Corporacion Estatal de Radio y Television (CERTV)

Media assets

Television: RTVD 4, RTVD 17, RTVD Internacional

Radio: Dominicana FM, Quisqueya FM, Radio Santo Domingo

CERTV also distributes television, radio and on-demand material through its websites and the RTVD Clic streaming platform.

Ownership and legal status

CERTV is a state entity established under Law 134-03. The legislation defines it as decentralised and grants it formal functional, jurisdictional and financial autonomy, as well as its own assets and legal personality. It may enter contracts, earn revenue, acquire property and establish or close operational units.

These formal autonomy provisions distinguish CERTV from a broadcasting department located directly inside a ministry. They do not, however, create complete separation from the executive. Regulations governing the corporation may be issued by its board and the executive, while its governing appointments and management terms remain linked to the government’s term of office.

The law defines CERTV’s mission in public-service terms. It is required to provide political, educational, cultural, informational and entertainment programming; contribute to public participation and opinion formation; support education; promote Dominican culture; and serve audiences inside the country and in Dominican communities abroad. At the same time, Article 5 requires it to promote and defend the principles, values and interests of the Dominican state.

Governance

CERTV’s highest governing body is its Consejo de Administración, or Board of Directors. Under the current institutional description of the statutory structure, the board consists of the Minister of Culture; the Minister of Education; the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology; the Minister of Economy, Planning and Development; the General Administrator of the Banco de Reservas; one representative of foundations working in education and culture; and three people of recognised standing and experience in radio and television who have no direct and substantial commercial interest in the broadcasting industry.

The last four members, the foundation representative and the three broadcasting professionals, are appointed by the executive for four-year terms that coincide with each governmental period. The executive also determines which board members serve as president, vice-president and secretary. The board is therefore varied in professional and institutional composition, but it is not appointed through an independent or politically insulated process.

The board establishes CERTV’s policies, approves its budget and financial statements, adopts internal regulations, appoints and removes senior officials and appoints the heads of its individual media services. Regulations produced by the board and the corporation’s organic and functional regulations remain subject to executive approval.

The director general is appointed by the board for a four-year term that must coincide with the corresponding government term. The board may remove the director under procedures established in its regulations. This alignment with the political cycle represents a continuing structural vulnerability, even though the appointment is formally made by the board rather than directly by the president.

Iván Ruiz was appointed director general in April 2022 and remained in the position in 2026. Under his leadership, the corporation undertook an extensive modernisation of its programming, production, technology, branding and digital distribution.

Law 134-03 provides an additional employment safeguard below the director-general level. With the exception of the director general, officials and employees are to be selected through a career system based on merit and ability. The law says this system should protect their impartiality and independence and prevent removal merely for reasons of administrative convenience. The system is nevertheless designed and administered by the board, whose composition remains executive-controlled.

Source of funding and budget

CERTV has a mixed funding model that combines legally guaranteed public resources with earned income. Article 25 of Law 134-03 identifies allocations in the national budget; special allocations from the Presidency; 10 per cent of the advertising budgets of state institutions and autonomous or decentralised public entities; revenue from the sale of advertising and the commercial exploitation of CERTV’s services and assets; and any other funding mechanism established by the board.

The law provides an unusually strong state-funding guarantee. If the allocation derived from state advertising is abolished or substantially reduced, the executive is required to provide sufficient resources to ensure the normal operation of CERTV and all its media services.

The Dominican government’s 2026 public-enterprise budget lists approximately RD$536.2m in total resources for CERTV. Of this, approximately RD$169.7m is recorded under the general fund and RD$366.5m as own funds. The “own funds” designation should not be treated as proof of financial independence. CERTV sells advertising and broadcasting services, but its legally defined revenue model also includes a compulsory share of advertising expenditure by other state institutions, and its continuing operations are ultimately underwritten by the executive. CERTV consequently has greater commercial capacity than a purely subsidised broadcaster, but it remains structurally state-funded for the purposes of the SMM typology.

