May 8, 2026

Most are supportive of media holding government to account and favour press freedom over government regulation.

While support for a free press is a majority position in all surveyed countries, substantial minorities in most countries – and a large majority in Mali – favour government control over what the media can publish.

The new report, based on 45,600 interviews across 38 African countries in 2024/2025, also shows that citizens’ assessments of whether media freedom is protected in their country are mixed.

Only a slim majority see the media in their country as largely free, and that perception has declined slightly over the past half-decade.

The findings further suggest ambivalence: Support for media freedom is lower among respondents who perceive their country’s media as free than among those who see it as unfree.

According to the findings, most Africans (72 per cent) support media playing a role in holding governments accountable.

It was found that support for the media’s watchdog role was the majority position in every surveyed country, ranging above eight in 10 in Mauritius (86 per cent), Nigeria (83 per cent), Uganda (82 per cent), Ghana (82 per cent), Congo-Brazzaville (81 per cent), and Chad (81 per cent).

And even in countries where support for media reporting on government mistakes and corruption is weak, such as Mozambique (58 per cent), Angola (56 per cent), and São Tomé and Príncipe (54 per cent), only minorities prefer avoiding reporting on negative events.

Two-thirds (65 per cent) of citizens support media freedom, including majorities in all surveyed countries except Tanzania (49 per cent) and Mali (27 per cent).

In several countries, support for media freedom exceeds three-fourths of the population, including Mauritius (86 per cent), Seychelles (85 per cent), Congo-Brazzaville (80 per cent), Lesotho (77 per cent), Chad (76 per cent), and Botswana (76 per cent).

Assessments of whether the media is free are mixed: 53 per cent of respondents say the media in their country is free, but 43 per cent see it as subject to censorship or government interference.

Perceptions of media freedom vary widely across Africa, from highs of 81 per cent in Tanzania and 77 per cent in Liberia and to just 28 per cent in Comoros and 16 per cent in Congo-Brazzaville.

Across 30 countries surveyed in both 2019/2021 and 2024/2025, perceptions that the media is free have declined by four percentage points.

The largest drops in the share of respondents who perceive the media as free were recorded in Guinea (-34 percentage points), Lesotho (-22 points), Nigeria (-22 points), and Botswana (-20 points).

Over the same period, Liberia has seen an enormous 58-point jump in perceived press freedom, moving from the least free to the second-most free. Gabon (+24 points) and Zambia (+22 points) also recorded large gains.

People who see the media in their country as largely free are less likely to support media freedom than who see their media as unfree (63 per cent versus 69 per cent).