The General Directorate for State Media (Dirección General de Medios del Estado) is a division of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MITIC) in Paraguay. The Directorate oversees three state media platforms: Paraguay TV, National Radio, and the Paraguayan Information Agency.
The National Radio in Paraguay is the oldest of the three, with 58 years of history. The television station and the agency were both established in the 21st century. In August 2011, public television began broadcasting, two years after the launch of the Paraguayan Information Agency.
Media assets
Television: Paraguay TV; Radio: Radio Nacional del Paraguay; News agency: Agencia de Información Paraguaya
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
In 2018, the Paraguayan Congress approved the creation of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MITIC). This ministry absorbed the administration of the Information and Communication Secretariat (SICOM), a state body responsible for institutional communication of the government and the state media.
The state-controlled media in Paraguay, including TV Paraguay, National Radio, and the Paraguayan Information Agency, are all part of the General Directorate of State Media, under the authority of MITIC. According to Law No. 6207, as stated in Article 12, the General Directorate of State Media is under the supervision of the vice-ministers office at MITIC, which appoints the individuals who oversee each media outlet. These vice ministers are appointed by presidential decree.
The current structure of the public service media in Paraguay was established by MITIC resolution No. 67 of 2019.
Source of funding and budget
The General Directorate for State Media receives most of its funding from the government, and it also received donations during its first years of operation. In 2020, the annual budget for the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MITIC) was PYG 241.6bn (US$ 34.3m). Although public information does not specify the amount allocated to media institutions within the ministry, local journalists and experts interviewed for this report in June 2024 indicate that the media are fully funded by the state allocation.
In 2012, the government created by decree a Directorate responsible for generating commercial revenue for state media. The move was aimed at balancing the finances of the state media, which depend entirely on MITIC. Paraguay TV and National Radio each have their own advertising tariffs, which are approved by MITIC.
Editorial independence
In Paraguay, state media is not independent of the government. In an interview on the Paraguayan public radio show Primeras Noticias in November 2019, an official from MITIC, Ingrid Villalba, mentioned that the government planned to strengthen state media. Villalba stated: “The mission of MITIC is to provide all the tools to the state media so that they can facilitate and bring official information to the citizens.” This means that the main purpose of public media is to deliver official information to the population.
The information we have gathered from analyzing content published by Paraguay’s state media in 2023 and 2024 confirms that they predominantly focus on positive and successful statements made by officials and ministers about government actions. This type of glowing reporting about state officials and institutions is a common occurrence across all Paraguayan state media platforms.
No domestic statute or mechanism of assessment or oversight to validate the editorial independence of state media in Paraguay has been identified.
August 2024