La Société Sénégalaise de Presse et de Publications (SSPP) was established in 1970. The main activity of the company is the publication of the daily newspaper Le Soleil, which is the heir of Paris-Dakar, a newspaper created in 1933 by the journalist Charles de Breteuil.
Media assets
Publishing: Le Soleil
State Media Matrix: Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu)
Ownership and governance
When it was established in 1970, SSPP was a limited liability company. In 1983, the company was transformed into a publicly owned company. The State of Senegal is SSPP’s majority owner. Various other public bodies and institutions own minority stakes in the company, according to data from local experts and journalists. SSPP is subordinated to the Ministry of Culture and Communication, according to information from local experts and journalists.
In 2022, the staff at Le Soleil accused the head of the newspaper of poor management. In a news conference, they said that the director Yakham Mbaye not only is a bad manager but also has disrespectful behavior in his relations with the staff, cutting their salaries for no apparent reason and regularly insulting his journalists.
Source of funding and budget
SSPP is funded through a combination of revenues from sales of newspaper copies and advertising, and a state subsidy. There is no evidence that the state subsidy accounts for more than half of SSPP’s annual budget or that it represents the highest share in the company’s overall turnover.
Editorial independence
Like all state media in Senegal, Le Soleil, the main publication run by SSPP is editorially controlled by the government, according to local journalists and experts.
No domestic statute and no independent oversight or assessment mechanism to validate the editorial independence of Le Soleil have been identified.
September 2023