Preliminary Research Findings Presented at the University of Tirana

Together with my co-author, Alban Tartari, we presented the preliminary findings of our research project that examines the influence of press and communication offices on broadcast news in Albania to a group of journalists and journalism students at the Faculty of History and Philology, at the University of Tirana.

This study was spearheaded by Prof. Assoc. Dr. Alban Tartari from the Department of Journalism and Communication at the University of Tirana, who obtained a research fellowship from the Research Expertise from the Academic Diaspora (READ) fellowship program.

The READ Fellowship Program was founded in 2021 by the Albanian-American Development Foundation to provide a formalized and structured opportunity through which the Albanian academic diaspora can contribute to the development of higher education institutions in Albania and the overall development of scientific research in the country. AADF's READ project aims to encourage and enable collaboration between academics from Albania and Albanian academics working in the countries of the European Union, USA and Canada.

Given our mutual research interests in news media, access to information and media-state relationship in Albania, the READ program invited me to partner with Dr.Tartari in his research project.

At the presentation ceremony of this project, the Head of the Department of Journalism and Communication, Prof. Assoc. Dr. Mark Marku welcomed the participants and emphasized the importance that this department gives to scientific research, media studies and above all open and permanent communication with journalists in the labor market. Dean of the Faculty of History and Philology Prof. Dr. Sabri Laçi emphasized the importance of the internationalization process in the field of scientific research and teaching, as a priority of the University of Tirana.

After presenting our research findings, with Prof. Tartari we held a conversation with journalists and journalism students regarding the problems of the Albanian media.

We are now working on expanding this project to Kosovo, with a partnership with Dr.Dren Gërguri, from the University of Tirana.