Sociedade de Noticias is a state-owned publisher in Mozambique that publishes the most circulated newspaper in the country, the daily Notícias and the weeklies Domingo and Desafio.
Media assets
Newspapers: Noticias, Domingo, Desafio
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu)
Ownership and governance
Sociedade de Notícias is a shareholding company in which the Mozambican government holds 99% of the shares. The state owns the publisher through the Bank of Mozambique, the country’s central bank. The government as a majority shareholder appoints the Council of Administration, the company’s main governing structure.
Source of funding and budget
The publications owned by Sociedade de Noticias are funded through revenues generated by advertising sales as well as government budget allocations. There is no publicly available information about the company’s annual budget in recent years or indications from local journalists/experts that would allow to establish that government funding represents more than 50% of the publisher’s budget.
Editorial independence
Although Sociedade de Noticias has been making notable efforts to pursue an independent editorial policy, its papers, especially Noticias, the leading title, are visibly supportive of government policies, a result of the influence that the government has as a majority shareholder in the publisher’s internal affairs, according to local journalists and experts.
No domestic statute and no independent assessment mechanism to validate the editorial independence of the newspapers run by Sociedade de Noticias have been identified.
September 2023