The Somali National News Agency (SONNA) was established in 1964 as Somalia’s official wire service, with a mandate to gather and disseminate news across the country and beyond. Following the outbreak of civil war in 1991, the agency was forced into dormancy for nearly two decades. In 2012, SONNA was revived as part of broader efforts to rebuild the country’s public communication infrastructure and reassert state authority over national information channels.
Media assets
News agency: SONNA
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
SONNA is fully owned and operated by the Federal Government of Somalia. It functions as a department within the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, which exercises direct control over its strategic, administrative, and editorial operations. The ministry appoints SONNA’s leadership and makes all key decisions, reinforcing its status as an instrument of government communication rather than an autonomous news agency.
Source of funding and budget
As of mid-2025, there are no publicly disclosed figures detailing SONNA’s annual budget. Local journalists and international media analysts confirm that the agency is entirely funded by the federal government, with no known sources of independent revenue. While foreign donors have provided sporadic support for training and infrastructure over the years, this has not resulted in greater financial transparency or editorial autonomy.
Editorial independence
SONNA operates squarely under government control, with its editorial output closely aligned with official narratives. Coverage tends to emphasize government achievements, policy updates, and political leadership activities, often at the expense of critical or investigative journalism. According to media professionals working in and around Somalia interviewed for this report in January 2025, editorial directives are routinely issued from within the Ministry, and the agency rarely, if ever, deviates from the official line.
Somalia lacks a statutory framework or independent regulatory mechanism to guarantee the editorial independence of state-run media. In this context, SONNA remains, in practice, a state propaganda tool rather than a neutral news service.
June 2025