Open Letter to RTSH: Urgent Intervention and Fundamental Reform Now Addressed to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Albanbia, Mr. Edi Rama Flamur Buçpapaj

Open Letter to RTSH: Urgent Intervention and Fundamental Reform Now
Addressed to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Albanbia,
Mr. Edi Rama
Flamur Buçpapaj
Mr. Prime Minister,
I am addressing you publicly regarding Albanian Radio Television (RTSH), the oldest and most important public media institution in Albania, which after 35 years of democracy finds itself in a critical and unacceptable condition for a country that aspires to European standards.
RTSH today truly stands at a crossroads: it will either be closed, sold, or—this being the only rightful path—subjected to a deep, fundamental, and honest reform. The current situation is neither accidental nor a temporary misfortune, but the product of a deliberate degradation built over more than 30 years.
It is now clear to the public that RTSH and its current leadership are delegitimized. It is equally clear that the current director, in political and institutional terms, has effectively been dismissed, even if still formally in office. At this point, I state openly: I support your position and assessment of this situation.
However, it must be said just as openly that delays no longer serve anyone except those who, for decades, have used RTSH as a source of personal gain. Therefore, your urgent intervention is no longer an option—it is a necessity.
Mr. Prime Minister,
The condition of RTSH does not stem from a lack of funds, but from a flawed governance model, where a public institution was treated as transitional spoils rather than as the property of citizens. For three decades, RTSH was turned into a financial bank, an employment shelter, and an extension of private media interests, losing its public, educational, and cultural mission.
The dominance of large private media groups transformed RTSH from a public alternative into a dependent and peripheral institution. Leadership appointments and key hires were not based on merit, but on political favor and clientelism. No major leader was appointed without the knowledge and blessing of interests outside RTSH.
One of the gravest wounds has been the absence of professional criteria in leadership. The management of a national public enterprise with a state budget and high social responsibility cannot be entrusted to individuals without serious academic training, without managerial experience, without publications, without intellectual contributions, and without institutional vision.
Questions that have never been publicly asked remain unanswered: On the basis of what CVs were RTSH leaders appointed? What institutions had they previously led, and with what results? What did they concretely contribute to RTSH and to the Albanian public?
The consequences are evident and severe: a dramatic decline in viewership, loss of public trust, chronic financial bankruptcy, and the disappearance of RTSH’s cultural and educational mission. Today, this institution no longer represents the voice of citizens, but the symbol of the failures of the transition.
Ironically, those who for years exploited RTSH now appear as commentators and “defenders” of it, without any sense of moral responsibility. The recycling of the same names and the same currents has produced only failure and has led the institution to its current state.
Mr. Prime Minister,
At this stage, the solution is neither the closure nor the sale of RTSH. The solution is immediate intervention and fundamental reform.
I publicly urge you to:
– no longer delay institutional intervention;
– put an end to formal procrastination;
– appoint a professional interim administration;
– initiate a full financial, editorial, and administrative audit;
– launch a real, transparent competition with strong criteria for the leadership of RTSH.
My support in this case is not political, but institutional and civic. Only strong political will can break the 30-year network of interests that has bankrupted RTSH—not to capture it, but to liberate it and rebuild it as a public medium for Albanian citizens.
RTSH can still be saved, but not through delays. The time for improvisation is over. This institution needs strong, urgent, and historic decisions.
With respect,
Flamur Buçpapaj