Asia-Pacific Regional Press Freedom Seminar

Country Report - Mauritius

Mauritius is independent since 1968, but its press history goes back to the French colonisation of the island, early 18th Century. There are more than 20 newspapers published in the island, which has a population of 1.2 million. There are two main dailies l'express and Le Mauricien, with a circulation of around 25,000 and 35,000 respectively. There are a number of weeklies, the most important being Week-End (circulation 80,000) and Le Defi-Plus (50,000). There is only one newspaper published completely in English (News on Sunday), the rest being in French. Most of government adverts are in English and a lot of readers' letters to the Editor are in English.

The Mauritian press has always been very jealous of its independance and freedom. There are two main press groups: a) Le Mauricien Ltd, which publishes 4 titles (the daily Le Mauricien and the weeklies Week-End, Week-End Scope and Turf Magazine), which are all market leaders in their respective fields; and, b) La Sentinelle Ltd, which publishes the daily l'express.

The Mauritian press is one very much concerned with local and regional (South African Development Community) issues. It tries also to give guidelines towards the building up of a "true" Mauritian society and is often perceived by succesive governments as a threat!

Erick Brelu-Brelu

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