AD1173: How Africans get their news is changing – how much they get might not be

The media landscape continues to change in Africa, as it does in the rest of the world. The rise of digital technologies has transformed how many people obtain information, offering easy and speedy access to those with smartphones and computers (Yu, Bekerian, & Osback, 2024). In response, traditional media have adapted by expanding their presence on digital platforms: Most newspapers, radio stations, and television channels now operate websites or maintain social media accounts through which they distribute their content (Al-Quran, 2022).

How are these changes impacting Africans’ consumption of news and their perceptions of the media and democracy?

Based on Afrobarometer’s 2024/2025 surveys in 38 African countries, we
find that more than eight in 10 citizens across the continent regularly access the news via at least one mass media channel. Radio continues to be the most-utilised medium for news, likely due to its broad accessibility across socioeconomic groups.

However, reliance on radio news is steadily declining. Digital media appear to be displacing the radio and newspapers as news sources for some people, although growth in online news consumption has slowed in recent years.

Africans are broadly supportive of media holding government to account, and they tend to support press freedom over government regulation, but citizen assessments of whether this freedom is protected in their country are mixed. And there is evidence that many may not see a free press as unequivocally good: Support for media freedom is somewhat lower among respondents who perceive their country’s media to be free than those who see it as unfree.

Jeffrey Conroy-Krutz

Jeffrey Conroy-Krutz is an associate professor at Michigan State University and editor of the Afrobarometer Working Papers series.

Komi Amewunou

Komi Amewunou is an editor at Afrobarometer.

Kelechi Amakoh

Data analyst for Afrobarometer and a PhD student in the Department of Political Science, Michigan State University.

Share Language English Series Pan-Africa Profile Topics Democracy, freedom, and citizen engagement Keywords Media Media freedom

Related content

News release Les données d’Afrobarometer montrent des tendances inquiétantes pour la démocratie en Afrique, prévient le professeur Gyimah-Boadi 16 Jun 2023 News release Les politiciens et les usagers des réseaux sociaux sont les plus susceptibles de diffuser des nouvelles qu’ils savent fausses, selon les Nigériens 3 Mar 2022 News release Togolese voice strong support for two-term limit 7 Dec 2014