The silent power of words: Unraveling Gender Disinformation in Albanian Media

Gender disinformation offers a vital lens through which we can better understand the intricate ways in which media perpetuates inequality and reinforces imbalances of power.

Alfred Peza’s resignation from Albanian Public Radio Television (RTSH) has exposed profound challenges in media representation and journalistic ethics. What initially appeared to be a routine administrative transition quickly became a significant media event, highlighting systemic issues within Albanian media landscapes.

Peza, who was appointed unanimously by the RTSH Governing Council in June 2023 for a five-year mandate, resigned from his position as Director-General RTSH on September 6, 2024, after a tumultuous tenure marked by significant organisational restructuring and personnel changes.

Internal Conflict Escalates: Claims of Harassment Within the Institution and a Voice That “Ought” to Be Silenced

News of his resignation intensified when media sources reported on a letter allegedly by Blerta Tafani, a well-known journalist and presenter at RTSH, that had surfaced unexpectedly on the same day he stood down from his role. The letter, which detailed claims of sexual harassment by Peza and was disowned by Tafani, generated an unprecedented media response. Within days, over 200 media pieces—spanning articles, social media posts, and news reports—dissected the unfolding narrative, underscoring the deep-rooted complexities of professional communication and accountability in contemporary media environments.

A critical analysis of the media coverage reveals deeply troubling patterns:

• Only 15% of the coverage focused on substantive institutional issues
• A staggering 70% of the reporting employed gender-biased language
• Less than 10% of the media outlets attempted to fact-check the claims

Peza’s resignation exposed a profound narrative of media manipulation and gender disinformation. The media’s approach revealed systematic strategies of narrative construction that disproportionately impact professional women. By strategically employing gender-coded language and reframing professional disputes through a lens of sexual innuendo, media outlets systematically undermined the professional credibility of individuals, particularly Blerta Tafani, who was once seen as the “second most important” person at RTSH, and often labeled also as the “sexy blonde”.

This incident exemplifies how gender disinformation operates through subtle, insidious narrative tactics that sexualize professional conflicts. The media constructed a spectacle that primarily served to discredit and marginalize a woman in the workplace, focusing on personal and emotional aspects rather than professional contexts.

Critically, Tafani’s denial of authoring the letter further exposed how media can transform professional conflicts into sensationalized stories that reinforce patriarchal norms and undermine institutional integrity.

The power of headlines

The media coverage of Peza’s resignation revealed a complex interplay of sensationalist narratives and gendered power dynamics. Headlines focused heavily on sexual allegations, framing the resignation not as a professional matter but as a spectacle of sexual misconduct.

Sensationalist language and unverified claims gendered the conflict, subtly undermining Tafani’s professional credibility by framing her role in a passive, stereotypically feminine narrative. This approach overshadowed more significant issues, such as allegations of institutional corruption, and administrative misconduct by Peza, while reinforcing harmful stereotypes. In doing so, the media engaged in gender disinformation, using narrative manipulation to discredit women’s professional agency and obscure deeper institutional failures.

Linguistic choices as tools for undermining women

The contrasting media portrayal of Peza and Tafani reveals a stark disparity: male professional conflicts are typically contextualized administratively, while women’s professional challenges are frequently sexualized and emotionally framed.

Media coverage of Peza remained professionally focused, carefully avoiding any personal or familial context. Conversely, Tafani’s representation consistently deviated from professional parameters, with several articles deliberately referencing her as “Blerta Tafani Hajdari” – a strategic linguistic maneuver that subtly introduced familiar and personal dimensions to her professional identity. The suggestion of an extramarital affair led to her being placed within the category of “loose women,” a label that carries deeply rooted societal judgments in Balkan culture.

This not only tarnished her professional credibility but also contributed to undermining the prospects of other women who might seek similar positions. Such linguistic choices created a public space for unwarranted scrutiny of her personal life, ultimately diminishing her professional authority. These tactics reflect the use of gendered disinformation, where language is carefully employed to erode women’s professional standing while reinforcing prevailing patriarchal structures.

Prioritizing narrative spectacle

The circulation of the purportedly authored letter by Blerta Tafani triggered immediate responses from a select group of journalists. These responses came primarily from two distinct categories: former colleagues of Peza and journalists or audiovisual professionals who had been dismissed during his tenure as television director. However, these critical viewpoints were largely sidelined within the broader media discourse, with coverage restricted to only 3-4 digital platforms.

In stark contrast, the letter’s narrative experienced a viral proliferation across media channels, characterized by unprecedented dissemination without elementary journalistic verification processes. This asymmetrical coverage revealed a strategic amplification of unverified claims, demonstrating a systematic failure in professional media standards.

