TNH was created in 2008 to propagate information about the government policies. Before, the privately owned media close to the military government were the sole media outlets in the country. A decree (No 352008) issued by the then President Manuel Zelaya in 2008 allowed the government to run its own national television network, TNH. The newly born channel took the frequency of Canal 8, which was then used by the privately owned broadcaster Teleunsa. Following a lengthy litigation between the state and Teleunsa, a court decision from 2014 allowed the state to keep the channel.
Media assets
Television: TNH
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
TNH is owned by the Honduran government, namely by the Presidency, which has full control over the administration of the station. The Minister of the Office for Strategy and Communication appoints the General Director of TNH. The station has no board of directors and there is no competition for hiring the station’s management and staff, everything being dictated by the government.
Source of funding and budget
The Secretariat of the Honduran Presidency allocates part of its budget to TNH, which is fully dependent on state funding to operate. Advertising is not allowed on state media (that is the case for both TNH and RNH, see RNH below). Data about the size of the TNH’s budget in recent years is lacking.
Editorial independence
The presidency’s Office of Communication and Strategy controls the content and editorial line of TNH. The station was born in 2008 as a tool needed by the president Manuel Zelaya to promote his policies and activities as well as a political campaign known at the time as “Cuarta Urna” (Fourth Urn) that his critics say was a method used to secure his indefinite re-election. Soon after the establishment of TNH, a coup toppled the president Zelaya, the station becoming a voice of the new government, which is what it has remained to this day.
The station is governed by the Code of Ethics of the Presidential House and the Labor Code of Honduras. However, no domestic statute that establishes the editorial independence of TNH has been identified during the latest round of research.
No independent assessment/oversight mechanism in charge of validating the independence of TNH has been identified during the latest round of research. The Office of Communication and Presidential Strategy is responsible for the station’s editorial policy.
August 2023