Office de la Radio et de la Télévision Publique de Madagascar (ORTM)

The Office de la Radio et de la Télévision Publique de Madagascar (ORTM) is Madagascar’s national public broadcaster, comprising the national television service Televiziona Malagasy (TVM), established on 24 December 1967 under Madagascar’s first president Philibert Tsiranana, and the national radio service Radio Nationale Malagasy (RNM). Although formally a public broadcaster, ORTM functions in practice as a state-managed communications platform, with limited editorial autonomy and a documented pattern of alignment with government communication directives. ORTM is legally organised as an Établissement Public à caractère Administratif à vocation sociale et culturelle (EPA) under the technical supervision of the Ministry of Communication and Culture and the financial and accounting supervision of the ministries responsible for budget and public accounts. ORTM broadcasts in Malagasy and French, uses the EutelSat 16°E satellite for nationwide coverage, and has historically served as the Government of Madagascar’s principal communications platform, a role thrown into stark relief during the October 2025 political crisis that ended the presidency of Andry Rajoelina.

In August 2025, the Council of Ministers authorised technical tests for a new ORTM channel, TVM2, a 24/7 news-oriented service primarily in Malagasy with French and English programming. Malagasy press reported that TVM2 was added to Canal+ Madagascar from 28 July 2025. The launch followed a September 2024 modernisation of the main TVM news studio, financed through a 163.7 million yen / approximately 5 billion ariary grant from the Embassy of Japan covering studio shooting equipment, lighting, outdoor shooting equipment, editing workstations and software, and NHK documentary content. The new studio was inaugurated by President Rajoelina on 30 September 2024.

Media assets

Television: Télévision Malagasy (TVM), TVM2

Radio: Malagasy National Radio (RNM)

Ownership and governance

ORTM is established as an Établissement Public à caractère Administratif à vocation sociale et culturelle (EPA) under the supervision of the Ministry of Communication and Culture. The current governing decree provides for a nine-member Board of Directors including representatives of several ministries (communication, budget, public accounts), the Order of Journalists, and the directors of TVM and RNM. The board chair is elected by and from among board members, rather than designated ex officio by the Ministry. Despite this formally collegial board structure, executive control over ORTM remains embedded in senior appointments: the Director-General is appointed by decree in the Council of Ministers, on proposal of the Minister of Communication and Culture, and the directors of RNM, TVM, and technical infrastructure are likewise appointed by Council of Ministers decree.

The supervisory Ministry of Communication and Culture is currently headed by Mandrindrarivony O’Gascar Fenosoa, confirmed in the Rajaonarison cabinet inaugurated on 25 March 2026. The October 2025 transition has produced major personnel changes at ORTM. The Council of Ministers of 19 November 2025 abrogated the April 2024 appointment of Hajaina Andrianampoina Ranarivelo and named Lemana Nalimbinjanaharin’Ainasoa Festin Elisée as Director-General of ORTM. The same set of decrees named Rasoloarison Harimbola Monica as Director of RNM and Randrianiaina Miorahasina Lorah as Director of TVM. As of April 2026, Lemana remains in post; he has met publicly with representatives of the Russian-aligned “African Initiative” press agency in April 2026 to discuss potential cooperation in journalism training and the rehabilitation of a Soviet-era radio transmission station, a development consistent with the wider geopolitical reorientation under the Refondation transition.

The supervisory framework was disrupted by the October 2025 transition. President Rajoelina was removed from office by the National Assembly on 14 October 2025 by 130 votes in favour and one blank ballot, following a Gen Z-led protest movement that began on 25 September 2025 and culminated in a mutiny by the elite CAPSAT military unit. Colonel Michaël Randrianirina was sworn in as Madagascar’s transitional leader (President of the Refoundation of the Republic) on 17 October 2025. During the immediate transition, the military attempted to seize the state broadcaster on 12–13 October: Rajoelina’s pre-recorded address to the nation was delayed twice “following attempts by the military to seize the state broadcaster,” before being eventually broadcast via the official Facebook page of the Malagasy presidency rather than via TVM. The Constitution was suspended on 17 October 2025; the African Union immediately suspended Madagascar for “unconstitutional change of government.”

