The Maldives has nine television channels, two radio stations, one newspaper and around a hundred online outlets, which publish and broadcast in both Dhivehi, the local language, and English. The state broadcasters – Television Maldives (TVM) and Dhivehi Raajjeyge Adu (“The Voice of the Maldives”) radio – no longer have a monopoly but their influence is still significant. The development of Raajje TV, created in 2010, provided the opposition with a platform and the public with an alternative to the government propaganda that saturated the airwaves during Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s 30 years as president (1978- 2008). The Dhivehi-language daily Mihaaru dominates the print media sector. 

The state of journalism is largely determined by the political context. Abdulla Yameen, the president from 2013 to 2018, ruled with an iron fist but his successor, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who was elected in 2018, made commitments with regard to press freedom. Despite the repeal of the 2016 defamation law, which had been widely used by the previous government to pressure independent media outlets, the current government has stepped up its attacks on the press. Elected in 2023, President Mohamed Muizzu, supported by the main pro-China opposition party, the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), has not amended or repealed the Evidence Act, under which courts can force journalists to reveal their sources. A controversial bill that sought to establish a government-controlled media commission was withdrawn at the end of 2024 due to pressure from the public.

Article 28 of the Maldives Constitution proclaims freedom of the press and that “no person shall be compelled to disclose the source of any information that is espoused, disseminated or published by that person.” This constitutional safeguard is undermined by the Evidence Act, which took effect in January 2023 and which allows the courts to compel journalists to reveal their confidential sources. The Maldives Media Council (MMC) and the Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) play a key watchdog role in combatting such threats. 

Advertising is allocated without any transparency or oversight, which poses serious problems for the independence of media outlets. In several cases, media outlets with no significant readership received large sums of money from state enterprises. In return, editors are told to remove articles that displease or not to cover a sensitive subject. Since 2018, the allocation of government subsidies and advertising from state-owned companies has been weaponised by the government and used to undermine the financial viability of independent outlets or outlets close to the opposition.

The Republic of the Maldives, which recognises Islam as the state religion, is subject to sariatu, a local version of sharia law that traditionally advocates tolerance and moderation. Journalists are nonetheless subjected to threats and intimidation by Wahhabi-influenced religious extremists. During the 2010s, the government openly exploited this tendency, legitimising religious fundamentalist attacks on “secular” voices. In 2012, independent journalist Ismail “Hilath” Rasheed was stabbed in the neck after denouncing the Islamist tendencies emerging within Maldivian society. He narrowly survived and opted for exile for the sake of his safety.

In 2014, journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla was abducted and his body was never found. In 2017, blogger Yameen Rasheed was brutally stabbed to death. While, behind these two tragedies, lies the spectre of Al-Qaeda–linked circles that could have ramifications within the police, the members of the commission of inquiry created in 2018 have remained quiet on any progress in the investigations. In November 2023, the two main defendants were acquitted. This total impunity poisons the freedom of the press situation. In the run-up to the 2023 presidential election, security forces used excessive force against journalists covering the protests. The issue of sexual harassment of women journalists is slowly emerging in public debate.