Instituto Nacional de Radio y Television de Peru (IRTP)

The Instituto Nacional de Radio y Televisión del Perú (IRTP), established in 1996, manages Peru’s public broadcast media. It operates the state’s television and radio platforms. A 2025 restructuring that concentrated its leadership in a single government-appointed post, and a run of politically tied appointments since, have deepened rather than eased the concerns about its autonomy.

IRTP runs TV Perú, the group’s main television channel, whose history dates back to 1958. TV Perú Noticias focuses on news, TV Perú Internacional serves audiences abroad, and Canal IPe is aimed at children and young people. In radio, IRTP operates Radio Nacional del Perú, established in 1937 to carry cultural, educational, and informational programming. In 2026, IRTP announced Canal D, a sports-oriented signal, though its official organization page continued to list its core television outlets as TV Perú, TV Perú Noticias, TV Perú Internacional, and Canal IPe.

Media assets

Television: TV Perú, TV Perú Noticias, TV Perú Internacional, and Canal IPe. In 2026, IRTP also announced Canal D, a sports-oriented signal, though IRTP’s official organization page continued to list its core television outlets as TV Perú, TV Perú Noticias, TV Perú Internacional, and Canal IPe.

Radio: Radio Nacional del Perú

Ownership and governance

The IRTP was established under Legislative Decree No. 829 and conceived as an “autonomous public” institute. In practice it operates as a branch of the government. Oversight initially sat with the Ministry of Education and later moved to the Ministry of Culture, to which the IRTP remains attached.

Historically, the IRTP was governed by a Board of Directors made up of a president and four members, an Executive President, and a General Management. The board appointed and removed the Executive President and key managers, while the President of the Republic, with the approval of the Minister of Culture, designated the board members. That structure gave the executive branch decisive influence over the broadcaster’s leadership, even before the most recent changes.

In January 2025, the government approved a new Organization and Functions Regulation (by Decreto Supremo N.° 001-2025-MC) that eliminated the Consejo Directivo and Presidencia Ejecutiva and replaced the previous high-level structure with a single “Jefatura Institucional” appointed by the Executive through the Ministry of Culture, alongside a Gerencia General. The Consejo de la Prensa Peruana and journalist associations criticised the change, arguing that it removed the limited internal checks previously exercised by the board and left the entity more exposed to government pressure.

The appointments made under the new structure have reinforced those concerns. In May 2023, the government named Ninoska Chandia, a communications official close to then-President Dina Boluarte, as head of the IRTP, a designation critics linked to tightening government influence over the broadcaster. After further turnover through 2025, the interim government of José Jerí appointed Cinthia Vanessa Ramírez Santillana as Jefa Institucional by Resolución Suprema, effective 10 December 2025. The appointment drew scrutiny: Ramírez is an administrator by profession rather than a journalist, the post’s minimum qualifications were reportedly loosened shortly before her designation, and press reports highlighted political links to the Alianza para el Progreso party. The pattern of leadership appointed by, and politically close to, the government of the day is central to the broadcaster’s State-Controlled classification.

Source of funding and budget

By supreme decree, the IRTP has been financed by the government since 2001, though it can generate supplementary income from services. In 2022, it operated with a budget of PEN 132.5m (about US$33.9m), most of it from state funding. By 2024, the allocated budget had fallen to PEN 97.3m (about US$25.8m). Management came under criticism that year after the broadcaster reportedly spent close to 78% of those funds in the first four months, from January to April. The Contraloría General de la República has also flagged irregularities in IRTP spending, including a reported payment of more than PEN 16m for provisional premises that could not be used.

Editorial independence

The IRTP’s editorial direction is shaped by the government through its control of appointments and its placement under the Ministry of Culture. According to TV Perú’s own description, its mission includes fostering national unity, and content analyses conducted for this report in 2021, 2022, and 2024 found that while TV Perú does feature opposition politicians, its overall editorial stance aligns closely with the government’s narrative and priorities. Coverage of health and education serves a public-information function, but on politically sensitive matters IRTP outlets lean toward the government’s perspective, and interviews with officials often function as platforms to highlight their initiatives. Reporting on political corruption has tended to focus on figures outside the ruling leadership.

Journalists at the IRTP have reported working under pressure to sideline critical stories. In 2023, several journalists and managers said they were abruptly dismissed without adequate justification; the IRTP said they had resigned voluntarily, a characterisation some disputed. That year also saw the cancellation of long-running cultural and consumer programmes on TV Perú and Radio Nacional, changes critics linked to the broadcaster’s political alignment. The IRTP operates under its Organization and Operation Regulations, which do not guarantee its editorial autonomy, and no independent mechanism has been established to verify the editorial independence of its outlets.

AI and digital policy

The IRTP distributes across broadcast and digital platforms, including online streaming of TV Perú and Radio Nacional, and in 2026 announced Canal D as a sports-oriented signal. State Media Monitor found no dedicated editorial policy governing the use of artificial intelligence at the IRTP. Peru, however, already has a general AI framework: Law N.° 31814, adopted in 2023, and its implementing regulation, approved by Decreto Supremo N.° 115-2025-PCM in September 2025, with phased implementation obligations.

Classification rationale

The IRTP is classified State-Controlled because it is a public body attached to the executive through the Ministry of Culture, funded predominantly from the state budget, and directed by leadership the government appoints, now concentrated in a single headship reporting to the Presidency and the Ministry of Culture. Its content aligns with the government of the day, its recent leaders have been drawn from or close to the governing camp, and it has no binding editorial firewall or independent oversight mechanism. It is an institutional broadcaster of the state, not an autonomous public-service broadcaster.

The classification does not turn on which government is in power. It has held across the administrations of Pedro Castillo, Dina Boluarte, and the interim governments of José Jerí and José María Balcázar, after Congress removed Boluarte in October 2025 and then removed Jerí in February 2026. Following the 2026 general elections, Keiko Fujimori of Fuerza Popular was proclaimed winner of the June presidential runoff and is due to take office on 28 July 2026.

July 2026