State media in Somalia: SONNA, Radio Mogadishu, SNTV, Radio Hargeisa and Puntland TV

What it is

Somalia's governments own several of the country's oldest media outlets. At the federal level they sit under the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. Somaliland and Puntland run their own state broadcasters. For private radio, TV, websites and press freedom, see Media in Somalia.

Federal state media

SONNA, the Somali National News Agency

• Founded: 5 January 1964, as the state news agency under the Ministry of Information in Mogadishu. It marked its 60th anniversary in January 2024 (SONNA, 60th anniversary; Horn Observer).
• Before 1991: it had offices in all 18 regions until the central government collapsed (same SONNA source).
• After 1991: its work stopped in 1990 to 1991 and the federal government relaunched it in 2011 (State Media Monitor).
• Today: it publishes news in Somali and English at sonna.so, including the decisions of the federal cabinet and the statements of the President and Prime Minister.

Radio Mogadishu (Radio Muqdisho)

• Founded: 1951, under the UN trusteeship, broadcasting news in Somali and Italian. After independence in 1960 it was modernised with Soviet help and added services in Amharic and Oromo (Radio Mogadishu, Wikipedia).
• 1991 to 2001: it closed when the civil war began, and the Transitional National Government reopened it on 23 August 2001 (same source).
• Archives: in 2013 it began digitising its archive of recordings going back to 1951 (same source).
• Today: it calls itself "the voice of the Republic of Somalia" (Codka Jamhuuriyadda) and publishes news in Somali and English at radiomuqdisho.so (Radio Muqdisho).

Somali National Television (SNTV)

• Founded: regular TV began on 17 August 1983, funded by Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, with two hours a day in Somali and Arabic, and three on Fridays and holidays. Reception was limited to Mogadishu (Somali National Television, Wikipedia).
• Relaunch: after 20 years off air, test broadcasts began on 18 March 2011 and the channel officially relaunched on 4 April 2011. It now broadcasts 24 hours a day, on land transmitters and by satellite (same source).
• Today: news, regional reports from each member state, programmes on history, poetry and the diaspora, at sntv.so (SNTV).

Somaliland state media

Somaliland declared independence in 1991; Israel recognised it on 26 December 2025, and most states and the African Union regard it as part of Somalia. Its government runs:

• Radio Hargeisa (Radio Hargeysa): founded in 1943 in British Somaliland as the first Somali-language station. It broadcasts mostly in Somali, with news bulletins in Amharic, Arabic and English, from the Ministry of Information in Hargeisa. It spread the balwo songs of Abdi Sinimo and the heello music of Abdullahi Qarshe (Radio Hargeisa, Wikipedia). See Somali music.
• Somaliland National Television (SLNTV): began broadcasting on 20 July 2005, before the parliamentary election of 29 September 2005, first from a 1.5 kW transmitter in Hargeisa and later by satellite. During that campaign the election monitors criticised its coverage as favouring the ruling party (Somaliland National TV, Wikipedia).

Puntland state media

• Puntland TV and Radio (PLTV): set up in April 2013 under President Abdirahman Farole, and run by Puntland's Ministry of Information from Garoowe, with an office in London. It broadcasts on land and by satellite, and Radio Puntland also uses shortwave (Puntland TV and Radio, Wikipedia).
• Directors (same source): Ahmed Mohamed Kismayo (2013 to 2014), Abdifatah Nur Ashkir (2014 to 2016), Jamal Arab Yusuf (2016 to 2020), Dahir Afloow, and Abdifatah Nur Ashkir again from 2020.

Who regulates the media

The federal media law of 9 January 2016 set up a Media Council to oversee the sector. In March 2024 the Minister of Information appointed six of its nine members (Landinfo, 2016; RSF). The federal statistics bureau's yearly count of violations against journalists shows detentions as 71.4 percent of recorded cases, killings 10.7 percent and attacks on media outlets 7.1 percent (SNBS, Facts and Figures 2024, Table 2.25).

How to use them

• Official statements: SONNA publishes federal cabinet decisions and appointments in English and Somali.
• Old recordings: Radio Mogadishu and Radio Hargeisa hold the oldest Somali broadcast archives.

Its legal basis

Federal Media Law of 2016; the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism oversees SONNA, Radio Mogadishu and SNTV. Somaliland's and Puntland's ministries of information oversee their broadcasters.