The media sector in Senegal is going through a period of turbulence marked by financial and organizational challenges, as evidenced by the recent press release from the General Management of E-Media. The past year has been trying, with economic disruptions and internal tensions, reflecting a growth crisis that large groups often experience in their quest for maturity.
E-Media, a key player in the Senegalese and African media landscape, has expressed concerns about the unjustified withholding of its assets, which deprive the group of valuable revenue. This blockage directly affects the group’s cash flow and commitments to its partners and employees. However, General Management has affirmed its desire to overcome these obstacles by inviting its staff (journalists, technicians, administrative staff) to collectively pull together to open up avenues of solutions and pursue growth.
A structural crisis in the media
The case of E-Media is not isolated. The entire Senegalese media sector faces multiple challenges: falling advertising revenues, insufficiently exploited digital transformation, and difficulties in maintaining quality standards in a context of increasing precariousness. These constraints exacerbate internal tensions and slow down innovation ambitions.
The crisis is also explained by an increasingly competitive attention economy, where traditional media must compete with social networks and digital platforms to capture public interest. This context pushes certain players to review their strategies, sometimes to the detriment of working conditions.
The call for a refoundation
In its press release, E-Media calls on its shareholders to make courageous decisions to sustain the group’s development. This approach is part of a broader framework where it becomes crucial to rethink the economic model of the media in Senegal, taking into account changes in the market and the expectations of an increasingly connected public.
The media sector remains a pillar of democracy and development. The survival and prosperity of media companies, such as E-Media, require concerted support from stakeholders – shareholders, private partners and the State – to maintain their key role in society.
