English CONTEXT M ozambique has experienced a political-military crisis since 2012. In 2014, armed conflict between government forces (Frelimo) and Renamo, the largest opposition party, experienced a brief interlude as a result of a precarious peace agreement. After the elections in 2014, Renamo claimed victory and accused Frelimo of having fixed the electoral process with massive manipulation of results. In the same year, after the attack and the siege of Afonso Dhlakama’s residence, Renamo’s leader, he fled and returned to his base in the Gorongosa Mountains, where he remains to this day. A few days after returning to his base, the war reignited, going through a considerably intense period between 2015 and 2016, which affected the movement of people and goods, affecting also the full exercise of press freedoms. Parallel to this political-military crisis, the Mozambican economic situation suffered with the discovery of hidden debts incurred during the last two years of the government of Armando Guebuza, whose mandate ended in 2014. The discovery of the Mozambican hidden debt was widely publicised, first by the international press, before being taken up by the Mozambican press. That is to say, it was partly thanks to the international press that a hidden debt estimated at US $ 1.4 billion incurred in 2013, came to light, aggravating the country’s foreign debt by 25%. With the Wall Street Journal reporting from the United States, widely followed by other international and national press, the question transcended into the public arena, putting pressure on the govern- 60 So This is Democracy? 2016 ment to publicly provide information, as well as the parliament to take measures such as requests for explanation of the debt and the conducting of a parliamentary inquiry. The secret debts have forced programme partners that support the state budget, including the IMF and the World Bank, to suspend all aid until completion of the ongoing investigation, led by the international firm Kroll. Suspension of donor support coupled with weak revenue collection has aggravated the economic crisis. The national currency suffered a strong devaluation, with the national debt at 130% of GDP. The State failed to pay debts to creditors and to national companies. Many private companies have declared bankruptcy. Public enterprises are in crisis, in dire need of financial restructuring. This crisis was not alien to the press, which survives on advertising, with the State as the largest client. Just like the revenue of their clients, the revenue of media enterprises has dropped dramatically. On a social level, Mozambique has faced the worst droughts in the past 30 years, with thousands affected and just over 5,000 head of cattle dead as a result of the phenomenon. All of these crises had an impact, some more than others, on the behaviour of political and economic actors, with the power to condition press freedom in Mozambique, thus affecting press behaviour. FREEDOM OF THE PRESS INCREASINGLY THREATENED The armed conflict and the economic crisis were the biggest threats to press freedom in Mozambique in 2016. These two factors created opportunities for