Digital media
Traditional media of Burundi are trying to have an online presence. The Radio Télévision Nationale du Burundi (Burundi National Radio and Television - RTNB) is easily accessible and its news presenters always remind audiences of the URL address of their live news feed. RTNB has also launched an Infonet service which publishes selected information from radio and television, including videos. According to its sources, more than 100,000 people have visited the website. These visits are considered sufficient to build relationships of interest with telecommunication companies. The results of these relationships are not yet known to the public.
Also some newspapers have a digital version, like Burundi-Eco, which deals with economic issues, and Iwacu. Others, such as Publication de Presse Burundaise (Burundian Press Release), the government-owned Agence Burundaise de Presse (Burundian Press Agency - ABP), and Net Press (private) have both digital and print versions. According to information provided by journalists working for online press, especially in state-owned outlets, the goal is to gain followers in the international community and the Burundian diaspora. It is a political and diplomatic struggle to counterbalance the discourse of political leaders and exiled civil society actors against the government. Following the 2015 electoral crisis, the majority of exiled journalists who live abroad, can record footage that they broadcast on Inzamba and Humura Burundi radios, whose information is widely available through WhatsApp.
The SOS Médias Burundi initiative (SOS MBDI) initiative is the work of journalists and of civil society actors in Bujumbura and the Diaspora. Its main aim is to aid journalist who have lost their jobs or had to leave the country because of the closure of their media.
The government, through its regulatory body (CNC) which is supposed to enjoy autonomous decision-making, is not positively responsive to the creation of news sites. For example in October 2017, it took steps to block certain media sites such as that of the Radio Publique Africaine (RPA), nowadays Humura, Radio Isanganiro, Bonesha FM Radio, Iwacu Press Group, Ikiriho, Agence Bujumbura News and Radio Inzamba. Innocent Muhozi, the exiled President of the Observatoire de la Presse Burundaise (Burundian Press Observatory - OPB) says: "these measures are a logical continuation of the destruction of the independent media; they are desperate to be the only ones to give the story." (Les médias Burundais toujours dans le collimateur de Bujumbura, Bujumbura News, 18 January, 2018).
Other outlets search for visibility among audiences who do not consume print versions, visibility which can enable them to find partnerships. Digital interaction helps measure the number of visitors, making it possible to convince advertisers of the relevance of the business relationships to be formed. But no study has been done so far to assess the profitability of online media.