Agence Ivoirienne de Presse (AIP) is the official news agency in Cote d’Ivoire. It is headquartered in Abidjan, the commercial capital of the country.
Media assets
News agency: Agence Ivoirienne de Presse (AIP)
State Media Matrix Typology: Independent State-Funded and State-Managed (ISFM)
Ownership and governance
AIP was created through the law no. 61-200 of 1961 as a national public establishment of administrative nature, subordinate to the Ministry of Communications. The highest governing structure at AIP is its management council whose members are in majority (seven out of eight) representatives of government bodies (mostly ministries). The general director of the agency is appointed through presidential decree upon nomination by the minister of communications.
Source of funding and budget
AIP is predominantly funded by the government. In 2020, it received a subsidy of XOF 622m (US$ 1.1m), which accounted for 76% of the agency’s total budget, according to government budget documents.
Editorial independence
There are no editorial rules requiring AIP to favorably cover the authorities. According to local journalists and experts, the agency enjoys editorial freedom in spite of attempts by officials, from time to time, to put pressure on the agency to change its editorial coverage. There is also no pro-government bias identified in the content of AIP, according to an ad hoc content analysis.
No statue and no oversight or assessment mechanism in place at AIP to validate its editorial independence have been identified.
September 2023