| Agjencia Telegrafike Shqiptare | |
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 25 July 1927; by official decree October 9, 1954; 71 years ago (1954-10-09)[a] |
| Jurisdiction | Government of Albania |
| Headquarters | Tirana,Albania |
| Employees | 80 |
| Agency executive |
|
| Website | ata |
TheAlbanian Telegraphic Agency (ATSH;Albanian:Agjencia Telegrafike Shqiptare) is the officialmultimedianews agency of theAlbanian government. Its content is published in some of the main news agencies around the world of which it has contractual agreements with, such as:AFP,DPA,ANSA,Xinhua,Anadolu, etc. The agency is a member of theEuropean Alliance of News Agencies (EANA), the Alliance of Mediterranean News Agencies (AMAN) and the Association of the Balkan News Agencies (ABNA).[1][2]
The first Press Office inAlbania opened in 1920 at theMinistry of Internal Affairs, while in 1927 it moved to theMinistry of Foreign Affairs. Documents from this time period uncovered at theCentral State Archive, show that the functions related to ATSH (as a news agency) were retained by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. On January 18, 1943, newspaper "Tomori", while compiling the biography of the Minister of Popular Culture, writes thatMihal Sherko created ATSH in 1927, within the Press Office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[3]
In 1929, the office passed under the auspices of thePrime Minister and until 1939 it was interchangeably a structure of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, always with Mihal Sherko as its head. After thefascist occupation on April 7, 1939, the office was dissolved and transferred to the General Directorate of Press, Propaganda and Tourism, with which it remained until 1941.
A government decree on December 3, 1941 created for the first time theMinistry of Popular Culture, taking over all the duties of the General Directorate of Press, Propaganda and Tourism that ceased to exist.[4]
ATSH became the official central information institution of thePeople's Socialist Republic of Albania, voice of theLabour Party (PPSH) and the socialist state. It was set up immediately after the country's liberation fromWorld War II to collect, process and disseminate information on the ideological, economic, cultural and social activity that took place in Albania, as well as on the political and social events around the world. ATSH was the main source of information for the Party's propaganda, for the Albanian press, radio and television and as a center for the processing of press materials from foreign agencies. Under the supervision of Thanas Nano, the activity of ATSH was based solely on theMarxist-Leninist principles of the labour party and the teachings of comradeEnver Hoxha for popular journalism. It conveyed to the working masses the policy of the party, presented its achievements in all fields of socialist construction in Albania and the defence of the homeland. The agency published daily and periodical newsletters of domestic and foreign news. It had correspondents in all districts and its photographic service popularized various activities that took place throughout the country.[5]
In 1993, theUNDP set up a system for the agency to go online internally with PTT lines. The first exchange of information usingemail was made by ATSH in 1995, where the sending of information was done through the agency TEL–PRESS. During this time, the usage of paper was being phased out and the teletext service through which the transmission was carried out took over. The ATSH website was created in that same year and redesigned again three years later, in 1998. It published news in three languages:Albanian,French andEnglish. Initially the website had only non-video and audio content but after 1998, other elements were introduced such as videos and photos, thus formatted on the basis of enriching the new media genres.The new technology implemented in this institution brought a new perspective on how to treat information, which was based on freedom of writing and the removal of censorship, enabling the increase of information and materials that were transmitted here. The editorial offices covered news and everyday events ranging from politics, the economy, cultural life, sports, etc.
| No. | Name | Term in office | |
| 1 | Mihal Sherko[6] | 25 July 1927 | 7 April 1939 |
| 2 | Thanas Nano | 1945 | 16 April 1959 |
| 3 | Ajet Simixhiu | 16 April 1959 | |
| 4 | Arqile Aleksi | ||
| 5 | Taqo Zoto | ||
| 6 | Ilir Zhilla[7] | 1992 | 5 August 1997 |
| 7 | Frrok Çupi[8] | 5 August 1997 | 8 November 2005 |
| 8 | Edi Paloka | 8 November 2005 | 24 October 2007 |
| 9 | Artur Kopani | 24 October 2007 | 2 July 2008 |
| 10 | Antoneta Malja | 2 July 2008 | 14 October 2009 |
| 11 | Artur Zheji | 14 October 2009 | 17 April 2012 |
| 12 | Gëzim Podgorica | 2012 | 24 April 2013 |
| 13 | Basir Çollaku | 24 April 2013 | 28 October 2013 |
| 14 | Gëzim Podgorica | 28 October 2013 | 18 October 2017 |
| 15 | Armela Krasniqi | 18 October 2017 | 8 July 2021 |
| 16 | Valbona Zhupa | 8 July 2021 | Incumbent |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
