Founded in 1962, Togo-Presse is the country’s principal state-run daily newspaper, widely recognized as the official print organ of the Togolese government. With a longstanding monopoly on state-sanctioned print information, it remains a staple of public communication and administrative announcements. The newspaper is published in French and features a combination of political news, government decrees, and public notices, alongside limited cultural and economic reporting.
Media assets
Publishing: Togo-Presse
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
Togo-Presse is printed and distributed by Éditogo, a state-owned publishing house operating under the supervision of the Ministry of Communication and Media. According to information gathered in May 2024 from a journalist working at Éditogo, the leadership of the publishing house—including the director and editorial board—is appointed by the government, with no competitive recruitment or independent oversight involved.
This governance structure places editorial decision-making firmly in the hands of the state, limiting institutional independence and formal accountability mechanisms.
The current Directeur Général (equivalent to CEO) of Éditogo is Rémy Banafey Assih. He has been widely cited in multiple local media reports concerning managerial decisions and labor disputes dating back to at least 2021
Source of funding and budget
Togo-Presse derives part of its revenue from newsstand sales and advertising, but remains heavily reliant on government subsidies. According to estimates provided by two local media experts interviewed in May 2024, more than 50% of the paper’s annual budget is financed by the state.
The government has not released publicly audited figures for Éditogo or Togo-Presse’s operations. Financial data, such as revenue breakdowns, circulation figures, or staff budgets, remain unavailable through either official budget documents or public procurement portals. This lack of transparency makes it difficult to assess the newspaper’s economic viability or cost-efficiency.
Editorial independence
While there are no formal legal requirements obliging Togo-Presse to publish pro-government content, in practice the paper functions as a mouthpiece for the state, according to several local journalists interviewed in May 2024. Editorial alignment with the government is maintained through a combination of: leadership appointments made by state officials, budgetary dependence on public funding, and and overall absence of institutional safeguards.
There is no statute, public service media law, or independent body tasked with guaranteeing or assessing Togo-Presse’s editorial integrity. Without such mechanisms, the newspaper’s editorial agenda consistently reflects the government’s positions, offering little to no space for critical coverage or opposition perspectives.
June 2025