Prime Minister Edi Rama has given a message that directly touches on the debate of recent days between the former director of SHISH, Vlora Hyseni, and journalist Klodiana Lala: it is not a journalist's duty to keep the secret entrusted to an official or institution.
"No one can claim that the media will preserve investigative secrecy," Rama declared in his message after returning from the United States.
In the context of the Hyseni case, the statement takes on a clear meaning: the responsibility for preserving secret information lies with the persons who have it in their possession due to their duty and not with the journalist who manages to obtain or publish it.
This is precisely one of the issues that has come to the center of the clash between Vlora Hyseni and Klodiana Lala. The journalist has stated that she has reported the former SHISH director to SPAK, claiming that Hyseni had used her "as a strong public voice" to exert pressure on other people.
Rama did not mention Hysen by name in this section, nor did he take a position on Lala's accusation. But his wording clearly defines where he places the responsibility for the secret: not with the media.
The prime minister then extended the accusation to the justice system itself.
"The problem does not start with the informal spokespeople of the court of justice on screens. They are used by prosecutors and judges to declare people guilty without a trial, just like in a dictatorship, where after the propaganda tools finish their work, the trial remains a formality," Rama declared.
According to him, the problem that needs to be addressed is the extraction of information from those who have a legal obligation to protect it.
"This problem, which begins with the legalized illegality within the court of justice, where investigative secrecy is misused to lynch, cannot be overlooked," said the prime minister.
So, amidst the strong attack on prosecutors and judges, Rama also articulated a principle that directly affects the Hyseni-Lala debate: the journalist is not the guardian of state secrets or investigations. The responsibility to protect them lies with the one who administers them due to his duty.