The swift and unchecked circulation of the letter highlights a significant flaw in modern media practices: the tendency to favor sensationalism over fact-checking. By prioritizing dramatic narratives over substantive investigation, media platforms turned what should have been an institutional matter into a gendered spectacle, allowing unverified allegations to overshadow professional accountability.

The Intricate Dynamics of Professional Reputation Management

A carefully worded statement by Tafani neither confirmed nor denied the allegations, employing ambiguous language that media experts say is common in high-pressure situations. While such communication strategies may help navigate challenging press coverage, critics argue they can reinforce existing barriers to transparent workplace dialogue, particularly for women in professional settings.

Her approach, while tactically clever, underscores the emotionally corrosive nature of such defensive communication strategies, which compel professional women to continuously negotiate their credibility through emotional labour and performative restraint.

When contacted by Anabel magazine, Blerta Tafani denied making any prior statements about the incident and requested time for a future response. In a separate interview with Newsbomb.al, she challenged the letter’s authenticity, emphasising that documents lacking her signature should not be considered valid.

These conflicting accounts have prompted media outlets to scrutinise the situation more deeply, with some journalists questioning whether Tafani’s current stance reflects the full story or if external pressures may have influenced her position. The apparent discrepancy between the initial allegations and her recent statements has sparked broader concerns about witness reliability in harassment cases. In these situations, gender experts point out that disinformation tactics often target women who speak out, compelling them to retreat or remain silent.

The Gender Gap in Media Memory: Short-lived Stories vs. Lasting Legacies

The publication of the letter triggered an extensive media mobilisation supporting Blerta Tafani, coinciding with an ongoing Albanian media discourse on sexual harassment in the workplace and public transit environments.

Within the gender disinformation framework, harassment disclosure narratives reveal complex systemic mechanisms that silence women’s experiences. These scenarios create a corrosive environment that fundamentally undermines sexual violence survivors’ credibility and professional narratives.

The ‘boomerang effect’ reinforces toxic social narratives that portray women reporting harassment as either fabricating claims or inherently untrustworthy. This dynamic systematically discourages collective resistance against institutionalised gender-based discrimination, transforming legitimate professional challenges into performative spectacles that serve patriarchal power structures.

The gendered media ecosystem exposes a profound structural inequality: while men’s professional reputations are perceived as resilient and self-healing, women’s experiences are subjected to persistent scrutiny and potential permanent reconstruction.

By creating an atmosphere of persistent doubt, such representations effectively neutralise women’s testimonial power, revealing how media narratives perpetuate deeper societal power dynamics that consistently marginalise women’s professional experiences.

Addressing Gender Disinformation in Media

Media discourse must tear down the walls of silence that suffocate women’s experiences, refusing to be complicit in a system that perpetuates collective trauma. When news outlets callously dismiss allegations or maliciously frame survivors as untrustworthy, they become active architects of psychological violence, systematically crushing the fragile courage it takes for women to speak their truth. These aren’t mere narratives—they are emotional landmines that decimate survivors’ hope, confidence, and fundamental right to be heard and believed.

Instead, discussions must critically examine the nuanced societal stigma surrounding harassment reporting, exploring the profound professional and personal risks women face when challenging institutional power structures. By deliberately fostering a culture of accountability and support, media can transform from a passive conduit to an active catalyst for meaningful social change, ultimately dismantling the mechanisms that marginalise and invalidate women’s experiences.

Preventing Future Gender Disinformation

This case demands critical reflection on media practices and calls for more rigorous, gender-sensitive reporting standards that recognise and challenge these systemic narrative constructions. It serves as a powerful reminder of the media’s profound ability to shape public perception, often sacrificing nuanced, factual reporting and professional respect in the process.

By deconstructing such incidents, we can begin to understand and dismantle the mechanisms through which media perpetuates harmful stereotypes and supports existing gender inequalities.

Addressing gender disinformation requires comprehensive institutional interventions grounded in critical feminist methodologies. Leveraging theoretical frameworks from Bourdieu and Foucault, preventative strategies demand sophisticated epistemological redesign—integrating gender-sensitive media training, rigorous ethical guidelines, and independent investigative mechanisms. By systematically deconstructing entrenched power dynamics, institutions can validate women’s professional experiences and transform organisational cultures.

The ultimate goal is transforming media from a potential instrument of marginalisation to a platform for genuine dialogue, understanding, and social progress.

Authors: Fjolla Spanca, Raquel Hernandez
Illustrator: Lana Nikolić