Media of Eritrea

There is no current independent media in Eritrea. All media outlets in Eritrea are from the Ministry of Information, a Government source. The lack of freedom of the press in Eritrea is heavily criticized. Among other matters, Eritrea has the highest number of jailed journalists in Africa.^[1]

In 1996, the government passed a law banning private broadcast media and requiring licenses for journalists and newspapers.^{[citation needed]} The law barred the reprinting of works from banned publications, outlawed foreign ownership of media, and required all publications to be submitted to the government for approval prior to publication.^[2] In 2001, in an effort to quell burgeoning dissent about the future of the People's Front for Democracy and Justice, the government closed down eight independent newspapers and arrested an undisclosed number of journalists. It is believed that the rationale for the closing of these newspapers is that they received foreign funding.^[3] Several groups have criticized the resulting severe restrictions on press freedom.^[4] Reporters without borders ranks Eritrea's press freedom as the lowest in the world, surpassing North Korea, with Turkmenistan in third. Reporters without Borders calls these three countries "blackholes of information" where government propaganda is the only source of news.^[5]

Print

There are two daily print newspapers:

• Al-Hadisa (Arabic language)
• Haddas Eritrea (Tigrinya language)

There are also two other papers

• Eritrea Profile, twice weekly (Wednesday & Saturday) (English language)
• Eritrea Haddas, weekly (Wednesday) (Tigre language)
• L'Asmarino (Italian Language)

Radio

There are three radio stations in Eritrea. Radio Bana is an educational radio broadcast in five languages.^[6] Radio Zara is available only in Tigrinya, while Dimtsi Hafash is available in nine languages:

• Afar
• Arabic
• Beja
• Blin
• Kunama
• Nara
• Saho
• Tigre
• Tigrinya

Dimtsi Hafash and Radio Zara are available via satellite dish.

Television

There are two television stations in the country with a third having been recently announced^[7]. Eri-TV1, more commonly known as Eri-TV is available global through satellite while Eri-TV2 is only available in Eritrea; both are operated by the Ministry of Information from Asmara. Eri-TV has fully featured programming in four languages:

• Arabic
• English
• Tigre
• Tigrinya

as well as some programming in other languages including:

• Amharic
• Oromo
• Somali

Eri-TV is available within Eritrea and abroad via satellite dish 24 hours a day. Many of the television owners in Eritrea use satellite dishes.

References

1. ^ "Freedom of the Press". http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=16&year=2005&country=6733. Retrieved 2006-06-08. 
2. ^ "Freedom of the Press". http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=16&year=2005&country=6733. Retrieved 2006-09-04. 
3. ^ "Country Report: Eritrea". http://www.freedomhouse.org/modules/publications/ccr/modPrintVersion.cfm?edition=2&ccrpage=8&ccrcountry=85. Retrieved 2006-09-04. 
4. ^ "Country Report: Eritrea" (PDF). http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/profiles/Eritrea.pdf. Retrieved 2006-09-04. 
5. ^ "North Korea, Eritrea and Turkmenistan are the world’s “black holes” for news". http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=554. Retrieved 2006=09-04. 
6. ^ "Radio Bana Airs New English Programs". http://www.shaebia.org/artman/publish/article_4863.html. Retrieved 2007-03-17. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ "Ministry of Information Graduates 22 EDF Members". 2006-05-13. http://www.shabait.com%2Fupload%2Fnewspapers%2FMay-06%2Feritrea_profile_13052006.pdf&ei=1dKHRKHzOZ-K_AHKjsCiCg&sig2=62GEjpwltTL8JMO8BkN-5A. Retrieved 2006-06-08. 

See also

• Communications in Eritrea
• Human rights in Eritrea