in sub -Saharan Africa, repression and financial pressures undermine the independence of the media | EUROtoday

The dependence on advertising advertisers, especially large companies but also in the State, also promotes self -censorship and increases pressures against editors and journalists so as not to lose these funding. For having revealed the role of the operator Safaricom in monitoring the communications of Kenyan citizens, the newspaper The Nation has seen all the advertisements of this company be withdrawn from its pages. The end of a financial contract can mean the death judgment of a media.

The lack of public subsidies, but also the absence of transparency in their granting or sustainability, has permanently weakens press companies. In Mauritania (50^e place), poor governance has repercussions in the sector. This is also the case in Senegal (74^e Place) where the new power arrived in April 2024 operates a vast reform project, especially in the media. These changes made it possible to win 20 places in the country compared to the past year. But this restructuring of the media landscape is not smooth. The registration of press organs launched by the State to better supervise and organize the sector has been strongly criticized by professionals who see it as a “severe assault on press freedom and an authoritarian drift”. Of the 639 bodies having identified, 381 media were deemed not in accordance with the press code and were suspended without delay. Some have already closed and others may also put the key under the door. While some are already largely affected by a severe crisis since the COVVI-19, precariousness will grow in Senegalese editors and threatens editorial independence. “One 12 months after the election of Bassirou Diomaye Faye as president, the authorities started sure constructive reforms within the media sector. The primordial problem right this moment is to ensure the financial survival of the media, whereas a number of of them face growing difficulties, similar to suspensions of promoting contracts, the buildup of unpaid and, in abstract, the final weakening of the sector “, informs RSF. A reality that worries about the future of Senegalese media.

From West Africa to Great Lakes via the Sahel: Red areas for press freedom

Seven African countries are in the last quarter of the RSF classification of press freedom. Among them are Uganda (143^e), where a close control of the state continues on private media but also intimidation and violence against journalists; Rwanda (146^e), with total state control over the media as well as recurring attacks on critical journalists; Burundi (125^e), whose political climate has pushed many media to exile due to frequent intimidation and arrests. Eritrea (180^e) remains the last country in the ranking taking into account the arbitrary regime of President Afeworki which prohibits any independent media and is known for the longest sentences of detention imposed on journalists worldwide.

Countries at war have to face more obstacles. The absence of a security climate is also felt for the sector but also exacerbates the underlying economic difficulties of the media. They are also widely used to serve state propaganda but are also regularly targeted. In Sudan (156^e place), the media suffer more than ever the civil war that intensified. They are regularly instrumentalized by the two opposite camps. This is also the case in Ethiopia (145^e place) where in a context of interethnic conflicts and civil war, the media landscape is very polarized and the disinformation broadcast by the state media. Since taking Goma by the M23, the security degradation but also of press freedom has been dizzying in North Kivu. This region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (133^e) experienced around fifty editorial and journalists attacks between January 2024 and 2025. Twenty radios closed (forced or in prevention) and were looted. About 90 journalists were moved and threatened while two of them were murdered in one month in troubled conditions.