News 24 (Albanian TV channel)

News 24 is the first Albanian 24-hour news television channel, founded in 2002 in Tirana, Albania, by Italian journalist Carlo Bollino and former shareholder of Gazeta Shqiptare newspaper, Radio Rash, and Balkanweb portal.^[1] The channel's format resembles its Italian equivalent Rai News24. The news are updated every minute.

News 24 operates the popular news portal Balkanweb.^[2][3] The portal was established in February 2000 by the Italian publishing company Edisud^[4] (e.g. La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno) with funding from the Soros Foundation. It was later sold to Focus Group in 2011.^[5][1] Balkanweb's videos come almost exclusively from 'News 24'.^[1]

On the morning of August 9, 2025, it was forcibly taken off the air. At approximately 07:36, the channel’s broadcast went dark, replaced by vertical colored bars, following a police and bailiff operation that surrounded its headquarters in the former Autotraktor Plant in the Shkozë district of Tirana.^[6]

Authorities cited an expired lease since May 2022 and a final court ruling from July 14, 2025, ordering eviction. A March 12, 2025 government decision transferred the disputed premises to KAYO, a newly created state-owned arms company. Focus Media Group contested this, stating that they held valid lease documentation and that at least one property lease extended until 2033.^[7]

Media organizations, journalists’ associations, and opposition figures condemned the action as a direct assault on press freedom, highlighting the lack of prior warning, access denial, power cutoff, and signal blackout as disproportionate and undemocratic Tirana, also called for the immediate lifting of the blockade and restoration of journalist access.^[8][9]

On August 18, 2025, ten days after the channel went off air, the channel returned back on air by broadcasting in a different building. Their main headquarters still remained blocked by KAYO and the police.