East Africa: Do East Africans Still Want a Free Media? Afrobarometer Finds Weakening Popular Support

analysis

Accra, Ghana — Popular support for a free news media has declined significantly in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania - three countries currently making headlines for government attempts to limit press freedom.

Recent Afrobarometer surveys show that the proportion of respondents who say the government "should have the right to prevent the media from publishing things that it considers harmful to society" has risen sharply in Tanzania and Uganda, and more modestly in Kenya, over the past five years. At the same time, fewer citizens say they feel free to express their opinions.

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