Rilindja Demokratike

Last updated
Rilindja Demokratike
Democratic Rebirth
Logo - Rilindja Demokratike.svg
RD 27 Maj 2011.jpg
Rilindja Demokratike on 6 November 2013
TypeDaily Newspaper
Format Berliner
Owner(s) Democratic Party of Albania
Editor-in-chief Bledi Kasmi
Founded5 January 1991;33 years ago (1991-01-05) [1]
Political alignmentPart of Democratic Party of Albania
Language Albanian
Headquarters Tirana
Circulation Present: 3.000 (2014) [2]
Record: 125.000 (1991) [3]
Website rd.al (Basha faction)
rdnews.al (Berisha faction)

Rilindja Demokratike (English: Democratic Rebirth and short RD) is an Albanian newspaper founded and continuously published in Tirana. Rilindja Demokratike is the official newspaper of the Democratic Party of Albania. [2] Its chief editor is Bledi Kasmi. Its first publication was on 5 January 1991 and was the first free newspaper since the Fall of communism in Albania, while it functioned against the state newspaper Zëri i Popullit what was the newspaper of the Communist Party and nowadays of the Socialist Party. [4] RD was also the first media in Albania that openly criticized the regime of Enver Hoxha [5]

Contents

RD still holds the record of most published newspaper in Albania, with a circulation of 125.000 copies in 1991. [3] Together with Gazeta 55 it is the only right winged news paper, but RD is considered the main opposition newspaper. [6]

History

First copy of RD newspaper held by some people on 5 January 1991. RD 5 january 1991.jpg
First copy of RD newspaper held by some people on 5 January 1991.

Huge political reforms took place in Albania, and the Communist regime in power was forced to allow small opposition groups in its political system. After the fall of communism in Albania the Democratic Party (DP) on 11 December 1990 no free media was published in Albania. On 5 January 1991 the first issue of RD was published in Albania, [7] ordered by Sali Berisha, at that leader of the DP. [8] RD started to function against the state newspaper Zëri i Popullit what was the newspaper of the Communist Party and nowadays of the Socialist Party.

In the beginning, RD was published twice a week, but was later converted to a daily newspaper. The circulation of the paper was in the beginning around 70-100 thousand copies, while people interested in the newspaper had to wait in lines to get a copy. [8] Its 2005 circulation was 10,000 copies, making it the third most read daily in the country. [9] In the first numbers RD oriented to the values of freedom, democracy, free market and anti-self-understanding. There were left pages to former politically persecuted and former owners, who by this action got for the first time in history a voice in the country.

The first words of the newspaper were "today, Rilindja Demokratike [Democratic Reborn] says its first words. This reborn has a big task and one of great importance. It has taken the duty to say the right things." Its first issue was sold by the price of 1 Leke.

Content

Sections

The newspaper is organized in seven sections, including the magazine Ekspres.al.

  1. Politics: Includes articles about the political situation of Albania.
  2. News: Includes non-political news of Albania.
  3. Economy & Social: Includes relevant economic news and on social topics
  4. Opinion: Includes Editorials and Opinion pieces.
  5. Features: Includes feature articles of the magazine Eskpres.al.
  6. Health: Includes newest medical findings and tips.
  7. Sport: Includes news that is sport related.

Style

When referring to people, Rilindja Demokratike generally uses honorifics, rather than unadorned last names (except in the sports pages, Book Review and Magazine). In the early years it used a four-column format, but switched to five-column format.

Opinion pieces

One of the main elements of RD are the opinion pieces published daily. Usually, two opinion pages are published. Although the authors of the opinion pieces are not scheduled, [10] some of its main contributors are Bledi Kasmi, [11] Basir Çollaku, [12] Hamit Taka, [13] [14] and Hyqmet Zane [10] [15] for RD. It is interesting to notice that RD have been over the time a starting point for many politicians of the Democratic Party, like Astrid Patozi, Edi Paloka and Gent Strazimiri.

Web presence

Rilindja Demokratike has had a web presence since 2005. Accessing articles does not require registration. Only the front page can be downloaded in pdf-format, the papers articles can be accessed only on the website. Since 2013, RD has a new website.

Editor in chief

The first editor was Frrok Çupi, who was fired in June 1991 after disagreeing with party head Sali Berisha. [16] Çupi later blamed people who had "adopted Enver’s tactics very well.” [17] After he left, Napoleon Roshi took the lead of RD. He was a former director of Foreign Radio and former journalist at "Union", then Mitro Çela, will lead the newspaper till the end of 1991 until the successful campaign of 22 March 1992.

In April 1992, Bashkim Trenova was the editor in chief until the end of 1994, which was took by Lorenc Ligori, spokesman for the Democratic Party in that time. In the autumn of 1995 RD will be administered by Lazer Stani until March 12, 1997, after which will be overtaken by Xhevat Mustafa, who will remain in office until May 1997, when he was replaced by Astrit Patozi, former editor of Albania. Patozi ran the newspaper until July 2005, when he would be elected a member of the Democratic Party in the Parliament. From this time onwards newspaper RD was directed by journalist Bledi Kasmi. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Party of Albania</span> Albanian political party

The Democratic Party of Albania is a conservative political party in Albania. It has been the largest opposition party in the country since 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Albania (1991)</span> Communist party in Albania

The Communist Party of Albania is an anti-revisionist Marxist–Leninist communist party in Albania. The party was formed in 1991, as a split from the Party of Labour of Albania which converted itself into the Socialist Party of Albania. It upholds Enver Hoxha and Hoxhaism. The party was led by Hysni Milloshi until his death in 2012.

