the impact of the project’s investigative journalism. The reports will serve as a resource and inspiration for journalists, and aim to strengthen the Albanian media sector, thereby helping underpin the good governance and accountability required for democratic development.

The website will also build an archive of Hapur investigative segments, making earlier reports available via YouTube. The Hapur show was launched by IREX in 2003, with support from the US Agency for International Development. As part of its mission, IREX helped launch the Hapur Foundation in 2007 to continue its work after USAID media development assistance ended.

Since receiving UNDEF funding in partnership with IREX Europe, the Hapur Foundation has worked to improve investigative journalism by:

    * Producing magazine-format television shows on corruption, those who fight it, and upcoming parliamentary election issues.
    * Providing workshops and in-station consultations for media outlets and staff on investigative journalism to raise the professionalism and sophistication of the television programming.
    * Developing the foundation as an independent center supplying TV programs and specialized journalism training.

The IREX Europe project also involves strengthening journalistic professionalism through technical assistance and grants to assist the Union of Albanian Journalists to:

    * Expand membership, negotiate contracts with media outlets, and strengthen organizational structures.
    * Monitor threats to media freedom in Albania and produce regular bulletins and alerts.
    * Conduct activities that build consensus among journalists on professional standards and ethics code, leading to improved self-regulation.

The Union of Journalists was also launched with assistance from IREX under a USAID-funded media development project.