Albanias Head of State Alfred Moisiu awarded his country’s Presidential Medal for “special civilian merit” to the Voice of America’s Albanian Service in an award ceremony in Tirana on 17 September.
VOA “was and continues to be a joint traveler of our history of the last six decades by being the voice of hope and freedom to Albanians,” President Moisiu said as he presented the medal to International Broadcasting Bureau Director Seth Cropsey. Calling VOA broadcasts an “irreplaceable source of information,” the president recalled the period of democratic transition in the early 1990s as “especially unforgettable…when people followed the Voice of America as if it was water in the desert.” President Moisiu also said that VOA continues to enjoy the attention of a large audience thanks to its objective news and airing of independent and balanced views. Director Cropsey accepted the award on behalf of VOA’s Albanian Service, thanking Albania for its continued support of VOA, its allegiance to the United States, and its assistance in the war on terrorism.
VOA Albanian’s popular TV news program Ditari is broadcast daily to audiences throughout the Balkans. VOA also transmits 8 hours a week of news in Albanian via shortwave. Programs are available on the Internet at www.VOAnews.com/Albanian.