Gazeta may refer to:

Mass media in Albania refers to mass media outlets based in Albania. Television, magazines, and newspapers are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. The Constitution of Albania guarantees freedom of speech. Albanian media are quite diverse, although politicised, and often influenced by business and political interests.

<i>Zëri i Popullit</i> Albanian daily newspaper

Zëri i Popullit is an Albanian online newspaper. It was the official press organ of the Party of Labour and, later, of the Socialist Party of Albania, but it later ceased print publication and became an independent online publication.

Albania's news industry covers the press, television and radio.

"Voice of the people" generally means the opinion of the majority of the people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albanian Telegraphic Agency</span> Albanian national news agency

The Albanian Telegraphic Agency is the official multimedia news agency of the Albanian government. Its content is published in some of the main news agencies around the world of which it has contractual agreements with, such as: AFP, DPA, ANSA, Xinhua, Anadolu, etc. The agency is a member of the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN) and the Association of the Balkan News Agencies (ABNA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astrit Patozi</span> Albanian politician (born 1964)

Astrit Patozi is an Albanian politician and former member of the Assembly of the Republic of Albania. As one of the closest associates of former prime minister Sali Berisha, he served as deputy leader of the Democratic Party and also as head of its parliamentary group. On 23 April 2019, he became the coordinator of the newly born political party on the center-right of the Albanian political scene, Democratic Conviction.

Indirect presidential elections were held in Albania on 30 May, 4, 8 and 11 June 2012, the seventh such elections since the collapse of the communist regime in 1991. The first through third rounds of voting were inconclusive. The fourth round resulted in the incumbent party's member Bujar Nishani being elected as President.

Xhelil Gjoni (Gjonaj) (born 1938) is a former Albanian politician of the Albanian Party of Labour (PPSh) and journalist.

Blendi Fevziu is an Albanian journalist, writer and host of the TV talk show Opinion, which first went on air on August 31, 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bekim Çollaku</span>

Bekim Çollaku was Minister of European Integration of Kosovo. He previously served as the Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi between 2007 and 2014. Prior to joining the Cabinet of Prime Minister Thaçi, he worked as Assistant Lecturer at Prishtina University, Department of Political Sciences and as a researcher in the Kosovar Institute for Policy Research and Development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milto Sotir Gurra</span> Albanian writer and journalist (1884–1972)

Milto Sotir Gurra was an Albanian journalist and short story writer of the 20th century. His first works came out during the last period of the Albanian National Awakening and continued for a 50-year period. Although simple in character and at times permeated by naive sentimentality, his work reserves a certain importance in Albanian literature due to its social context and thematics. Gurra also translated to Albanian some of the masterpieces of classic Russian literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">29th Kuvendi</span>

The Twenty-ninth Legislature of Albania, officially known as the VIII Pluralist Legislature of Albania, is the legislature of Albania following the 2013 general election of Members of Parliament (MPs) to the Albanian Parliament. The party of the Prime Minister Edi Rama, PS, with its coalition partners obtained an absolute majority of 83.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ina Zhupa</span> Albanian politician

Ina Zhupa is an Albanian political scientist who studies Democratization and Values of Albanian Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Democratic Conviction</span> Political party in Albania

The Democratic Conviction is a political party in Albania that was registered on April 23, 2019, belongs to the center-right political spectrum. Its coordinator is Astrit Patozi.

References

  1. Archived July 3, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 "Albania: The Cost of Speech: Violations of Media Freedom in Albania" (PDF). Human Rights Watch (HRW) (June 2002). Vol. 14, No. 5 (D).
  3. 1 2 "Frrok Çupi: Shtypi i pavarur, ka qenë një legjendë". Noa. 5 January 2012.
  4. Elez Biberaj (1999). Albania in transition: the rocky road to democracy. Westview Press. ISBN   978-0-8133-3688-6 . Retrieved 9 November 2013.
  5. Robert Elsie: Albanian print free, not TV or radio, Nieman Reports 50.2 (Summer 1996), p.78
  6. Albania's Second Transition; Borchgrevink, Aage
  7. Van Kornegay (1995). "On the Road to a Free Press in Albania: Evaluating Outside Aid Efforts" (PDF). The University of Georgia. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 "5 janar 1991, Rilindja Demokratike e shtypit të lirë". Gazeta Tribuna. 11 January 2011.
  9. "Albania". Press Reference. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  10. 1 2 "Editorials". Gazeta Rilindja Demokratike.
  11. Bledi Kasmi
  12. Rilindja Demokratike, Basir Collaku
  13. Rilindja Demokratike, Hamit Taka
  14. Rilindja Demokratike, Vincent Triest
  15. Hyqmet Zane
  16. Abrahams, Frederick (2015). [modern-albania.com Modern Albania: From Dictatorship to Democracy]. New York University Press. p. 84. ISBN   ASIN B00VXTK5J8.{{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Check |url= value (help)
  17. Çupi, Frrok (August 9, 1991). "Truth Does Not Harm Democracy, But Helps It". Modern Albania. Retrieved March 14, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. "Index: Special Issue: Banned Poetry". Index on Censorship. 26: 164–191. 1997. doi: 10.1080/03064229708536248 . S2CID   220991020.
  19. 1 2 Albania: The Cost of Speech: Violations of Media Freedom in Albania. Vol. 14. New York: Human Rights Watch. June 2002. pp. 35–44.
  20. Veliaj padit për shpifje 4 gazeta proqeveritare Agjencia. 29 April 2010. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  21. Kërcënohet me jetë gazetari Telnis Skuqi
  22. Kokë dhie e prerë para banesës, kërcënohet gazetari Telnis Skuqi