INTERNAL REGULATION FOR THE BOARD OF ALLIANCE OF ETHICAL MEDIA
Article 1
The Board reviews all complaints regarding violations of professional and ethical standards in the media. The Albanian Media Council serves as the secretary for complaints.
Article 2
Anonymous complaints cannot be considered.
Article 3
Complaints regarding the content published in the print or online media can be submitted by any citizen, legal entities and civil and international organizations. The complaint can be filed against a certain media.
Article 4
Complaints must be submitted in writing or electronically to the offices of the Albanian Media Council; according to the procedure determined by the Board. A complaint can be submitted within 3 months from the publication of the article / journalistic article. In cases where the complaint has passed 3 months from the publication of the article, it will be considered on a case by case basis but not later than one year.
Article 5
Before the complaint is submitted for review by the Board, the Chairperson decides whether the complaint is within the competence of the AME Board and if the complaint is not within the jurisdiction of the Board, the complaint is rejected and the applicant is notified of the reasons why it was rejected.
Article 6
The Albanian Media Council creates a file for complaints against AME member media, which are marked with a protocol number.
Article 7
The AME Board meets at least once a month. Decisions are taken by consensus or by a majority vote of the members present, if no consensus can be reached.
Article 8
Before the start of each session, AME Board members clearly state whether they have a conflict of interest on the topic to be discussed. A member who has a conflict of interest is excluded from discussing and deciding on this complaint.
Article 9
The Board has the obligation to review all complaints under its jurisdiction, requesting the complainant, as well as the media against which a complaint has been filed, to present all the necessary facts and information. All information collected is attached to the file on this topic. The media against which the complaint is filed will respond to the request of the Board and must submit the required information within 7 working days. At the request of the media, the Board may schedule a hearing for the media and the complainant.
Article 10
The Albanian Media Council in consultation with the Chairman, depending on the complexity of the issue, should initiate a conciliation of the parties to the dispute, as well as ask the media to use its right of reply to the person filing the complaint, namely , to explain the motives and arguments for publishing the article.
Article 11
The AME Board has one month to decide on the appeal, unless there is a reason to extend the deadline, but not later than 3 months.
Article 12
The decision taken by the Board will be sent to the parties within 7 days.
Article 13
The Board will ask the infringing media to publish the decision in the same space where the text / article that violated the Code was published. The Board is obliged to inform AME members about all situations when the media did not publish their decisions. If the decision is not published within 7 days, the Board will be informed and the decision will be distributed to other AME member media. Publication will be free to all media members of the AME Council. The public will be informed every three months which media outlets did not publish the Board’s decisions.
Article 14
Documentation for all materials should be properly archived and stored for at least five years in the archive.
Article 15 *
The Board also considers press complaints against non-AME media members. The procedure for these complaints is the same as that of AME members.
Article 16
Board members have no right to explain and comment on decisions in public. Articles and decisions may be explained by another member of the Board, if the members so agree, or receive authorization from the Chairman or his / her Deputy. The Board is publicly represented by the Chairman, and in his / her absence, by his / her Deputy.
Article 17
A member of the AME Board may be removed from office prior to the expiration of his / her term upon personal request, if he / she has not participated in three meetings without reason, if he / she damaged the Board’s reputation by his / her conduct. The AME Board discusses and decides on the completion of the task.
