Final Report on State of the Media Freedom in Rwanda

The face of the media landscape in Rwanda has been swiftly evolving since the 2002 liberalisation that allowed private media ownership. We have since then seen multiple media outlets emerging, contributing to widening the space for expression through the media.However, the 2013 media reforms were a milestone in the sense that with them we witnessed the very first shift from statutory regulation to self-regulation in the history of Rwanda. The formation of the Rwanda Media Commission (RMC) in August 2013 therefore introduced a new significant player in the media landscape, with a mandate to regulate the daily functioning of the media and conduct of journalists, as per Article 1 of the 2013 Media Law.Since then, we have pursued this mandate with the commitment of seeing an improved media sector in Rwanda. But RMC's mandate is not limited to only the regulatory functions. According to the Blueprint on Self-regulation in Rwanda—a document developed through comprehensive consultations with journalists on what type of self-regulatory body they wanted—RMC's mandate is defined as three-fold:To promote and nurture professional and ethical practicesTo defend media freedomTo speak on behalf of the media fraternity in RwandaIn order to do our work more effectively, we have found it imperative to have well-researched baseline information on the status of the media sector from a multi-dimensional perspective.