Media landscape
The various daily and weekly newspapers that exist in Niger’s diverse media landscape appear only in French. Officially it is said that the Nigerien press is largely free and is hardly subject to any restrictions. Organizations like Reporters sans frontières (RSF) also see a mostly quite positive development in this direction. In their Press Freedom Index from 2020, Niger fell further compared to the previous year (66 of 180) to 57th out of 180 countries examined. The CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) is also committed to protecting reporters.
Newspapers
- Le Sahel
- Le Republican
- Air Info (Agadez)
- L’autre Observateur
- L’Evénement
- La Roue de l’Histoire
- Le Canard Déchaîné
- La handles
- Haske
- Le democrate
Internet services
- IRIN Niger
- ReliefWeb Niger
- Tam Tam
- Afrik.Com – Niger
- AllAfrica Niger
- MediaNiger
The state controls the national television and radio and also exerts a strong influence on private radio stations.
TV reception is usually only possible in urban areas. Here, however, the spread of television sets is quite high. In relation to the large population, it is only 17% of the population who watch television regularly.
According to thesciencetutor, radio stations are spread across the country, and radio news is the most important communication and information medium in Niger, as the literate population is very low.
Watch TV
- Tele Sahel (state controlled). ORTN TV station
- Tenere TV (private, in Niamey)
- Telestar (Pay TV, in Niamey)
Tele Sahel broadcasts most of its programs in French; However, there is also news in different languages throughout the week.
Radio
- ORTN La Voix du Sahel (state, in French, Arabic and the local languages)
- BBC (Hausa World Service)
- German wave
- RFI
- Anfani FM
- Tambara FM
- R&M (Radie et Musique)
- Horizon FM
- Tenere FM
- Africa No 1
Since the beginning of the 2000’s there have been ‘radio rurale’ (country radios) in many places. These are associative community radios that report in the local languages. They are relatively apolitical and deal with local and regional events (market prices, festivals). They are increasingly being used as a mouthpiece and awareness-raising medium by development aid organizations and NGOs, and they are also being supported with their installation, both in terms of training and equipment.
Post, telecommunications and the Internet
All cities and towns have post offices with PO boxes, but no street names and house numbers. The correspondence is always addressed to a post office box. Airmail to Europe can take up to 2 weeks, on the regular route (overland and by ship) around 4 weeks.
The telecommunications company SONITEL is the point of contact to apply for a new landline telephone line or to reactivate an existing connection. Calling to Europe is cheaper with a mobile phone and prepaid calling cards are available on every street corner; You can compare the various (international) mobile network providers in terms of performance and costs. International calls can be made in any hotel or in the so-called ‘Telecentres’. The country code is 00227. There is now a ‘telecabine’ in many small towns. The cell phone network is spreading rapidly and it is amazing how many people in the country use their cell phones; however, Niger is more of a country in the region moderate expansion of the cell phone network. The access to the Internet has improved significantly; about 1 million Nigerians use the Internet. But not every internet café is equipped with broadband technology and so there can be significant differences in the structure of a website. Most organizations have now also allowed their employees to use the connection privately. There are now almost 1 million Internet users in Niger.
