The Council of Europe (CoE) reported on the smear campaign against Alice Elizabeth Taylor, the British journalist working for our own publication.
Ms Taylor’s case is reported as “harassment and intimidation of journalists” on the CoE’s platform that alerts on media freedom violations and promotes protection of journalism and safety of journalists.
The alert states:
“A British journalist working in Albania for the web portal exit.al has been the target of a smear campaign following a statement given to Russia Today on 23 February 2019 related to the protests hitting the country.
Alice Taylor recently wrote about vote rigging, violence at protests and the government’s links to organised crime and money laundering. Asked to comment about the state of corruption in Albania and the current developments in the country, Alice Taylor said to Russia Today that allegations of corruption can easily be documented with evidence showing links between the current government, organised crime, money laundering and drug trafficking. In her statement, she also questioned the fairness of the 2017 elections which confirmed Edi Rama as Prime Minister for a second term.
The next day, dozens of local portals started publishing photos accusing her to be linked to and paid by Russia, or that her portal is linked to the opposition party. Her partner was also targeted on social media platforms.
The journalist also informed that her residence permit was refused on 6 March after being approved some weeks before.”
We have extensively reported on the smear campaign against Ms. Taylor, as well as the decision by Albanian authorities to refuse the renewal of her residence permit without providing any justification.
