Still on Press freedom,there are many of its facets in Africa, ranging from the abundance of media outlets in Senegal and South Africa to the deafening silence of privately owned media in Eritrea and Djibouti.
Despite a wave of liberalization in the 1990s, there are still, too often, cases of arbitrary censorship, especially on the internet with occasional network shutdowns in some countries, arrests of journalists, and violent attacks.
These usually go completely unpunished, as was the case with the 2016 disappearance of Malian journalist Birama Touré, who – according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF) was kidnapped by a Malian intelligence agency and most likely allegedly killed while secretly detained.

In recent years, a wave of draconian laws criminalizing online journalism has dealt a new blow to the right to information. At the same time, the spread of rumors, propaganda, and disinformation has contributed to the undermining of journalism and access to quality information.