Author: Inva Hasanaliaj
An observation with 10 interviewees shows that the journalists of the portals are unprofiled, disconnected from the field, poorly paid, in a field where only the speed of conveying information is a priority.
The number of portals in Albania has increased significantly, although this does not reflect an increase in the standards of journalism in the country. The Union of Journalists claims that currently there are 650 informational portals in Tirana and the districts, although an exact number of them is not available from any state institution.
An observation by PSE based on 10 interviews with journalists, who work in 10 news portals in the country, reveals that the priority in their daily work is not the quality of the news, but the speed with which the information is conveyed. online. The interviewed journalists claim that none of them cover a certain sector, but write about various topics ranging from politics to showbiz-i, while six of them have not participated in any journalism training.
The observation highlights that journalists working on portals do not obtain information from field reporting. Eight of them have never directly attended a press conference. Six out of 10 interviewed journalists have never directly interviewed any character.
Working conditions turn out to be difficult for journalists, who work in informational portals, at a time when in all cases they work six days a week for no less than eight hours.
Seven of the interviewed journalists receive a monthly salary, which does not exceed 35,000 ALL, and only in three other cases the salary is reported to be slightly higher than this level.
In five cases, social and health insurance are not paid, as the employees are students.
The editorial offices of the portals have an average of six journalists. The pressure to broadcast the latest news, in a space overflowing with other media, is extremely high.
Journalists, unprofiled and disconnected from the field
"I usually write about the main developments of the day, but when there are no events, I write about the latest news from "Big Brother". At the end of the day, none of what I write matters to me, the only thing that matters are the clicks", says one of the interviewed journalists.
This "model" was the same for the 10 journalists interviewed, who did not have the opportunity to profile themselves within the portals to report and write in certain areas of journalism.
From interviews with 10 journalists, although the portals online are configured with certain sections/topics, the journalists in them are not profiled. Whoever works in them has to write about every area, without being given the opportunity and time to do an in-depth report on a certain area.
Real or virtual life?!
The vast majority of journalists, who were interviewed on the condition of anonymity, were detached from the field and wrote about the events based on print media reports, visual ones and social networks as well.
"In the morning, we get the main newspapers, which are considered the most reliable, and start making news for the portal," says one of the journalists. While the day continues by monitoring televisions that broadcast 24 hours of news and profiles of famous people in facebook.
Only eight of the 10 interviewed journalists were able to attend an activity or press conference.
As for the interviews, in almost all cases they were conducted through Emailand the phone. Six of the respondents said that they had never conducted a face-to-face interview while working for the portals.
This situation leads to the lack of original reporting on the portals where they work, and journalists are aware of this, but the pace at which information is conveyed does not give you this opportunity.
"One day I decided to 'experiment' by writing an original news from the field of economics.
I used graphics making it easier to read. In the end, the result was very positive, the article had many clicks. But, unfortunately, I can't often work in this way, since, where I work, speed is more important than anything else", says a journalist.
Lack of training seems to be another reason, which affects the lack of original news by journalists and poor quality writing.
From the interviews obtained by PSE, it was found that six out of 10 journalists have not been trained, which would enable them to increase the quality of the written articles.
High pressure and difficult working conditions
"There was a time in the portal where I worked, where it was decided that the salary would be given to us on the basis of clicks. It was decided to follow a graph and, if the clicks fell below a certain number, then the salary would also decrease", says one of the interviewed journalists.
At a time when in space online there are hundreds of portals, the journalists who write in them are asked to work under high pressure to be the first to convey information.
The pressure is increased even more by the fact that the vast majority of portals in the country have few journalists. The interviews show that the average number of journalists and editors per newsroom is six!
From the conducted interviews, it appears that a journalist writes an average of 15 to 20 "news" that are posted on the website. "News" that do not exceed four paragraphs.
Under such conditions, journalists are forced to work eight-hour shifts six days a week and with very limited annual holidays.
But the high pressure at work and long hours are not justified by the monthly payments of journalists who work for the media. online.
The interviews show that seven out of ten interviewees were paid up to 35,000 ALL per month, while only in three cases the salary was slightly higher than the mentioned figure.
In most of the newsrooms online, journalists are students and as a result social security is not paid for them.
"What we do, simply summarized, is: breaking news and clarifying the statements and statuses of politicians in Facebook", - says one of the interviewees.
However, when asked if they want to continue being journalists, all interviewees answer yes. The good news is that they haven't given up on their dream to one day make news that will leave a mark.
