Koha Jonë on 27 September 2010 |
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| Type | Daily Newspaper |
| Format | Broadsheet |
| Owner | Nikollë Lesi (since 2007) |
| Publisher | Aleksandër Frangaj |
| Editor-in-chief | Edison Kurani |
| Associate editor | Carmen Gjani |
| News editor | Enkelejda Koraqi Artur Qoraj |
| Sports editor | Aranit Muraçi |
| Political alignment | Right winged, Liberal |
| Language | Albanian |
| Ceased publication | May 11, 1991 |
| Headquarters | Tirana, Albania |
| Circulation | 7,833 (Daily) [1] |
| Official website | Koha Jonë |
Koha Jonë (English: Our Time) is a newspaper published in Albania and published in Albanian. Koha Jonë is a politically unaffiliated daily newspaper published in Tirana . Reportedly, it writes from a right-wing bias, and the newspaper "has a critical attitude towards daily events in Albania". Koha Jonë has a nationwide daily circulation of approximately 7,833 newspapers, and is available online.
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Koha Jone newspaper is not only the first independent pluralistic press in Albania. It is seen as the first newspaper that achieved press freedom in the country after 1991. [2] Is started on May 11th 1991 by Nikolle Lesi and Alexander Frangaj in Lezhe and after some time the headquarters where moved to Tirana. Nikolle Lesi and Alexander Frangaj where the directors and chief editors.
In the year 1996, Nikolle Lesi bouhgt out Alexander Frangaj, Frangaj who possed 40 % of the company. After the deal the complete company was in hands of Nikolle Lesi.
In 1997 the premises of Koha Jonë, at the time Albania’s biggest-circulation daily, were completely burnt down by unknown perpetrators. No one was identified or prosecuted by the authorities in connection with those attacks.
Nikolle Lesi decided to sell in March 2007 and offered 100% of the shares Frangaj Alexander, his former partner. Koha Jonë thus joined the group that owns and runs TV Klan, one mayor television channel in Albania.
Case of Skënder Gjinushi v. Pandi Gjata In March 2000 the daily Koha Jonë published a full-page interview with Dhori Kule, a former secretary general of the Social Democratic Party of Albania (SDP).[3]
Both the title of the interview (“Gjinushi, This Dangerous Mafioso in Politics”) and the deck (“All SDP Leaders and MPs Have Appointed Family Members to Embassies”) appeared also as main headlines on the daily’s front page. Kule, who claimed in the interview to have been unjustly removed from his position as secretary general, accused the SDP’s top leadership and cabinet members of nepotism, corruption, violation of party bylaws, and byzantine purges of dissenters within the party. Kule was particularly critical of Skënder Gjinushi, the SDP chair and speaker of parliament at the time. He accused Gjinushi, among other things, of proposing ministers and making important decisions without consulting the party, abolishing the position of secretary general in order to get rid of Kule, and supporting allegedly corrupted SDP ministers. Shortly after the publication of the interview, Gjinushi brought section 240 charges for libel related to his public function against Pandi Gjata, the Koha Jonë reporter who interviewed Kule. Human Rights Watch was unable to obtain access to Gjinushi’s complaint. However, the court judgment and the fact that Gjinushi took no action against Kule suggest that Gjinushi’s complaint focused on the choice of the title, rather than the text of the interview itself.
According to Gjata, who formerly covered court cases for his newspaper, the office of the Tirana public prosecutor investigated the case “with unusual diligence and intensity.” The case prosecutor summoned Gjata, over a period of three months, about a dozen times for interrogations that lasted between thirty minutes and one hour each. Although he told prosecutors that the title of the interview had been chosen by Koha Jonë’s editor-in-chief and that he had had no input in that decision, they pressured him throughout the investigation to confess to intentional libel against Gjinushi.
A judge of the Tirana District Court found Gjata guilty of official libel and sentenced him to pay a 20,000-lekë ($140) criminal fine. The single-page judgment reasoned that “the headline is not consistent with the interview” and that “every departure from the interview (…) is a violation of journalistic ethics.” The district judge suggested that, instead, the newspaper could have referred to the piece as “‘Interview with Dhori Kule’ or something like that.” [4] [5]
The newspaper is organized in three sections, including the magazine.
Koha Jonë has had a web presence since 2008. Accessing articles requires none registration. The newspaper is in PDF.
The paper's price is 30 Leke and could by bought by local shops. The newspaper is for subscribers available in Albania and Greece. The Newspaper in Greece cost 1,50 Euro.