Lao News Agency (KPL)

Law News Agency (Khaosan Pathet Lao, KPL) is the official news agency of the Laos Government. The agency was established in 1968 and was turned into an official agency after the communist party seized power in 1975. KPL has also published KPL News, a daily newspaper.


Media assets

News agency: KPL

State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)


Ownership and governance

Decisions about the staff and management of KPL are made only by the government, according to local journalists and experts.

Source of funding and budget

The agency KPL is funded in a proportion of 70%-90% from state subsidies, according to estimates from local journalists and experts. Like other news media in Laos, KPL has embarked on an advertising sale strategy in recent years, but due to the undeveloped economy, ad sales provide an insignificant amount of revenue.

Editorial independence

As an official agency of the Laos Government, KPL operates under strict editorial rules, mostly acting as a promoter of the policies, views and programs of the government, according to local journalists and experts. The agency is highly influential as its content is used by most of the media in Laos.

No statute and no independent assessment mechanism to validate the editorial independence of KPL have been identified.

October 2023