Media Policy and Development in Africa: Key Trends and Latest Updates
10. October 2025
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From the Ctrl+J Africa Conference on media resilience and digital transformation, to the M20 Summit in South Africa, an independent initiative held alongside the official G20 programme under the South African presidency, these platforms have advanced critical debates on information integrity, AI governance, and the future of public interest media.
The M20 Summit, in particular, addressed information integrity as both a global and regional challenge, producing eight media policy briefs and culminating in the M20 Johannesburg Declaration, endorsed by over 60 organisations.
We also examine funding mechanisms for journalists and media across the continent through our mapping of media funding in Sub-Saharan Africa. Preliminary analysis shows that donors are prioritising freedom of expression, investigative journalism, election coverage, misinformation, safety, gender, and sustainability innovation.
However, long-term and core funding remain limited, with support often concentrated around election cycles. These patterns highlight the ongoing challenge of ensuring sustainable support for independent journalism across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Help us complete the picture and contribute to our funding mapping efforts: to share your input, please get in touch with Ivana Bjelic Vucinic, Director of GFMD IMPACT, at ivbjelic@gfmd.info.
In the policy and advocacy arena, processes within the African Union – such as the development of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) Guidelines on Access to Data, AU frameworks including the AU Digital Transformation Strategy and the AU AI Strategy, and ongoing discussions on data governance and public digital infrastructure – are key to shaping the future of African media.
Notably, policy advocates are also developing complementary instruments under ACHPR Resolutions 630 and 631 – one to guide States in monitoring technology companies’ responsibility for information integrity through independent fact-checking, and another to define public interest standards for digital platforms operating in Africa. Together, these processes signal a coherent and expanding regional effort to anchor digital governance in transparency, accountability and human rights.
Amid shrinking allocations for journalism and media support, advocates across the continent are calling for renewed investment in African-led media development frameworks that strengthen public interest journalism and institutional sustainability.
While the European Union’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2028–2034, and its Global Europe proposals envisage a Sub-Saharan Africa pillar with €60.5 billion in funding, part of which will support media, the key challenge lies in ensuring that such mechanisms align with African priorities, including those articulated in the AU Digital Transformation Strategy, Agenda 2063, and emerging ACHPR policy instruments.
Details on allocations and implementation remain unclear, underscoring the need for continued advocacy to ensure meaningful, long-term support for independent media within global financing frameworks.
More stories from Africa: Our colleagues from the African Women Journalism Project have prepared an overview of media advancing gender equality and promoting social development across Africa, to be published as part of the chapter in the upcoming annual SDG16 Data Initiative report.
Zoe Titus, GFMD Chairperson
🌐 Information Integrity on the Line: M20 Demands Action from G20 Leaders
A broad alliance of media organisations, civil-society partners and information experts gathered in Johannesburg on 1–2 September 2025, for the M20 (a parallel, independent initiative to the G20) to insist on a simple but urgent proposition: journalism is a public good, and information integrity must be protected as such by the world’s most influential economies.
The M20 Johannesburg Declaration, adopted at the summit, synthesises months of global consultation and eight policy briefs. It builds on and supports existing global frameworks, including the Windhoek Declaration of 1991 on a Free, Pluralistic and Independent African media, and the Windhoek+30 Declaration of 2021 on Information as a Public Good.
➡️ Read the full M20 Johannesburg Declaration
💡CTRL+J Africa: Building Resilient Journalism in the Digital Era
CTRL+J Africa examined the urgent challenges facing journalism across the continent amid technological disruption, shrinking civic space, and fragile media economies. As newsrooms confront declining revenues, disinformation, surveillance, and restrictive laws, the need for resilient, sustainable, and independent media has never been greater.
Across the continent, countries are asserting digital sovereignty — from holding big tech accountable in Kenya and Nigeria to reimagining funding and regulatory models in South Africa — demonstrating Africa’s leadership in shaping a human rights–driven information ecosystem.
