Online Newspapers, Live TV Channels, Radios

The media outlets of Madagascar are made of print, broadcast and electronic media. But the number of the outlets are limited because this is an island nation. In fact, this is the fourth largest island in the world and the home to many mammals. And the number of human inhabitants is around 15 million. So, the number of media outlets have become narrowed in the island.

Freedom of speech is ensured by the constitution of the country but in reality, the media outlets do not enjoy such freedom for diversified reasons. the government tries to interrupt the media activities and the media outlets are often unable to express the real matters before the public. So, the truth is often filtered and if such issues are found, the government takes stern actions against the violators. Thereby, the media outlets have imposed a sense of self-censorship and always try following the censorship for their survival.

The history of media outlets in the country is not so old. In fact, it dates back to the independence of the country from colonial rule. The political situations were unsatisfactory and the media outlets had to survive in this situation. They adapted to the changed situations and broadcast and published their contents accordingly. So, they actually know how to survive in an unfavorable environment.

The media outlets publish and broadcast their contents using the local language (French). In fact, the French are the widely used language in the island. People use it for speaking and writing purposes as well. But there is some English language programs are also available on the television which attracts only a few of the audience.

The media outlets in the islands are careful about religious issues. They do not publish or broadcast any topic or content that might be harmful to the people following different religions. Actually, they are highly liberal on this issues and do not point fingers to any of the religions to create anarchy in the country. In this sense, the locals are enjoying chances to practice their own religions based on their necessities.

Around 50 newspapers are published in the country but not all of them are dailies. Only a few of the newspapers are published in daily basis while the remaining are published in weekly or monthly basis. The number of readership in the island is notable and most of the newspapers are published using the French or Malagasy language. Some of the newspapers are published centering the town while some others are published in some regions.

Fourteen radio stations are working in the island nation altogether and they broadcast in different frequencies. Some of the stations are owned by private organizations and they have a huge coverage. In fact, radio is one of the strong media outlets that can reach people even to the farthest corner of the island. They have their different audience group and make their contents accordingly.

The nation has a single television station and that is owned by the state. So, the television channel is not preferred by most of the local people. It happens mostly as the television channel does not have any entertaining content for the audience. So, television is not a popular media outlet in the nation.

But there has been a sharp rise in the use of the internet. A good number of people use the internet to know about the world and happenings around them. Some of them use the internet for their social communication as well. But the number of the internet service provider is limited. At present, only two service providers are available in the country and they are unable to meet the needs of the local people.