152
Artwork in Albania:
The process of transformation from propaganda tool before the 90s to JT tool after the 90s
The model of treating artistic creativity as a propaganda instrument is similar to the case o thef
Soviet Union where in1932, the Soviet state proclaimed that all artists must embrace the Socialist
Realist philosophy and style. Its principles included loyalty to the Communist Party and correct
ideological stance and content. Those who did not conform could be interrogated, imprisoned,
or even executed. From the start, the new Soviet state enlisted art to serve an educational and
instructional function to reinforce cultural values. 34
2.2. Promotion and framing of the artistic works in the service of propaganda in the media
Firstly, according to Wilbur Schramm, who focused on the critique of the “Soviet Communist
Theory” in the collective work “Four Theories of the Press” (Siebert et al, 1963), some of the main
features of this press, specifically the Communist media, were:
1. In communication with masses, the press was used as an instrument of the state.
2. Mass-media was closely integrated with the state instruments (departments, etc.).
3. Even the parties were used by media as instruments within the state. Mass-media were
instruments of agitation and propaganda.
4. Mass-media was characterized by strict obligated responsibility.35
In the case of Albania, in the early years of the dictatorial regime (1949-1950,) propaganda
communication was implemented in each field in order to strengthen the positions of the
communist party. The press was one of the sectors that experienced complete isolation and
censorship, being completely placed in the hands of the Party as an exclusive production of its
own.
The first step to take over the press from the Communist government was to ban new press
bodies that could not be controlled by the government. De facto, since November 1944 in Albania
there was no right of private ownership of the press.36 The media of this period perceived as
information only the informative data that are in accordance with the ideological and political
principles that guide them. They see what they want to see, they hear what they want to hear.37 In
the documents of the time this characteristic, namely blind allegiance as part of the propaganda
of the Party of Labour of Albania is treated as the added value of media institutions: “The main
thing in the propaganda article is its ideological accuracy. Our press is in no way allowed to
propagate wrong ideas and principles.” 38
By locating this argument also in the media system during the dictatorship in Albania, the
professor Hamit Borici acknowledges the propaganda nature, saying that anything published
on newspaper, magazine, radio-television or ATSH (Albanian Telegraphic Agency) newsletters
should be fully in line with the duties and interests of the party-state.39
34. https://www.guggenheim.org/arts-curriculum/topic/art-and-ideology?fbclid=IwAR2CXwNVhSa3MgirzH_c-UULaAgcqBeItN6
TY2A2xFgZewsrpwIkchcJ1UM [on line visited 22th August 2019)
35. Jonila Godole, Gazetaria shqiptare në tranzicion, (Papirus, Tirana, 2014),56.
36. Hamit Borici and Mark Marku, Histori e shtypit Shqiptar, (SHBLU, Tirana, 2010), 224
37. Arta Fuga, Monolog, (Dudaj, Tiranë, 2010), 51.
38. Retrieved from Central State Archives, Fund 14, File 590, P.30-31. Y.1953
39. Hamit BoriçI, “Një shekull e gjysëm publicistikë Shqiptare, (Gjergj Fishta Tirana), 177.
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