nd radio are channels through
which the top leaders issue directives or communicate changes in the
Party line to the lower level administrators and activists throughout
the country.

The importance of the pervasive role of the press was stressed in the
following statement by Enver Hoxha that was quoted in the December 1965
issue of _Rruga e Partise_ (Party Path): "Without the press there can be
no education of the masses; without the press there can be no
conscientious mobilization of them, organization, nor solution to the
problems of the economic and cultural construction in the new socialist
society." Although the article dealt specifically with the press, it can
be assumed that the role assigned to it also pertains to the other media
of communication.

The functions assigned to the media necessitate strict control over
their operation and content by the Party. Although there appears to be
no formal institution for censorship, an elaborate system was created
whereby the Party leaders could maintain the necessary control either
directly or indirectly through the government and mass organizations.

Fragmentary information suggests that the Party leaders have several
mechanisms for the maintenance of control over the dissemination of
information. Within the Party there is a hierarchical organization that
implements decisions made by the Party leaders concerning public
information and propaganda activities. It is headed by the Directorate
of Agitation and Propaganda, which is directly under the Central
Committee of the Party. The directorate is divided into various
functional sectors, for example, one dealing with the press. Throughout
the Party and government hierarchies, as well as in the mass
organizations, there are sections for agitation and propaganda that are
directed by the central directorate.

The Political Bureau (Politburo), the highest decision-making body of
the Albanian Workers' Party, formulates policy concerning ideological
indoctrination and the use of the media of mass communication. The
Directorate of Agitation and Propaganda coordinates the implementation
of such policy (see ch. 6, Government Structure and Political System).

Perhaps the most effective control mechanism is that which is built into
the Party structure and in the Party's relationship to the government
and to society in general. The media are formally owned and operated by
the government with the exception of the Party press and pu