Rwanda’s media sector continues to face financial challenges that hinder its growth, according to the 2024 Rwanda Media Barometer by Rwanda Governance Board (RGB). This year’s report launched on November 7 showed that media plurality and diversity dropped by 14.7 per cent to 72.3 per cent, from 87 per cent in 2021. While the overall performance of Rwandan media slightly declined to 76.7 per cent, previous editions of the media barometer indicated a steady improvement of media development status from 60.7 percent in 2013 to 80.6 per cent in 2021. ALSO READ: Eight facts about Rwanda media financial status The report highlights that the financial constraints affect media houses’ salaries to employees, operational expenses, and journalists' capacity building. The media barometer based on findings from questionnaires administered to 918 respondents. 664 of them ordinary citizens and 254 were journalists and members of media civil society organisations. Desk research, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions also contributed to the findings. ALSO READ: Financial constraints, tech shift key challenges for media in Rwanda Jean Bosco Rushingabingwi, the Head of Department for Media Sector Coordination Monitoring at RGB said that financial constraints were some of major challenges to the media sector. “There are still issues in financing salaries, paying rent, and building the capacity of journalists,” said Rushingabingwi. “Media houses should start utilising social media platforms because they can be another source of revenues,” he said. He added that the revenues that most media houses get help them only to remain afloat. However, public media houses are exempted from this as they get a share from taxpayers’ money and still get revenues from advertisement, Rushingabigwi said, adding that some media houses fail to pay salaries to their employees. Emma Marie Umurerwa of Iriba News, an online publication based in Kigali, said that for media houses to be able to tap into the opportunity presented by digital platforms and make profits, they have to invest in professional journalism to create content that is engaging and relevant. Umurerwa acknowledged the establishment of a journalism fund in Rwanda, which aims to provide additional support to media houses. It’s a great step that we now have a fund dedicated to journalists. Once it’s fully operational, it will assist us in building capacity and addressing many challenges. Some of us have invested in this fund, so we’re optimistic that by next year, the issue of journalists capacity will significantly improve, she said.
