Status: Free
Legal Environment: 3 (of 30)
Political Environment: 11 (of 40)
Economic Environment: 12 (of 30)
Total Score: 26 (of 100)
(Lower scores = freer)
Article 24 of the constitution safeguards freedom of expression, though government regulations and a monopoly over the small media market sometimes limit this right in practice. According to the US State Department, the government tried to influence reporting by the Tuvalu Media Corporation (TMC) in 2007. TMC controls the country's only newspaper, Tuvalu Echoes, and radio station, Radio Tuvalu; the TMC reportedly censors content considered to be in opposition to the government. The TMC was decorporatized in December making it a department in the Prime Minister's Office starting in 2008. There are no television broadcasts. Tuvalu ISP is the sole internet provider for the 13.2 percent of the population with the means to access this new medium. However, only 16 percent of those connected can access the internet at any one time owing to a poor telecommunications infrastructure.
Disclaimer: © Freedom House, Inc. · All Rights Reserved
This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.