Radio-Television Nationale du Burundi (RTNB)

RTNB serves as Burundi’s state-owned broadcaster, operating both Radio Burundi (founded 1960) and Télévision Nationale du Burundi (founded 1984). It is the country’s primary source of official news and information and remains the only Burundian broadcaster with nationwide coverage. RTNB broadcasts in Kirundi, French, Swahili and English, and maintains a digital presence through its website and its Infonet service, which redistributes selected radio and television content online, a strategy explicitly aimed at engaging the Burundian diaspora and competing with exiled independent media.

Media assets

Television: RTNB

Radio: Chaine 1, Chaine 2

Ownership and governance

Established by Decree No. 100 of 1986 as a “public entity of administrative nature,” RTNB is officially under the supervision of the Ministry of Communication, Information Technologies and Media. In practice, it operates under direct government control. The broadcaster is overseen by a board of directors comprising seven members appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Minister in charge of Communication. The Director-General is also a presidential appointee.

In a significant leadership change, by Presidential Decree No. 100/120 of 12 July 2024, Faustin Ndayizeye was appointed Director-General of RTNB, replacing Eric Nshimirimana, who had held the position since July 2019. Faustin Ndayizeye joined RTNB in August 2011 as a French-language television news presenter and rose through internal promotions, serving as Director of National Television from October 2015 until his appointment as Director-General. He had also acted as interim Director-General several times during that tenure. RTNB describes its current management committee, composed of the Director-General, four directorate heads (Radio, Television, Technical, Administration & Finance) and the Director-General’s adviser, as aligned with the government’s “Vision Burundi 2040–2060.”

The 2025–2026 political reshuffle has reshaped the wider institutional environment in which RTNB operates. On 5 August 2025, Nestor Ntahontuye (formerly Minister of Finance) was named Prime Minister, replacing Gervais Ndirakobuca, who was elected President of the Senate. The same day, the cabinet was restructured and the number of ministries reduced from 15 to 13. Gabby Bugaga, a former RTNB journalist most recently in charge of logistics at the National Independent Electoral Commission (CENI), was appointed Minister of Communication and Media, replacing Léocadie Ndacayisaba, who steered the 2024 press law reform and now sits in the Senate. The renaming of the ministry, from “Communication, Information Technologies and Media” to simply “Communication and Media”, signals the transfer of the digital economy portfolio to the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Digital Economy.

Source of funding and budget

RTNB’s funding model, as outlined in its founding decree, includes state subsidies, advertising revenue, consulting services, event coverage fees, user levies and donations. In recent years, the broadcaster has remained heavily dependent on the state subsidy.

In the 2023–2024 fiscal year, RTNB received a state subsidy of BIF 7.15 billion (approximately US$ 2.5 million), marking a significant increase from previous years. The 2024–2025 budget faced a deficit due to unforeseen expenditures and revenue shortfalls, leading to a revised finance bill adopted in December 2024.

For the 2025–2026 fiscal year, on 24 June 2025, President Ndayishimiye promulgated Law No. 1/12 fixing the General Budget of the Republic of Burundi. Total expenditure was set at BIF 5,258.6 billion (up roughly 10% on the previous year), with projected revenues of BIF 4,821.8 billion and a deficit of BIF 436.9 billion to be financed through domestic and external borrowing, with 21% of the budget allocated to debt repayment. A revised finance law was prepared in late 2025 and presented to Parliament in December 2025: under the rectified budget, total resources rose to BIF 5,004 billion and total expenditure to BIF 5,371.9 billion, with the deficit narrowing to BIF 367.9 billion. The 2025–2026 budget environment also reflects significant institutional reforms: the number of ministries was reduced from 15 to 13, and provincial administration was reorganised, with implications for the chain of oversight over public agencies including state media.

Editorial independence

Burundi’s Constitution (Article 28) guarantees freedom of opinion and expression. The country’s press regime was overhauled by Law No. 21 of 12 July 2024, which revised the 2018 press law. The 2024 reform partially decriminalised press offences, notably eliminating custodial sentences for offences such as insults and “harmful allegations”, and introduced fines ranging from BIF 500,000 to BIF 1,500,000. The new law also formally recognised online press and community radio for the first time and enshrined journalists’ rights to an employment contract, decent salary and social benefits. In practice, however, the law preserves vague offence categories and has not changed the operating environment for state media.

Ahead of the 5 June 2025 legislative and local elections, won by the ruling CNDD-FDD party with 96.5% of the vote and every elected national assembly seat, the National Communication Council (CNC), now chaired by Espérance Ndayizeye (in office since mid-2024), adopted a Code of Conduct for Media during the 2025 Electoral Period. The Code, signed at a Gitega workshop on 9 December 2024 by 59 of 60 attending media representatives, prohibited the publication of partial results without CENI’s approval and was widely criticised by opposition parties and press freedom organisations as restrictive and prepared without adequate consultation. A coalition of radio, television and print/online outlets coordinated election coverage, reportedly funded by the Ministry of Communication, Information Technologies and Media, a configuration in which RTNB played a central role.

RTNB is widely regarded as a government mouthpiece and primarily broadcasts content favouring the ruling party. It has been criticised for biased coverage during election periods. The CNC has, on occasion, issued written reports critical of RTNB’s lack of pluralism and balance, but those reports do not lead to operational change. There is no internal ombudsman or independent editorial oversight body. The Observatoire de la Presse du Burundi (OPB), an NGO, provides general media monitoring but has no authority to enforce editorial standards within RTNB.

On 14 February 2026, President Évariste Ndayishimiye assumed the rotating chairmanship of the African Union for the year. RTNB is the primary broadcaster covering both this mandate and Burundi’s ongoing diplomatic framing of an “aggression by Rwanda.” The AU presidency provides RTNB with elevated continental visibility but also reinforces its role as the official voice of state diplomacy.

AI and digital policy

No publicly available AI policy, content provenance commitment (e.g. C2PA), or formal disclosure framework for AI-generated content has been identified for RTNB. The broadcaster operates a website and the Infonet content-distribution service, but has issued no public statement on AI use in newsroom workflows, automated translation, or synthetic media disclosure. The Ministry of Communication has been broadly engaged on digital regulation: in early 2024, the Minister called for new provisions to regulate social media and online media, including content moderation on YouTube channels deemed contrary to “Burundian culture”, a policy direction that has implications for editorial space rather than for AI specifically. Burundi will host the first Central African Internet Governance Forum in February 2026, signalling broader engagement with digital governance themes, though no specific AI commitments have been made public.

April 2026