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In Albania, there are no real powerful independent media, but a pluralist media scene exists. The number of national dailies has grown to twenty, though the total circulation does not exceed 100.000 copies. Most of the national dailies are directly controlled by politicians or businessmen, but due to the low circulation print press is not so influential. The regions continue to be impoverished and with few alternative local papers (only three good weeklies in the south, one weekly that now appears regularly in the north). Media continue to suffer the lack of a good news agency that would cover the whole of Albania. Broadcast media are concentrated on the capital. In the capital TV news reporting is often biased and very sensational, but some good programs are finally being produced. Local television lacks local news productions. Improvements in the technological base of the capital-based electronic media are not matched with quality of journalism. Very few media outlets are able to sustain themselves financially out of their practices. Big operations of the powerful capital based private TV stations are subsidized by other activities. Print and electronic media in the rest of the country have been started mainly as hobbies of local businessmen, and are struggling to develop professionally and as businesses. Internet access and the use of information from Internet remain low, but tend to spread quickly, also outside the capital.
In Albania, Press Now mainly invests in training journalistic and technical capacities, in order to support the development of media outlets as businesses. As a result of the lack of interest and direct funding of Albanian media by other organisations, Press Now has been single handed in most of the projects in Albania.
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