[OPINION] – Journalism in South Sudan is Dying of Hunger

Journalism Starved: How Poverty Silences Truth in South Sudan

By Ajak Deng Chiengkou

A quiet emergency is unfolding in South Sudan. It is not making headlines. It does not involve arrests, raids, or official bans. It is harder to see, yet more destructive in the long run. The crisis is this: journalism in South Sudan is being strangled by poverty.

Since the outbreak of conflict in 2013, the media landscape has not only shrunk politically but has also collapsed economically. Most South Sudanese journalists are not silenced by fear. They are silenced by hunger.

This is not a metaphor. It is the daily reality facing young, capable and patriotic reporters who can no longer afford to tell the truth. A journalist unable to pay for transport to a press briefing is unlikely to challenge the speaker. A newsroom sustained by personal favours cannot afford to offend its sponsors. A documentary filmmaker who goes hungry at night will not risk upsetting the politician offering them a contract. Poverty shapes silence.

This is not censorship by decree. It is control through desperation. Freelancers and independent producers, in particular, are navigating a hostile economy. With no stable income, no institutional protections, and little public support, they face impossible choices: compromise or vanish.

Meanwhile, the explosion of social media content has created the illusion of a booming media industry. Videos, praise songs, cultural streams and casual interviews abound online. Yet most are produced by untrained influencers, not journalists. Their strength lies not in reporting but in entertaining and promoting. Political elites have seized on this trend, bypassing critical journalism entirely. Why grant an interview to a professional reporter when you can pay someone to go live on Facebook and call you “the people’s leader”?

This system rewards obedience, not truth. Journalists who question power are sidelined, while those who echo it are promoted. In many cases, media jobs and government appointments are decided not by merit, but by past behaviour. Those who played along may be rewarded. Those who insisted on independence are forgotten.

Even granting an interview is now framed as a favour to the journalist, rather than a duty to the public. And when a reporter produces a powerful documentary on a national issue, there is no guarantee it will even be acknowledged. South Sudan is starving its storytellers and in doing so, starving itself of truth.

This is not a crisis of skills. It is a crisis of dignity. South Sudanese journalists are skilled, experienced and principled. What they lack is a system that values and protects their work. What they need is not applause, but security and respect.

If South Sudan is serious about democracy, justice, and accountable governance, journalism cannot be treated as unpaid volunteer work. It must be supported, protected and respected. Otherwise, the nation’s future will not be narrated by those who investigate it, but by those wealthy enough to purchase the narrative.

Journalism in South Sudan will not die by censorship. It will die by hunger. And with that silence, the nation will lose its most powerful mirror.

Ajak Deng Chiengkou is a South Sudanese journalist and media trainer.