Mass media in Rwanda

The New Times is the largest English-language and the oldest in Rwanda.[3] It also owns a newspaper joint in the local language Kinyarwanda, called Izuba Rirashe. The newspaper has been criticized for being "too servile" to the ruling party of Rwanda,[4] and being "excessively optimistic".[5] As such, competitors in the English-language newspaper industry have sprung up in recent years, with the formation of another large-scale English newspaper News of Rwanda in 2011.[6] Other minor newspapers have also been created to counter the pro-establishment role of the newspaper, such as The Rwandan,[7] Rwanda Eye[8] and Business Daily.[9]

Several newspaper publishers also provide Kinyarwanda-language newspapers, including both News of Rwanda and The Rwandan.[10] In June 2018, News of Rwanda closed.

The Rwandan television industry is made 12 TV stations. 84% of TV stations owned by private(10 out of 12) While 8% and 8% are owned by public and Religious organisations respectively. The state-owned Rwandan Broadcasting Agency runs the TV station Rwanda Television (RTV).[11]

Likewise, radio in Rwanda is mainly conducted through a subsidiary of the RBA, Radio Rwanda.[12] The radio station offers Kinyarwanda, French, Kiswahili and English language services[13] in FM 100.7. As such, it is used to complement other media which mainly provided services in English and Kinyarwanda, the two popular languages in Rwanda. Due to the recent economic development in Rwanda, radio has taken less precedence among other forms of communication, and the government has also focused on improving the television industry in Rwanda.

A major share of the market is controlled by nine indigenous publishers, among which four have opened bookshops in the country.[14] Before the genocide against the Tutsi, there were no publishing houses in Rwanda. The situation improved after the incident, with the first indigenous publisher established in the country, Bakame Editions.[15] Since the turn of the century, major publishers from all across the world such as Oxford University Press and Macmillan Publishers have begun making inroads into the local publishing industry.[16] However, the establishment of publishing houses locally and from abroad has not instituted a healthy reading culture in Rwanda, and local publishers have decried the fact that the younger generation does not often participate in this pastime. Despite the boom in the local publishing industry, a similar spell of growth has yet to be seen in the commercial trading of books. Bookstores remain a rare sight in Rwanda, and the first library in the country was established in 2012 in Kigali.[14]