Media Ownership
Almost all media in North Macedonia are private, with the exception of the public service funded from the state budget - the Macedonian Radio Television and the Media Information Agency.
The most powerful television stations are controlled by families of people who emerged as winners from the economic transition in the 1990s, and they, in addition to media, are involved in other profitable businesses such as construction, oil, hospitality, and the exploitation of natural resources through concessions. The founders of these television stations have long been directly involved in politics as deputies, ministers, or party leaders.
After television, online news sites are the most common source of information, and their ratings are far ahead of those of radio and print, whose audiences are measured in single-digit percentages.
The online scene is dispersed into several hundred sites, hence the diversity in ownership. Characteristic of news sites is that some of them are run by journalists who have left traditional media and organized themselves through a non-governmental organizations or founded new companies. Well-known global services such as Radio Free Europe, Deutsche Welle, and Voice of America are also present online.