Source of funding and budget

ORTM’s funding model combines direct government allocation with commercial activities, including advertising sales, sponsored programming, and production services. The most recent publicly documented split, from the 2019 African Media Barometer, indicated approximately 30% government allocation and 70% commercial revenue, but a confirmed updated funding structure has not been publicly disclosed. The 2020 decree governing ORTM lists permissible resources broadly: state subsidies, cooperation funds, donations, concessions, sponsorship, and other revenues. According to the 2019 African Media Barometer, the Government of Madagascar regularly places institutional advertising in media outlets close to its political circle, a documented practice in earlier years, although there is no clear evidence that public-sector advertising is exclusively confined to state-owned outlets.

There is no publicly available data on the total size of ORTM’s annual budget or a detailed breakdown of its expenditures. The 2024 Japanese-government technical equipment grant, disclosed at 163.7 million yen / approximately 5 billion ariary, represented one of the more transparent capital investments in the broadcaster in recent years.

Editorial independence

ORTM does not exhibit meaningful editorial independence. Its newsroom leadership is appointed through state-controlled processes, leaving editors institutionally beholden to the supervisory ministry’s preferences. RSF characterises the institutional position succinctly: “the state controls the public media, and state broadcasters RNM and TVM still tend to follow government communication directives. The state controls the public media and has the power to appoint or dismiss key officials.” Madagascar-based media professionals have consistently described ORTM as functioning more as a government communications platform than as a public service media outlet, with self-censorship deeply entrenched, particularly on questions of political-elite conduct and government policy criticism. There is no internal editorial charter and no statutory protection for editorial decision-making. No domestic legal framework guarantees ORTM’s editorial autonomy, and no independent regulatory body monitors its compliance with public-interest obligations.

The October 2025 transition has produced tactical shifts in ORTM’s editorial profile (favourable coverage of the Refondation programme and Colonel Randrianirina’s leadership has replaced the previous administration’s preferred narratives) but the broadcaster’s structural position as an instrument of executive communication remains unchanged. The transitional government’s decree-driven institutional reorganisation, the use of polygraph testing in ministerial selection, and the stated 18- to 24-month timeline to elections under direct presidential authority do not represent the kind of governance overhaul that would alter ORTM’s typology classification. The November 2025 wholesale replacement of the broadcaster’s senior management by the new transitional administration is consistent with, rather than counter to, the captured-state pattern that the CaPu designation captures.

The press freedom environment in which ORTM operates has fluctuated. Reporters Without Borders ranked Madagascar 113th in 2025 and 103rd in 2026, an apparent improvement of ten places that nonetheless leaves Madagascar in the “problematic” category and reflects relative deterioration elsewhere on the continent more than absolute improvement domestically. At least 22 people were killed during the September–October 2025 Gen Z protests, including civilians caught in security force operations and looting-related violence. The transition government has not announced structural reforms to the legal framework governing media, and the constitutional protections for press freedom in the now-suspended 2010 Constitution remain in interpretive limbo pending the Refondation programme’s promised constitutional revision.

AI and digital policy

ORTM operates ortm.mg as its primary digital portal and maintains active social-media presences on Facebook, YouTube, X/Twitter, and TikTok. Madagascar does not have a national AI strategy. No public ORTM AI policy, content-provenance commitment (e.g. C2PA), or disclosure framework for AI-generated content was identified in the publicly available record, a documented absence rather than a definitive institutional claim. There is no public statement on synthetic-media disclosure, automated translation between Malagasy and French, or AI use in editorial workflows. The Autorité de Régulation des Technologies de Communication (ARTEC), Madagascar’s communications regulator, has not issued sector-wide AI guidance as of April 2026. The Refondation programme’s announced Ministry of Digital Development, Posts and Telecommunications, currently headed by Andriamampiadana Mahefa (since 25 March 2026), has not yet articulated a public AI or content-provenance policy direction.

May 2026