Concluding Conference "Media and Memory: Towards a Comprehensive Approach to History"
The concluding conference "Media and Memory: Towards a Comprehensive Approach to History" was successfully organized by the Institute for Democracy, Media, and Culture (IDMC), in cooperation with the Faculty of History and Philology at Tirana University. The event took place on May 5, 2025, at the premises of the Faculty of History and Philology (FHF), in Tirana, with the support of the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) and funds from the European Union (EU).
The conference brought together representatives from key memory institutions, such as ISKK and AIDSSH, representatives of the embassies of Austria, Sweden, and Bulgaria, representatives from the Office of the Ombudsperson, journalists from major media outlets, members of the Association of History Teachers, researchers from international universities, and students of journalism.
The conference served as a platform to present the results of monitoring over 700 historical media content, carried out by IDMC during the period of November–December 2024. During the event, awareness videos on the distortion of historical narratives were shown, the monitoring report was distributed, and a discussion was held with key actors on building a comprehensive and balanced approach to history.
In his opening remarks, Prof. Dr. Mark Marku, Dean of the FHF, emphasized the importance of cooperation between the academic world and the media in preserving the integrity of historical information.
“Manipulation of historical events remains a deep-rooted problem in our society. One of the defining features of this period, and that has significantly harmed our society, is the attempt to relativize communist crimes. In a second phase, there was a period of silence, and in the third phase, there was a period of manipulation.”
Following this, Luigj Ndou, Director of Relations with the Government at ICMP, emphasized the need for transparency in dealing with the past, particularly in the context of disappearances and crimes committed by authoritarian regimes.
“For many years, countless Albanian families have remained in the dark about the fate of their loved ones, who disappeared during the communist era, and it is necessary to investigate the disappearance sites and data related to these tragedies. In this country, there are still thousands of victims of the totalitarian regime, who are considered missing, and their remains have not been returned to their families. In the coming months, we will examine six potential burial sites, where it is believed or suspected that the victims of the communist regime were buried, and we will assist the Archives Agency in creating a national database of all individuals considered missing.”
The presentation of awareness videos, produced by young people based on the monitoring findings, on the distortion of historical narratives in media, guided by Rashela Shehu, drew attention to the challenges of media literacy that young people face today. These materials highlighted the need for critical awareness of historical content on social media, with specific recommendations for improving the reporting of history, through the inclusion of evidence-based perspectives and verifiable historical context.
Prof. Ass. Dr. Jonila Godole, Executive Director of IDMC, in her speech, emphasized:
“The goal of the study was to analyze how history is being written today and how it will be written in the future, at a time when the role of the historian is no longer just that of a teacher. Social media is already a highly competitive platform for transmitting and shaping historical memory.”
In her presentation titled “Media and memory: Can history exist without historians?”, she highlighted that 80% of the content on TikTok and Facebook related to the socialist era glorifies the era, without mentioning the elements of repression. Only 3.4% of the content refers to historians as a source, while nostalgic “restoration” dominates the discourse on social media, creating a partial and distorted image of the past.
During the panel discussion, experts emphasized the following key messages:
- Prof. Dr. Artan Fuga, academic, discussed the impact of artificial intelligence on the production and dissemination of historical narratives, expressing skepticism about traditional historiography in the digital age. “I asked ChatGPT: how can writing history not lead to division in society, but be inclusive? And it says things that shock and disappoint me. It is wrong about the academic world, it is wrong about education.” He further added: “Will we create a historical narrative that is the foundation and backbone of a nation, or will we continue with contradictory and skewed narratives?” He emphasized the need for a thorough debate on how history is represented and interpreted today, raising fundamental questions about inclusivity in historical representation, through concepts such as relativism, responsibility, and the inclusion of minorities, critical thinking, and the pursuit of historical truth.
- Dr. Edon Qesari, researcher at the Academy of Sciences, who is involved in journalism, spoke about the way the media influences the interpretation of the past and its use in the present. Convinced that the common clichés (that "history is written by the victors") are already obsolete in describing the cultural ecosystem, Qesari insisted on the need for a "specialization" of historiography in a divulgatory sense. According to Qesari, it is not only what is written in a historical text, but also how it is written – how a particular history is told, which constitutes the "storytelling" of history. For this, Qesari sees the need for a greater coordination between academic and media institutions, the former for the purposes of research authority, and the latter for communication purposes. This would help to prevent a certain "intellectual chaos" around history, with improvised characters exploiting the media for fame and not for professional expertise.
- Fatmira Nikolli, journalist at News 24, emphasized: "'Again about communism?' – this is the question we often face, more than three decades after its fall. But even though communism is over as a political regime, in practice, due to the culture of impunity that followed the transition, as well as the polarization, society still honors, on the same day, both victims and perpetrators. Because today's society is a product of the propaganda and the political program of the “New Man” – which was born and shaped in a time when school, media, politics, and family propagated the “New Man” ideology. Although the regime is officially condemned, the parties and governments have, knowingly or unknowingly, incorporated symbols of the past into current events. In the past few months, the mausoleum of the dictator – the former pyramid – and his house, Vila 31, were inaugurated with new functions on October 16, coinciding with the birthday of Hoxha, and on April 9-13, coinciding with the date of his death. In this context, the role of the media is not only important, but also ethical, for a society that takes actions dictated by post-totalitarian reflections."
- Robert Rakipllari, Program Director at Top Channel, emphasized that journalists report on historical events by updating them and bringing them to the attention of the public. Rakipllari highlighted the need for unbiased reporting and in accordance with the emotions of the public. However, it remains important that this effort to reflect public emotions does not compromise professional standards of fact-checking and objectivity.
Participants agreed on the key recommendations of the study, emphasizing the importance of media literacy in schools and on digital platforms, with a focus on how history is understood and narrated, to combat manipulation and misinformation. The need for a more active involvement of historians in social media was also highlighted, as well as for strengthening the dialogue between historians, journalists, and content creators.
Proposed measures included the establishment of sustainable institutions, including specialized media, such as magazines and television channels, dedicated to the treatment of history and collective memory with seriousness and professionalism. The modernization of museums through digitalization and the use of new technologies, such as immersive cameras and 360-degree images, to make them more accessible and attractive to the public was also recommended.
Participants appreciated the sensitive and essential nature of these topics for Albanian society, emphasizing the need for similar monitoring in the future.
IDMC believes that "history is not only the past, but also how we remember it. Responsibility is shared." In this spirit, IDMC will continue its commitment in the future to build closer collaborations with key actors, in order to develop a comprehensive and sustainable approach to historical reporting.
Read the full monitoring report.