A REMA official holds interactive session with local journalists to mark the International Ozone Day 2015 – September 16 2015.

In a sign of growing urgency to fix Rwanda’s struggling media sector, Parliament has given the Prime Minister, and by extension the executive, a six-month deadline to approve the long-delayed National Media Policy.

The first drafted in 2022 and still pending official endorsement.

The ultimatum, communicated through the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB) during the review of its 2024 annual report, reflects a deepening concern within the legislature over the worsening state of journalism in Rwanda.

The directive brings renewed attention to the country’s media sector — plagued by weak finances, poor professional standards, and the disruptive rise of unregulated social media content.

At the heart of these problems is the absence of a modern policy framework to guide a media industry undergoing a profound digital transformation.

The draft policy, now in its third version, outlines Rwanda’s ambitions to nurture a vibrant, professional, independent, and self-regulated media, while addressing persistent challenges ranging from weak media business models to unchecked social media abuse.

A Sector Under Strain

Over the last decade, Rwanda’s media landscape has changed dramatically.

There are now 33 radio stations, 19 television stations, and over 190 online publications, yet most operate under fragile business models.

Print media has largely collapsed due to production costs and digital migration, while small radio and TV stations remain dependent on a shrinking advertising market.

The government and development partners — historically the largest advertisers — have increasingly shifted to digital portals and RBA (the public broadcaster), leaving private outlets to scramble for revenue.

The result is a sector where many journalists work under precarious conditions, often with irregular pay, limited training, and increasing pressure to produce content that can survive in an online attention economy.

Professionalism has suffered. The Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) received 163 complaints about unethical conduct by journalists in just two years. Content quality is weak, investigative reporting is rare, and many online platforms are run by untrained individuals who blur the line between activism, commentary, and journalism.

The Policy that Could Change Everything

The new draft policy — now awaiting the Prime Minister’s sign-off — proposes bold reforms. It recognizes that uncoordinated government oversight, media fragmentation, and a lack of institutional capacity have stunted progress since the last media policy in 2011.

The new media policy was designed through a collaboration of various stakeholders including NGOs, government’s donor partners, Parliament and RGB.

Key proposed policy interventions include:

• Strengthening self-regulation, with clearer mandates and better funding for the RMC.
• Revamping the code of ethics to cover both legacy and digital journalism.
• Launching a national program for digital and media literacy for citizens and journalists.
• Establishing a single, consolidated oversight mechanism to streamline government coordination.
• Introducing laws to regulate AI-generated content and social media infractions, without infringing on freedom of expression.
• Re-engineering RBA to become a true Public Service Media (PSM) with a reduced reliance on advertising and increased independence.

Perhaps most critically, the policy envisions the creation of a Media Design Centre — a media “special economic zone” modeled after a similar entity in Dubai — to attract international media companies, offer shared production facilities, and generate new revenue streams for local media.

Parliament’s Pressure: A Timely Push

The fact that Parliament is now pushing for the policy’s approval signals a political will to act, after years of hesitation. The delay in endorsing the policy is partly due to its complexity — it cuts across ministries and involves issues like media freedom, online speech regulation, and the role of government in journalism.

But MPs have grown impatient. Without the policy, media reforms remain stalled, and the sector continues to suffer from under-regulation, poor performance, and rising social media chaos.

KT Press Staff Writer