Some Italian journalists have become specialists in tarnishing Albania’s image. I recall them from the beginning of the ‘90s when Albanians were portrayed in Italy only as a people of rags who exported prostitutes, thieves and drug dealers. For many years, the Italian press and television nurtured a campaign of scorn towards Albanians, which had no racist or political origin, but simply frivolity and often professional incompetence. Recently, the mud-throwing of 30 years ago is being replaced by a sense of apology, in which Albania is presented solely as a kind of happy island, where vacations are almost free and spaghetti with lobster costs just 5 euros. Both images are fake, both results of “template journalism”. By "cutting and stitching" in TV editing, a journalist can make Edi Rama say "long live Sali Berisha" and Sali Berisha say "long live Edi Rama" and the TV viewer fails to understand the manipulation. In the same way a state can be shown to be wonderful or terrible and corrupt. This is why, when exercising our profession, we must first of all have the will not to lie. No one claims absolute truth, as it is very difficult to extract, but intellectual honesty is a must. In fact, it is mandatory.

The last investigation of the "Report" show on Rai 3 dedicated to Albania is a classic example of this manipulative Italian-style journalism. We are already used to it. The journalist comes to Albania with a pre-constructed theory in his head, stays for three days, collects his package of slanders that feed his theory, discards opposing voices and then returns home satisfied with preparing the report that confirms his theory. I have been denouncing this phenomenon for 30 years: I did it when Sali Berisha was in power, I am repeating it today when Edi Rama is in power. It is not the damage to the political power that worries me, but the damage to this country’s image revolts me and not only because Albania is also my country.

Television, as a medium, has something magical, but also scary at the same time: When you see yourself on the screen, you almost don't recognize yourself, and when you hear your own words, it as if someone else is proving you right. This happens for better or for worse. It is the effect that the report packaged by Report through the "cut and stitch" style is producing on the Albanians who cooperated for that "investigation". Even Gazment Bardhi (who is one of the most moderate among the inquisitors produced by Sali Berisha), surprisingly found confirmation of his accusatory theories against Olsi Rama only because RAI rebroadcast the documents that he himself had published first!

Practically, the reportage was a "cut and stitch" of testimonies against the government heard thousands of times in Albania, but the fact that the same voices were broadcast by Rai with Italian subtitles, sounded unheard of to the very people who spoke them. And today - just as it happened with "Bild", which republished in German the same intercepts distributed in Albanian by the DP - the Berishists shout with satisfaction: "See? The Italians are saying it too ". They pretend not to understand that they are the ones who say it. Or maybe, they don't really understand.

Interviewing the accused without hearing the other version, is like listening only to the voice of the accuser without giving space to the defense. Listening to both versions of a fact is an elementary rule of honest journalism. In Italy, this rule is generally respected for fear of lawsuits, but when journalists land in Albania, the main law of our profession is cast aside. For a long time. Thus, if Dritan Zagani, Besim Hajdarmataj, Francesco Becchetti, or Sali Berisha should appear as victims to support the theory, they are the only ones interviewed. If Olsi Rama or Engjëll Agaçi should appear as guilty, only those who accuse them are given a voice. Report did exactly this.

It works, but that's half journalism. What about the other half? In Agaçi’s case, an even more serious violation occurred: contrary to what the Italian journalist claims (which I personally verified), the General Secretary of the Council of Ministers (presented in the Italian investigation as some sort of criminal eminence grise who secretly managed to infiltrate into the Albanian-Italian relations to favor the protocol on immigrants, whereas in fact he was only doing his institutional job), has answered all questions by e-mail at the right time requested by the show ("by April 5"). But Report did not publish them.

