The print media have flourished since the 1990s and, of 65 existing weeklies, ten are published regularly, whether they be satirical newspapers like Le Lynx or general news publications like L’Indépendant. The broadcast sector consists of at least 60 radio stations and around ten TV channels. Online, about 100 news sites have emerged in the past 25 years. The media landscape is diverse and the 2010 press freedom law prevents excessive media ownership concentration. However, it has become increasingly difficult to produce critical reporting under the transitional government. Four privately owned radio stations have been jammed constantly since November 2023, three privately owned TV channels are virtually inaccessible, and at least three news sites were blocked without explanation for several weeks in 2023. 

Although the transitional government made a commitment to RSF to respect press freedom, shortly after coming to power in October 2021, attacks committed by the authorities have increased in recent months, most notably through the censorship of several mainstream media outlets. The media regulator, the High Authority for Communication (HAC), removed three TV channels from TV packages in December 2023 for reasons of “national security”. The Minister of Foreign Affairs also invoked a “security problem” to explain blocking the access to social media in the country for three months.

The 2010 press freedom law abolishing prison sentences for press offences was a major step forward in the protection of journalists. However, journalists continue to be summoned for questioning or arrested, as was the case for about ten journalists in October 2023 and January 2024. The organic law on the right to access public information and establishing the principle of transparency has yet to take effect despite its adoption in November 2020. In September 2022, the High Authority for Communication (HAC) suspended five journalists without respecting legal procedures. 

The government gives state-owned media preferential treatment in terms of priority access to official events and government announcements, at the expense of privately owned media. Subsidies granted to privately owned media are considered insufficient, and most operate thanks to advertisers. But when privately owned media outlets are restricted or censored, advertisers become wary and terminate contracts. This forces those media outlets to reduce their programming or stop operating altogether, and to temporarily lay off journalists due to lack of resources.

Certain topics, such as homosexuality, polygamy, and domestic violence, are treated with a certain caution, and even restraint, so as not to offend the public’s moral code. Likewise, journalists who address the issue of opposition to female genital mutilation and forced marriage are targeted by religious interest groups.

Journalists are regularly victims of attacks and violence, especially during political protests. They are also frequently faced with death threats and harassment on social media. Acts of violence against journalists – often perpetrated by law enforcement and political party activists – usually go unpunished. Journalists are also often arrested. The general secretary of the main press union, Sékou Jamal Pendessa, spent more than a month in detention for trying to organise a demonstration in defence of press freedom. Thomas Dietrich, a French journalist who was investigating corruption within the National Petroleum Company (SONAP), was expelled in January 2024.