The National Office for Audiovisual Media (ONAMA) is the public broadcast corporation of the state of Chad, established in 2018. The broadcaster operates Chad Television (Tele Chad) and the National Radio of Chad (RNT).
Media assets
Television: Télé Tchad
Radio: Radiodiffusion Nationale Tchadienne (RNT)
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
ONAMA was established by law in 2018 as Chad’s new public media outlet. The newly created entity replaced the former National Office of Radio and Television (ONRTV). In 2020, ONAMA began operating from a newly built headquarters that was inaugurated by the head of the state (and entirely paid for by the government). The government owns ONAMA, which is responsible to the Ministry of Communication. The management of ONAMA is appointed through a presidential decree.
Source of funding and budget
According to the latest information obtained in 2019 from a journalist in Chad, ONAMA is fully funded by the government of Chad. ONAMA’s predecessor, ONRTV, had amassed significant debts, which were covered by the government when it was dissolved in 2018.
Editorial independence
The state broadcaster in Chad is widely known as a government mouthpiece among journalists. The broadcaster’s reform, carried out in 2018, was expected to bring more independence to ONAMA, but to this day, the broadcaster continues to be favoring the government in its programming.
Although the authorities insisted when ONAMA was created that the newly emerged broadcaster must abide by professional rules and have editorial independence, there is no publicly available information that this happened or that ONAMA has a statute that establishes its independence.
No oversight or assessment mechanism to validate the editorial independence of the media outlets run by ONAMA has been identified.
July 2024