On February 10, TV channels in Albania showed Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj relaxed and smiling at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a kindergarten on the outskirts of the capital.

The camera followed Veliaj’s every move, asking staff about the songs they sing with the children and listening as he is told about the use of olive oil rather than margarine in the kitchen.

Though billed as ‘live transmission’, the pictures were so carefully curated they screamed of heavy post-production editing.

That they weren’t live became obvious when news broke simultaneously of Veliaj’s arrest on charges of corruption and money laundering.

It was not the first time, however, that government PR videos had been aired on Albanian media as regular news reports.