This is neither a coincidence nor a procedural mistake. It is continuity.
Once again, Top Channel takes control of the presentation of the RTSH Festival—an event belonging to a public institution that for more than three decades has been exploited, stripped, and consumed by the same recurring private interests.
RTSH, a giant institution in terms of structure and mission, has been continuously abused by media clans that have treated it as their personal property. Its collapse has not been accidental, but deliberate and planned, with a clear objective: the weakening of public television and the strengthening of private monopolies.
The natural question is this:
Why were talented journalists and presenters from within RTSH itself not chosen?
This institution has trained professionals with experience, integrity, and the ability to represent a national event. Yet they are systematically sidelined because they do not belong to the circle of interests and are not part of the profit-sharing scheme.
Equally telling is the absence of European-level figures such as Adi Krasta, one of the best presenters in the Balkans, with internationally proven professional standards. Why is he not invited?
The answer is simple and brutal:
because money cannot be shared with him.
This is the real drama of RTSH: not the lack of talent, but the rejection of merit.
The public institution no longer makes choices based on professionalism, but on backroom deals.
All directors of the past decades have come from the same media circle. This is not reform—it is a closed rotation of power. After 35 years of democracy, the conclusion is bitter: Albania has remained under the influence of old structures, recycled as a “new” media elite.
A director elected through a contested process and a silent, compromised Governing Council without professional authority fail to react. Their silence is not innocence—it is complicity. Benefits, projects, and family-based employment have replaced the public mission.
Meanwhile, RTSH employees are dismissed or threatened for refusing to sign illegal documents. The institution is run by managerial piranhas feeding on public funds, leaving behind a demoralized workforce and a disappointed public.
RTSH must urgently be reformed by field specialists, not improvised figures. It must be pulled out of the crisis created by those who have run it for personal interest rather than public service.
The solution is clear:
a new, independent, and professional Governing Council;
a new leadership level selected according to European standards;
an operating model similar to public broadcasters in Europe and the United States, where transparency, meritocracy, and public service are foundations—not façades.
Without this reform, every festival will remain just another episode in a long story of capture and degradation.
And the question remains the same:
When will Albania have a public television that belongs to its citizens, not to clans?
The Lost Festival
The RTSH Festival should have been the most-watched event across the entire Albanian-speaking space: Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and the diaspora. Had it been organized with quality, professionalism, and credibility, RTSH could have earned at least 500,000 euros from advertising alone.
But this does not happen in Albania.
Here, viewership is captured by Turkish soap operas that are degrading Albanian culture, family, and society, while public cultural events are deliberately kept weak—because quality does not serve corrupt deals.
Why not RTSH professionals?
The question is simple and painful:
Why were highly talented journalists and presenters from RTSH itself not selected?
This institution has experienced professionals with integrity, yet they are systematically bypassed because they are not part of the leadership circle.
This is the real drama of RTSH: not a lack of talent, but the rejection of merit.
Leaders Driven Only by Personal Gain
For RTSH leadership, the institution itself is irrelevant.
What matters are the DVB-T2 tenders and continuous personal profits. All directors, without exception, have acted the same way—changing names, not methods.
RTSH has been turned into an ownerless asset, looted by successive administrations.
A Call for Justice
I publicly call on SPAK and the Tirana Prosecutor’s Office to immediately intervene in this public institution that is being openly plundered. This is not a private company, but public property funded by citizens.
And this is not the only affair.
The same logic of plunder was applied to the former Cultural Park of Kinostudio, destroyed by construction permits approved during the tenure of former minister Margariti. Investigators need only visit the site to see what remains of the greenery and public spaces.
I publicly raise the question:
Where are the materials of the former Kinostudio?
Decorative stone blocks, roof tiles, trusses, iron, gates, and other assets which, according to former Albafilm directors, were worth around 250,000 dollars and should have remained the property of the institution.
I personally filed a criminal complaint against former minister Margariti with SPAK. The evidence was submitted by Gazeta Nacional and supported by the State Supreme Audit Institution. What is now needed is a thorough and independent investigation—not silence.
The Way Forward
RTSH must urgently be reformed by true professionals, not improvised figures.
It needs:
a new, independent, and professional Governing Council;
a new leadership chosen strictly on merit;
an operating model like public broadcasters in Europe and the United States, where transparency, accountability, and public service are real.
Without this reform, every festival will remain just another episode in a long history of capture, plunder, and degradation.
