Eritrean News Agency (ERINA) is the official state news agency of Eritrea and serves as the government’s primary source of news dissemination, both domestically and internationally. ERINA functions as a centralized hub for state-sanctioned news, distributing content to other national media outlets, including radio, television, and print.
Media assets
News agency: ERINA
State Media Matrix Typology
Ownership and governance
ERINA is fully owned and operated by the Ministry of Information, which retains exclusive control over its operations, staffing, and editorial direction. According to journalists and media experts familiar with the agency’s structure, no independent management body or board exists. Editorial decisions are made within the ministry and enforced across all state media platforms that rely on ERINA’s output.
Source of funding and budget
ERINA is entirely funded by the Eritrean government. As of June 2025, no financial reports or budget allocations have been published, consistent with the Eritrean government’s broader lack of fiscal transparency. Local journalists interviewed in 2022 and 2024 confirmed that the agency receives its funding through non-transparent government subsidies and does not generate revenue independently.
Several affiliated provincial news bulletins and print-based news summaries, which had previously republished ERINA content in regional languages, have ceased operations since 2023 due to resource constraints and consolidation efforts by the Ministry of Information. These closures have further centralized the government’s information control in the hands of ERINA and a few remaining state broadcasters.
Editorial independence
ERINA, like all other media outlets in Eritrea, operates with no editorial independence. It functions as a direct tool of state propaganda, reporting solely on government-approved topics and officials. News content is closely monitored and cleared by the Ministry of Information before publication. The agency does not publish any material critical of the state, nor does it report on opposition voices, civil society, or independent institutions.
There is no legal statute or institutional mechanism to safeguard or assess the editorial independence of ERINA. Eritrea continues to rank among the worst countries in the world for press freedom, with no independent media, no protections for journalists, and no oversight institutions.
June 2025