After the state’s monopoly on the media ended in 1991, Niger’s media landscape was able to flourish, giving the capital, Niamey, its first independent weeklies, including Haské, Le Républicain and Le Démocrate. The first privately owned radio station (R&M) and first privately owned TV channel (RTT) were launched in 1994 and 2000, respectively. In 2022, Niger had 67 privately owned radio stations, 198 community or association radio stations, 15 privately owned TV channels and 16 news sites, of which Libération, Tamtaminfo and NigerDiaspora are among the most popular.

Independently reported news and information is non-existent on state TV and radio, and rare on privately owned TV channels. Governmental interference in editorial decisions increased after the military junta took power in July 2023. In January 2024, the Ministry of the Interior ordered the Maison de la Presse, an umbrella organisation of Niger’s journalists’ associations, to cease operating. After denouncing press freedom violations in the first few hours after the coup, the organisation’s president had already been told his contract would not be renewed. 

The adoption of a press law in 2010 that abolished prison sentences for press offences was a major step forward for the protection of journalists. But this more protective law is often circumvented, and journalists are still arrested, and sometimes even given prison sentences in connection with their investigative reporting on corruption. 

The state media are funded by the state but the financial situation of the privately owned media is precarious and their problems have been exacerbated by the sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) since the July 2023 coup. Loss of revenue, with the lack of advertising and low sales, as well as high printing costs and the development of social media, threaten the survival of newspapers. Many of them have had to shut down. Privately owned radio stations are not immune to this fragility, and only a few TV channels manage to profit from the advertising market. This financial precarity also affects journalists, exposing them to corruption. 

Niger’s Muslim and traditional society finds it hard to accept debates in the media about Islam and societal issues such as sexuality, access to contraceptives, and adultery. Self-censorship on these subjects is systematic. Access to information about terrorism and migrants is also very difficult.

Attacks and threats against journalists are not uncommon, especially since the military coup. Press freedom violations, including attacks on local and international journalists, were observed as early as July 2023. The signals of French broadcast media RFI and France 24 were disconnected a week after the coup. Journalists from international media outlets have been the targets of attacks. Nigerien journalist Samira Sabou was arrested in September 2023 and held incommunicado for eight days for "disseminating data likely to disturb public order.”