Media in Mauritania

The Agence Mauritanienne d’Information (AMI) is a public administrative establishment and a central national news source. It publishes in Arabic and French and operates national and regional offices, SMS, website and multimedia services. Newspapers such as Chaab and Horizons operate alongside private press and digital media. HAPA’s digital directory lists 34 media outlets, including 1 public and 33 private outlets, while its broader 2024 statistics refer to more than 539 media institutions and organizations; the figures use different statistical scopes. Mauritania’s broadcasting system includes public and private radio and television. HAPA lists 8 radio stations, including 5 public and 3 private stations. Radio Mauritanie reaches the whole country through 23 regional and 6 specialised programmes or stations, including youth and sport, Quranic, cultural, rural, school and health services. HAPA lists 13 television channels using terrestrial, satellite and digital distribution. The 2024 audiovisual law covers programme schedules, programme catalogues and on-demand distribution. HAPA authorizes these services, but no national streaming service appears in the reviewed local HAPA directory. Conditional-access audiovisual services and on-demand distribution each have a stated authorization fee of MRU 200,000. Global platform availability cannot be inferred from the local directory. Law 022-2022 extends HAPA’s media competence to digital media, electronic publications and social networks. Social-media use is largely informal and participatory, while formal media duties apply to bodies operating under Mauritanian law. Media work must respect objectivity, balance, professional ethics, the law, national unity, security and public order, property, Islam, human dignity, cultural identity and the protection of children and adolescents. The legal framework also recognizes regular access to information, freedom and independence of information, and fair access to public media for political parties, trade unions, recognized civil-society organizations and citizens. HAPA began establishing a professional journalists’ register in 2025, including review of professional-card files. Accreditation for official government activities generally requires a professional-media request, identity copies and photographs and may take 1 to 3 days. Foreign correspondents use a separate application and may face processing times of 3 to 20 days. HAPA also regulates election-media production, programming and distribution and equal access for candidates. A public signalement may receive a response within 24 to 48 hours, while a formal complaint may take 7 days; internal media disputes can be handled through mediation or arbitration. HAPA decisions can be challenged before the administrative chamber of the Cour Suprême. Radio remains especially relevant because national and regional access does not depend entirely on internet connectivity. Internet, digital-media and streaming access varies with coverage and cost. A profitable temporary media-coverage authorization of less than one month is listed at MRU 3,000 per day locally, MRU 5,000 regionally and MRU 8,000 nationally; from one month onward, the listed daily rates are MRU 1,500, MRU 2,000 and MRU 2,500. Non-profit social, cultural and artistic events can be covered without a fee under the stated schedule. Experimental networks have separate rates of MRU 2,500, MRU 4,000 and MRU 6,000 per day for periods under one month, and MRU 1,000, MRU 2,000 and MRU 3,000 per day from one month onward. Radio notifications may take 1 to 3 days, and media coverage in Nouakchott is listed with a 24-hour processing period. Reliable local prices for print subscriptions, internet service and ordinary media access were not established in the available research.