Media of Sudan

The Interim National Constitution provided an unrestricted right to freedom of expression, dissemination of information, and access to the press without prejudice to order, safety, or public morals “as determined by the law.”[1] It added that the state guaranteed freedom of the press and other media “as shall be regulated by law in a democratic society.”[1] Finally, the constitution stated that all media must abide by professional ethics, refrain from inciting religious, ethnic, racial, or cultural hatred, and must not agitate for violence or war.[1] The constitution clearly left most of the implementation of press freedom to the passage of laws.[1]

In 2003 President Omar al-Bashir proclaimed the lifting of censorship and the transfer of responsibility for monitoring the media from the National Security Organization to the 21-member National Press Council (NPC).[1] The president of the republic selected seven members and the National Assembly chose five members.[1]The Journalists’ Union elected seven members and leaders of the union selected the final two members.[1] Transfer of responsibility for monitoring the media resulted in only marginal improvement because state security officials circumvented the NPC by relying on the government prosecutor in charge of subversive crimes.[1] The Sudanese government continued to censor print and broadcast media, and journalists also practiced self-censorship.[1]

Radio broadcaster in Yei, 2010

As of the early 2000s, the government directly controlled radio broadcasting.[1] In a country as large as Sudan, radio was especially important in disseminating information.[1]

The Sudan National Radio Corporation, which dated back to 1940, broadcast a mixture of news, music, and cultural programs through national and regional networks in Arabic, English, French, and Swahili.[1][2] There was only one private radio station in Northern Sudan; it was an FM station that broadcast music in Khartoum.[1]

As of the early 2000s, several opposition and clandestine radio networks were in operation.[1] The Voice of Sudan, operated by the opposition NDA, broadcast shortwave intermittently from neighboring Eritrea beginning in 1995 until the parties that made up the NDA returned to Sudan.[1] The New Sudan Council of Churches had a weekly broadcast called the Voice of Hope produced in studios in Uganda and the Netherlands and transmitted via the Radio Netherlands relay station in Madagascar.[1] In 2010, Sudan suspended the BBC’s license to broadcast in Arabic on local FM frequencies in four Northern cities, including Khartoum.[1]

Another clandestine radio station, Radio Dabanga, began broadcasting in December 2008 using shortwave transmitters of Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Government-run Radio Omdurman ran jamming signals to attempt to interfere with reception during Radio Dabanga's broadcast times, but these jamming efforts were ineffective, in part because Radio Dabanga used two shortwave frequencies.[3]

The Sudan Radio Service, developed by the Education Development Center, supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development, began broadcasting from Nairobi, Kenya, in July 2003.[1] Sudanese producers broadcast programs in 10 Sudanese languages, focusing on civic education, health, agriculture, and education, as well as on music and entertainment.[1]

Mango 96 FM is a private, Khartoum music radio station [2]

Sudan officially began television transmission in 1963.[1] In the early years, it only reached a short distance from Khartoum.[1] As of 2011, the Sudan National Broadcasting Corporation operated two television channels; both reflected government policies.[1][2] Sudan had a military censor to ensure that the news did not contradict official views.[1] Satellite dishes were common in affluent areas and pan-Arab television stations were popular.[1] In addition to domestic and satellite TV services, there was a subscription cable network, which directly rebroadcast uncensored foreign news and other programs.[1] The government shut down the Al-Jazeera bureau late in 2003 and arrested the bureau chief for alleged false programming and poor analysis of atrocities in Darfur.[1] The bureau chief went to prison, but Al-Jazeera subsequently reopened the office.[1]

Before the 1989 coup, Sudan had a lively press.[1] There were 22 daily papers, 19 in Arabic and three in English, published in Khartoum.[1] Including those in Khartoum, Sudan had a total of 55 daily or weekly newspapers and magazines.[1] The Revolutionary Command Council banned all of them and dismissed more than 1,000 journalists.[1] Slowly, the al-Bashir government allowed private dailies to return to publication, although they were all subject to censorship.[1] Some of them periodically experienced harassment, including the jailing of journalists, seizure of newspapers, and suspension of publication.[1]

After the announced end of censorship on all Sudanese newspapers in July 2003 and a brief improvement in press freedom, a number of independent publications again experienced intimidation, interruption, and arrest of their editors.[1] Reporters Without Borders stated that the government ordered seven Arabic-language newspapers not to print certain articles “out of protection for journalists.”[1] In the 2010s, the government of Sudan sought to control the press through ownership rather than simply censorship.[4] The National Intelligence Security Service (NISS) purchased the country's two most influential independent newspapers, Al-Sahafa and Al-Kartoum.[4] Following those purchases, the NISS owned 90% of the previously independent newspapers in the country.[4]

Estimated total newspaper circulation in 2005 was 23 papers for each 1,000 persons.[1] The Arabic-language press was much more important than the English-language media.[1] Al-Sahafa was a leading daily Arabic-language paper as of 2011 and was then often critical of the government;[1][2] however, it was purchased by the NISS in 2013.[4] The independent daily Al-Ayam, which was periodically ordered closed for reporting critical of the government, had a daily circulation of 18,000 to 20,000 copies per day.[1][2] The largest Arabic-language daily was Akhbar Al-Youm.[1] It had strong links to the government and distributed 30,000 to 35,000 copies per day.[1] Al-Rayaam, with a daily circulation of about 18,000, was a private, daily Islamist paper with strong links to the government but had columnists who were antigovernment.[1][5] The government funded the pan-Arab Al-Hayat, which had close ties to Vice President Ali Osman Taha.[1]

Other Arabic-language dailies included Al-Wifaq (pro-government and anti-West), Al-Khartoum (purchased by the NISS in the early 2010s[4]), Al-Sharia Al-Siyasi (pro-government), Al-Watan (independent), Al-Sudani (independent with a large readership in the diaspora), Al-Intibaha (anti-SPLM but supported secession of South Sudan), Rai Al-Shaab (mouthpiece of al-Turabi’s PCP), and Akhir Lahza (usually pro-government).[1] In 2010 security personnel shut down the offices of Rai Al-Shaab.[1] Another newspaper is al-Anba, which is owned by the government.[2] The newspaper Alwan was shut down in 2020 by the Sudanese government following the 2019 coup.[6]

In 2007 the leading English-language daily was the Khartoum Monitor, with a distribution of 3,000 to 3,500 copies per day.[1] It experienced periodic harassment.[1] This independent paper tended to reflect the views of Southerners.[1] Sudan Vision was a progovernment paper with a daily circulation of about 3,200 copies. The Citizen supported the views of the SPLM and distributed about 2,000 copies per day.[1] The Sudan Tribune was an Internet paper from Paris that tended to be critical of the NPC.[1][2] In 2008 the NPC suspended the publishing license of both the Citizen and Sudan Tribune.[1]

The official Sudan News Agency (Suna), established in 1971, distributed information in Arabic, English, and French.[2] The Middle East News Agency and Xinhua (New China News Agency) have offices in Khartoum.

Cinema in Sudan goes back to the time of the Anglo-Egyptian period in the 1920s. After the decline of film making since the 1980s, cinema and public interest in film shows in Sudan have shown a remarkable revival since the decade starting in 2010.

• Telecommunications in Sudan (including internet in Sudan)
• Photography of Sudan

• "Sudan's Media Landscape". Fanack.com. Retrieved 2019-11-27.