Since Chad began a process of democratisation in December 1990, the media landscape has expanded considerably and the media have acquired a certain independence, with state media ceasing to have a monopoly on news. Around ten newspapers (including L'Observateur, N'Djaména Hebdo, and Le Pays) are published regularly, four privately owned TV channels operate in N'Djaména, the capital, and around 60 radio stations operate nationwide. FM/Liberté, a radio station created by human rights activists, has the most listeners in the capital, in part because it has a network of reporters throughout the country. 

The communication ministry controls the state media and the government appoints their editors. The government also chooses most of the members of the High Media and Audiovisual Authority (HAMA), the broadcast regulator. Investigative reporting critical of senior government officials, their close associates or the military is not tolerated. Access to official information remains very difficult. Relations between private media outlets and the HAMA significantly deteriorated over the course of the 2024 electoral cycles.

Press freedom and the right to information are enshrined in Chad’s laws. The 2010 press law abolished prison sentences for most press offences, except for defamation, which is punishable by up to three months in prison. The cybercrime law adopted in 2019 exposes journalists working online to arbitrary arrest and detention. More than a dozen newspapers were suspended in 2020 under the new press law, which requires a minimum level of qualification to run a newsroom, in an apparent desire to professionalise the media sector, which, in reality, could result in the elimination of many independent publications. In 2024, a former presidential advisor abused a US law in an attempt to censor media outlets that reported on his dismissal.

Conditions are precarious for the media, especially for privately owned outlets. Newspapers are very costly to print and the advertising market is limited, resulting in some newspapers operating at a loss. Although the state is supposed to provide an annual subsidy, since 2016 the funds dedicated to helping the press have only been distributed twice, in 2021 and 2024. 

Chad has entered a period of transition since 20 April 2021 and the death of President Idriss Déby Itno, who had ruled with an iron fist for 30 years. Since then, the authorities have urged journalists and the media to refrain from disseminating hate speech and to prioritise calls for peace – an undeclared form of censorship. In May 2024, journalists were unable to transparently report on the “celebratory gunfire” — which resulted in around ten deaths — after Mahamat Idriss Déby was elected as president.

Attacks, even murders, take place with complete impunity, as evidenced by the assassination of journalist Idriss Yaya, his wife and their son in March 2024, and by that of journalist Orédjé Narcisse in October 2022. Their killers have not been arrested. Media professionals also face violence from the police while covering anti-government protests, and journalists working in the provinces are often the victims of arbitrary arrests and threats. Journalists who criticise security forces or the intelligence services are frequently brought in for questioning. Access to social media was blocked for 470 days in a row in 2018 and 2019, which established Chad as one of Africa’s worst cybercensors in recent years.