Madagascar Radio and Television Office (ORTM) is the flagship public broadcaster in Madagascar. It runs the national television station TVM and the national radio station RNM.
Media assets
Television: Télévision Malagasy (TVM)
Radio: Malagasy National Radio (RNM)
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu)
Ownership and governance
ORTM has been created by the state as a “public industrial and commercial establishment,” which in practice means that it is a state-run, commercially funded company. ORTM’s highest governing structure is a Board of Directors composed of civil servants representing ministries and chaired by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Communication and Culture.
Source of funding and budget
Madagascar Radio and Television (ORTM) receives 30% of its operational budget from the government and the remaining 70% is generated by the broadcaster through advertising revenue and sales of various services. The government only places state adverts in its own media. There is no publicly available data about the total budget of ORTM.
Editorial independence
As ORTM’s editors are appointed through state bureaucratic systems and therefore bound to be biased towards the government and ruling elite, the broadcaster lacks editorial independence. Journalists and editors across the country’s media generally practice self-censorship, even more so at the state-run broadcaster, according to journalists who cover Madagascar.
No domestic statute and no oversight or assessment mechanism to validate ORTM’s editorial independence has been identified during the latest round of research.
September 2023