No democracy without a free press: Somalia’s fragile transition under threat
On the International Day of Democracy this year, Somalia’s journalists — battered, detained and censored — were given a blunt reminder of what is at stake. The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) recorded 59 incidents of assaults on media freedom across the country in 2025 alone, and warned that Somalia’s long-promised democratic transition will be hollow if those who inform the public cannot work without fear.
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That message should unsettle anyone who believes democracy is more than a slogan. Free media are not a luxury; they are the mechanism by which citizens learn, debate and hold power to account. In Somalia today, that mechanism is under sustained pressure from a tangle of violence, coercive laws, economic manipulation and digital repression.
On-the-ground threats: more than isolated attacks
Across Mogadishu and the regional capitals, reporters say threats are routine. Security forces and armed groups have been implicated in beatings, arbitrary detentions and harassment. In multiple cases, recordings — the raw evidence of reporting — have been deliberately deleted. Rather than protect reporters as they gather facts, those tasked with providing security have too often been the source of intimidation.
“We cannot speak of democracy while journalists are hunted, hauled to court and silenced,” NUSOJ Secretary-General Omar Faruk Osman said on Monday. His words capture the frustration of media professionals who face not just sporadic violence but a pattern of obstruction that corrodes public information.
A broadcaster in a regional town told a union representative that covering local corruption means “we always have to think twice before leaving the station.” That self-censorship, born of fear and practicality, is one of the least visible — but most damaging — consequences of sustained pressure on the press.
The legal chokehold: laws that criminalize reporting
Beyond physical threats, the legal framework governing media in Somalia is a significant obstacle. Provisions in the Penal Code, the amended media law and the anti-terrorism law are being used to prosecute journalists, effectively transforming routine reporting into criminal acts. NUSOJ highlights repeated instances where journalists have been hauled before regional courts for publishing critical reporting — prosecutions that international standards would regard as simply exercising the right to free expression.
Lawyers and civil-society activists warn that the misuse of legal instruments has two pernicious effects. First, it places individual journalists at risk of lengthy detention and legal penalties. Second, and perhaps more quietly destructive, it normalizes a climate in which editors and media owners choose safer, bland coverage over investigations that might provoke legal reprisals.
Gendered harassment and the erosion of diverse voices
Intimidation is not gender-neutral. Women journalists in Somalia face a distinct and often harsher set of abusive practices, online and off. Targeted smears, threats of sexual violence and campaigns designed to force women out of the newsroom are all too common. When women withdraw from the public sphere, the stories that reach audiences become narrower — and the public loses perspectives vital to democratic debate.
Digital suppression and economic coercion
Economic and technological pressures compound the problem. Politically influenced advertising and opaque media ownership undermine editorial independence; journalists who push boundaries can find their outlets starved of ad revenue. Meanwhile, internet shutdowns — enacted in some areas to control the flow of information — and the surveillance of journalists’ devices impede reporting and endanger sources.
These tactics are not unique to Somalia. Around the world, authoritarian-leaning actors use a suite of tools — legal, financial and digital — to shrink civic space. The Somali experience is a stark and immediate example of how these strategies interact to throttle information at multiple levels.
What needs to change — and why it matters
NUSOJ has set out a clear agenda: protect journalists in practice, credibly investigate attacks, repeal provisions that criminalize journalism, enact a progressive access-to-information law and fully implement the national action plan for journalist safety with the engagement of government, judiciary, security forces, media and civil society.
These are not abstract reforms. They are practical steps that would reduce the daily risk for reporters and rebuild civic trust. An access-to-information law, for example, would shift some of the burden from investigative journalists — who now rely on risky undercover methods — to institutions required to disclose records. Credible investigations into attacks would help break cycles of impunity that encourage further abuse.
International partners, too, have roles to play. Donors and diplomatic actors can insist that media freedom is not negotiable in broader conversations about security assistance and governance support. Technical aid for digital security, legal training and safety protocols can make a measurable difference for front-line journalists.
But at the heart of this crisis is a simple political question: what does democracy mean when citizens cannot reliably access information about their leaders and institutions? Can elections or constitutional reform be meaningful if the watchdogs that would uncover malfeasance are muzzled? Somalia’s path toward a stable, accountable state will falter if media freedom remains an afterthought.
On this International Day of Democracy, Omar Faruk Osman’s appeal echoes beyond Somalia’s borders: “Democracy belongs to the people, not to fear.” The challenge for Somalis, and for those who support them, is to ensure that fear does not become the default setting for public life. Protecting journalists is not a side issue — it is the foundation upon which accountable governance and national development rest.
As Somalia grapples with security and state-building, a telling test will be whether the next government can move from words to reforms that let journalists work without fear. Will the country meet that test, and if not, what will be lost?
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