In the Italian-style "cut and stitch" investigation, the part where Engjëll Agaçi is presented as a realtor who puts Guardia di Finanza general Fabrizio Lisi (former general director of Interpol) in contact with Artur Shehu, a boss accused of criminal trafficking, hiding in the United States for years for fear of being killed in Vlora. Although he had them in hand, the journalist did not present the documents of that agreement. Why? Because, otherwise, he would have to tell the other side of the story. So, Engjëll Agaçi was commissioned by the Court of Trieste to request the ownership certificates for about 11,000 square meters of land belonging to the Albanian family of Salvatore Eftimiadhi, expropriated by the communist regime and ended up in the chaos of Albanian properties. Fabrizio Lisi has not received anything as a gift. He is the president of the non-profit foundation "Luca and Marco Eftimiadhi" (Salvatore was a direct heir) where three other Italians are also members. According to the charter, the Foundation intended to dedicate the lands of that heritage, if they were to be recovered, to charity. Apparently, Artur Shehu, who was the owner of several hundred hectares of land and the lands claimed by the Eftimiadhi family, has decided to donate to the foundation 30,000 square meters in the area of Zvërnec and 8 apartments in Uji i Ftohte, always in Vlora. Why he did this, remains unclear. The act of donation was signed by Alketa Ylli as administrator of the Foundation and by Pëllumb Petritaj as a person authorized by Artur Shehu. So General Lisi and Artur Shehu (as Report knows well, but did not say) have never met. However, this act has nothing to do with Agaçi, who did not benefit from that story (and nothing was built on that land). But the Report was content to cast doubt, not reveal the truth. On the other hand, casting doubt on Agaçi (thus building an imaginary connection between crime and the government) only because he also defended Albanian drug traffickers back when he was an Albanian criminal lawyer in Italy, without saying that Agaçi no longer practices that profession from 2013, is malicious and dishonest. It works to support the theory, but it's not journalism.

No less one-sided was the testimony of Francesco Mandoi, former anti-mafia prosecutor, whom I have known for 45 years and on whom, for this reason, I do not want to express any personal judgment. I'd still be curious to hear the 4+ hour interview given by Mandoi (of which Report shrewdly extracted only 3 working minutes for their theory). I find it unbelievable that even though he knows the fundamentals of justice reform in Albania, Mandoi did not even know how to explain the correct functioning of Vetting on corrupt judges, allowing the journalist to confuse it with SPAK. Just to make it clear: The decision to wiretape any judge, of any court (ordinary or special) always is taken by a judge (as in Italy), never by a policeman, as Report and Mandoi wrongly claimed. And the police have nothing to do with Vetting (which in reality is finally cleaning up Albanian justice). I would like to understand above all why the Italian journalist "forgot" to specify that Mandoi has already taken off the prosecutor's vest and for two years has been an active militant in the "Movimento 5 Stelle", a political force openly aligned against to the Italian government signing the agreement with Albania. So Mandoi has already entered politics and speaks politically, without necessarily employing the objectivity and independence he used to, when speaking on behalf of Justice. In any case, the conclusion is that a serious ex-prosecutor, as well as a journalist, when accusing someone should do so with evidence and not with personal impressions. That is, if they want to remain serious.

I do not believe that there was anything personal in the one-sided attack made by the "Report" program against the image of Albania or its government. The aim was – I believe everyone has understood by now - only for domestic political consumption. Attacking Edi Rama (by making accusations and insinuations against his family members, his associates and the situation in his country), this time the sole target was Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who signed an agreement on immigrants with Edi Rama which the Italian opposition (whose mouthpiece the Report is) does not like either. Now, if this purpose has the side effect of tarnishing the image of an entire country and people, some Italian journalists do not even care. Pointing at a corrupt Albanian government that is "conditioned" by organized crime, means that Giorgia Meloni strikes deals with corrupt politicians and emissaries of crime. That’s it.

In this sense, the mission of Report and that of Sali Berisha and his people coincided. So, one shouldn’t be surprised that for about an hour, Rai 3 resembled Syri TV, the television of the Berisha family. The comic event is that Syri has been rebroadcasting Rai 3 for two days as if it were a new and surprising thing, without noticing that was rebroadcasting its own eternal lies for the umpteenth time. In Albania, this type of political information, primitive and vulgar, is practiced daily by the militant media. The real problem is when journalists in Italy start doing it again. During these 3 decades, it seems that nothing has changed, after all.

*Italian-Albanian media owner, editor and journalist, Report Tv, Shqiptarja.com