Angola

The Republic of Angola is a Lusophone Southern African republic in which the President is both Head of State and holder of executive power. Angola gained independence from Portugal on 11 November 1975 and has been governed by the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) continuously since independence. The country has a population approaching 40 million and recent current-dollar GDP per capita estimates in roughly the US$2,700–3,700 range. Portuguese is the official language, alongside major national languages including Umbundu, Kimbundu, Kikongo, Cokwe/Chokwe, Ngangela, Fyote/Fiote, Kwanyama, and Nyaneka/Nhaneka, among others, spoken across the country’s provinces. President João Lourenço of the MPLA has held office since 26 September 2017, when he succeeded long-time President José Eduardo dos Santos; he was declared re-elected for a second term following the August 2022 general elections. Lourenço’s second term has been marked by deep macroeconomic adjustment, an anti-corruption and state asset-recovery campaign that targeted high-profile figures of the previous administration, and a process that brought several private media groups into the state sphere under the Procuradoria-Geral da República.

The Angolan media-regulatory environment is shaped by the 2016–2017 Social Communication Legislative Package, which comprises the Press Law, the Television Law, the Radio Law, the Journalist Statute Law, and the statute of the media regulator. The package includes a provision requiring broadcast media outlets to air the President’s official statements. The Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication (MINTTICS) is the supervisory ministry for the state-aligned media sector. MINTTICS is headed by Minister Mário Augusto da Silva Oliveira, with Nuno dos Anjos Caldas Albino serving as Secretary of State for Social Communication and Ângelo Miguel Buta João as Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Technology.

The sectoral regulator is the Regulatory Entity for Social Communication (ERCA), structured with eleven counsellors designated by political parties, the government, and journalist representatives. ERCA operates as a formal media regulator, but no effective independent mechanism has been identified that insulates state-aligned media editorial policy from state or ruling-party influence. In July 2020, the Procuradoria-Geral da República (PGR) placed Grupo Medianova, including TV Zimbo, Rádio Mais, and O País, under state guardianship through an asset-recovery action targeting assets associated with senior figures of the previous administration. In September 2025, the Institute for the Management of State Assets and Holdings (IGAPE) disclosed in a sectoral report carried by Expansão and Diário dos Negócios that the Angolan state-aligned communications sector had received Kz 238.8 billion in combined operating subsidies and capitalisations during the 2020–2024 period, with the six principal state-aligned media outlets generating only Kz 7 billion in own revenues in 2024, equivalent to approximately 13% of operating costs, and accumulating Kz 36.7 billion in losses across the period.

Reporters Without Borders ranked Angola 109th of 180 countries in the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, a fall of nine places from 2025, with RSF citing continuing censorship and control of information as principal concerns affecting Angolan journalists.

Angola’s formal state-owned and state-controlled media architecture in this dataset comprises five organisations: four State-Controlled (SC) outlets (Televisão Pública de Angola, Rádio Nacional de Angola, Edições Novembro, and ANGOP) and one Captured Public (CaPu) outlet, Grupo Medianova.

Televisão Pública de Angola (TPA) is the wholly state-owned national television broadcaster operating three main television services, TPA1, TPA2, and TPA Notícias (launched on 18 July 2022), under Decree No. 66/97 of 5 September 1997 and chaired since 16 October 2018 by President of the Board of Administration Francisco José Mendes. The 2020–2024 IGAPE sectoral data identifies TPA as the largest recipient of state support across the sector, with Kz 112.7 billion in combined subsidies and capitalisations.

Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA), legally constituted as Radiodifusão Nacional de Angola E.P., is the wholly state-owned national radio broadcaster operating Canal A, Rádio Cinco, Ngola Yetu, Rádio Cultura Angola, Rádio Luanda, and RNA Internacional, alongside a national provincial/regional network. On 12 January 2026, President João Lourenço changed the RNA Board, appointing António Sebastião Lino as PCA and removing Pedro Bernardo Neto.

Edições Novembro E.P. publishes Jornal de Angola, Angola’s only national daily, alongside specialised and national titles such as Jornal dos Desportos, Jornal de Economia & Finanças, Cultura, and JA Kandengues, and regional titles including Metropolitano, Planalto, Ventos do Sul, Angoleme, Cinguvu, Nkanda, and Litoral. The company has been chaired by Drumond Alcides Jaime Mafuta since his appointment in March 2021.

Agência Angola Press (ANGOP) is the state-owned national news agency, founded in July 1975, with its current public-enterprise statute approved by Decree No. 65/97 of 5 September 1997, chaired by PCA Josué Salusuva Isaías; its current Board configuration was set by Presidential Decree on 4 July 2024.

Grupo Medianova was launched as a private commercial media group in 2008–2009 and brought into the state sphere in July 2020 through the PGR asset-recovery action; it currently operates TV Zimbo (Angola’s first private television channel, with an international feed launched on Portuguese operator NOS on 5 September 2024), Rádio Mais, and O País under state control pending reprivatisation, with IGAPE managing the privatisation process. The 2026 typology distribution stands at 4 SC + 1 CaPu.