Lay offs, shut downs & appointments

Albania: Prime Minister wants to close, then reform, RTSH 

The Albanian prime minister wants public broadcaster RTSH closed and reformed. Edi Rama also said should also apologise to the public “who have been forced to receive the most miserable public service in the world”. In a statement, Rama said no taxpayer money would be given to RTSH until it created the right conditions for reform, which could include privatisation and partnerships.

The Union of Albanian Journalists launched a petition calling for the “real autonomy of RTSH” to be returned, and for it “to be rebuilt from within”. A Balkan journalists’ coalition, the SafeJournalists Network (SJN), said it was concerned by Rama linking a public broadcaster’s future with the government’s view of whether it “merits” funding. The statements prompted Rama to clarify that he was not in favour of linking RTSH’s funding or existence to political approval. 

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Slovakia: STVR to lay off 5 percent of its staff

About 80 people will be made redundant at Slovak public broadcaster STVR. The broadcaster said in a statement it made the decision after a 2025 audit called for personnel changes in order to improve its financial position, and the layoffs were part of wider modernisation plans. However, Reporters Without Borders’ Pavol Szalai said the redundancies “could become a pretext to eliminate the last remnants of resistance to the normalisation of news and current affairs at STVR.” He added it could be a path towards government capture of the public broadcaster. STVR said the changes would not endanger the functioning and role of the public broadcaster. 

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Malaysia: New government appointees for Media Council board

The Malaysia Media Council, an independent self-regulatory body, has assigned two new government delegates to its board. Datuk Suhaimi Sulaiman, who is the director general of the public broadcaster RTM, and Datin Nur-ul Afida Kamaludin, who is the chief executive of the Malaysian National News Agency, Bernama, were both appointed for a two-year term. 

The council’s 21-person board, of which two are government appointees, is structured to reflect Malaysia’s media landscape. It was established last year, and has already been active, recently calling on the government to release the imprisoned journalist Rex Tan. 

In addition to the government representatives, it also includes delegates from media organisations, media practitioners, and public interest groups like civil society and academia. While the Council anticipates government funding to formalise its secretariat and mandate, nominations remain open for the outstanding board position of Chairperson

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Taiwan: Term limits for board members.

The Taiwan legislature has removed the ability for PTS board members to remain in their position after their terms expire. The so-called “indefinite extension” clause was disliked by critics who said it weakened governance at the broadcaster. 

The law change follows controversy at PTS, where a new board is yet to take up their positions despite the previous board’s term expiring last May. The nominees are still going through a prolonged statutory appointment process which is embroiled in a political stalemate.

The change had been called for by PTS, which wants a new board to start as soon as possible. “A board leadership vacuum and cessation of operations would severely paralyze the daily operations of the PTS Group,” it said. 

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