Editorial standards and independence

Law 134-03 contains several public-service and pluralism provisions. Regulations adopted by the board must promote equitable treatment of the country’s diverse cultural interests and values. Political participation and promotion, both during and outside election periods, must be conducted equitably among political parties and organisations. Established, emerging and minority parties are entitled to equal space and airtime for presenting their proposals, under arrangements coordinated with the Central Electoral Board.

These provisions constitute meaningful statutory programming obligations. However, they are not accompanied by an explicit guarantee of editorial independence, an independent appointments commission, protected management tenure or an autonomous external public-service-media regulator. The law also contains provisions pointing in the opposite direction: CERTV is required to act as an inalienable means of promoting and defending the interests of the Dominican state, and Article 23 requires it to preserve the state’s pre-eminence and privileges and distinguish the exclusive functions of state media from those of private broadcasters.

Historically, State Media Monitor classified CERTV as State-Controlled. An ad hoc SMM content analysis conducted in 2021 found openly propagandistic coverage, including in the flagship evening news output. Beginning in 2022, CERTV undertook managerial, technological, programming and editorial reforms under Iván Ruiz. State Media Monitor’s 2024 assessment found that the broadcaster had significantly improved its editorial coverage. That change in observed practice, not a rewriting of Law 134-03, was the principal basis for its reclassification from State-Controlled to ISFM in August 2024.

CERTV has also reported improvements in administrative transparency, including full compliance scores from the General Directorate of Ethics and Government Integrity. Such assessments concern access to institutional and financial information and are positive indicators of public accountability, but they should not be treated by themselves as evidence of editorial independence.

The ISFM classification therefore recognises demonstrated editorial improvement within a structurally weak governance system. CERTV is not protected by the type of appointment, funding and editorial safeguards associated with a fully independent public-service broadcaster, and its continued classification depends on whether independent and plural editorial practice is maintained.

AI and digital policy

The Dominican Republic has had a National Artificial Intelligence Strategy since 2023, established through Decree 498-23 as part of the National Innovation Policy 2030, addressing ethical governance, public-sector applications, research, infrastructure, data and AI skills. No publicly available CERTV-specific editorial policy was identified as of July 2026 establishing binding standards for generative AI, automated translation, synthetic audio or video, disclosure of AI-assisted content, human verification, corrections or accountability for automated editorial decisions. The existence of the national AI strategy should therefore be distinguished from an editorial code applying specifically to the public broadcaster.

CERTV’s technological reform has concentrated on digital production, online distribution and the transition to digital terrestrial television. In May 2026, the Dominican telecommunications regulator reported that it was arranging transmission equipment to incorporate CERTV’s Canal 4 service into the country’s terrestrial digital television system, indicating that the transition remained in progress rather than fully completed.

Classification rationale

CERTV is classified Independent State-Funded and State-Managed because its structural and editorial characteristics point in different directions. Its ownership, funding and governance remain tied to the state: it is a decentralised state entity; its board contains senior government officials and executive appointees; the executive selects the board’s principal officers; and the director general’s term coincides with the governmental cycle. Its funding is guaranteed through budget allocations, presidential resources, compulsory state-advertising transfers and an executive obligation to maintain its operations.

The legislation provides public-service obligations, including cultural equity and equal political access, as well as career protections for most employees. It does not establish an explicit editorial firewall, independent appointments process or governing authority insulated from the executive, and other provisions expressly require CERTV to promote and defend state interests.

CERTV is nevertheless not classified State-Controlled because State Media Monitor’s editorial monitoring found a significant improvement in its coverage after the reforms initiated in 2022. This improvement led to its reclassification in August 2024 and was maintained in the public 2025 mapping. Under the SMM methodology, ISFM describes precisely this arrangement: a publicly funded broadcaster with state-appointed management that demonstrates editorial independence in practice despite weak structural safeguards.

The classification is therefore a finding of practical editorial independence, not full institutional autonomy. CERTV remains vulnerable to future political reversal because its board and management are tied to the government cycle and its financial guarantees come from the state. Its continued ISFM status should depend on each monitoring cycle confirming that the editorial improvements identified since 2022 remain in place.

July 2026