Since the Opening fifty years ago, Port Impala has maintained a complex, diverse, and free media, operating with essentially no interference from the government.

pre-Opening media situation
The autocratic National Alliance governments that ran the country before the Opening engaged in vigorous censorship of the media. Newspapers were mostly government-controlled and acted as little more than mouthpieces for the state; the few private newspapers - like the Peninsula Daily - saw many of their editorials and political news articles censored under Port Impala's severe state security and press laws. The establishment of the state-owned Metropolitan Broadcasting Organization about two decades prior to the Opening didn't improve the press situation, as the MBO's radio output was also subject to severe censorship.

All regulation and censorship was carried out by the government's Ministry of Media and Communications during the pre-Opening era.

During the Opening
For further information, see the History post (coming soon).

An episode of the MBO Radio program Matter of Fact... is credited with providing the catalyst for the Opening. An audience member went on a twenty-minute rant against the government; usually, these tirades would be censored within seconds of broadcast, but for whatever reason, the MBO censors did not censor this tirade for five minutes. When security finally attempted to stop the audience member's tirade, they did so in a very heavy-handed manner. The sounds of the beatings were also broadcast uncensored, with the broadcast equipment also picking up the sound of one officer calling the audience member a "dog".

A protest began within the studio, eventually spreading to the grounds outside the MBO offices. After doctors pronounced the audience member dead two hours after the MBO program was interrupted, the anti-government protests rapidly grew in size and intensity. Initially, the government responded with severe repression: combined with the police crackdown, MBO was initially forbidden from broadcasting information on the protests before being shut down two hours after the start of the protests.

After the Mayor's cabinet resigned (followed by the Mayor fleeing the city two days later,) a new caretaker administration took power until elections could be held later in the year. MBO was allowed to return to the radio airwaves, radio and newspaper censorship was abolished, and private radio stations came into existence.

Present day
Today, there are ten newspapers, ten analog television stations, and 31 radio stations licensed to serve Port Impala. None of them are subject to censorship, as the constitution forbids almost any attempt by the government to interfere in the day-to-day operations of media outlets unless the city-state is at war.

Despite those guarantees, over-the-air broadcast media outlets must obtain a broadcast license from the Communications and Media Authority (CMA,) to be able to transmit signals over Port Impala's airwaves. Restrictions imposed on broadcasters by the CMA are few and far between; broadcasters must publish information on their finances and staffing, and scheduling information must be "publicly available".

Public broadcasting
After the Opening, the state-owned Metropolitan Broadcasting Organization (MBO) was reconstituted as an independent public service broadcaster by the Commonwealth Assembly. The broadcaster, previously run by the government's Ministry of Media and Communications, had its governance changed to a five-member Board of Supervisors, appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Commonwealth Assembly for ten-year terms. MBO is editorially and fiscally independent, with all of its revenue coming from a =L= 6.89 surcharge added to power and water bills.

MBO currently operates two analog television channels and four radio stations, all of which are commercial-free:

- MBO Blue (VHF 2): The general interest channel of MBO's television service, MBO Blue airs dramas, documentaries, sports, comedy, soap operas, and news programs. Established as the country's second television station (signed on two days after the private station Metro9). MBO Blue has been broadcasting 24 hours a day for the last few years, with its overnight programming consisting of news repeats and a picture of a weather radar, overlaid on top of a radio simulcast from MBO R1. Despite the increasing prevalence of private media, MBO Blue remains the most-watched television station in the city-state.

- MBO Gold (VHF 4): The secondary channel of MBO's television service, MBO Gold airs documentaries, lifestyle programs, occasional sports events, and foals' programming. MBO Gold also airs Zebrican-language programming during the day, including a Zebrican-language news program. In the event of a major news story, MBO Blue programs are sometimes moved to MBO Gold. 24-hour broadcasting has been implemented at MBO Gold, with most of its overnight programs consisting of movie and documentary repeats.

- MBO R1 (730 AM, 93.1 FM): The city-state's first radio station, founded as MBO Radio during the latter days of autocratic pre-Opening Port Impala. Since the Opening, MBO Radio has been renamed as "MBO R1", and has added more audio dramas, current affairs programming, and hourly news summaries. Airs 24 hours a day. MBO R1 is also a clear-channel station, allowing the broadcasts to be heard across the southern half of the continent at night.

- MBO R2 (93.5 FM): The broadcaster's Zebrican-language station, and one of only two radio stations aimed at the minority zebra community in Port Impala. MBO R2 has been described as "MBO R1 for zebras", as much of its programming is similar in style to those broadcast on MBO R1. R2 airs 24 hours a day.

- MBO 3Sport (93.7 FM): As its name implies, this radio station airs sports events and programs.

- MBO 4Music (930 AM, 93.9 FM): MBO's all-music station, airing songs from a wide variety of genres. Notable for its "Up and Coming" daily program, where aspiring musicians can perform their songs on the station.

The only other licensed noncommercial broadcasters in the city-state are the University of Port Impala, which operates UPI Radio (91.5 FM, classical music and current affairs,) and Cougar FM (91.7 FM, a student radio station,) and the Government of Port Impala, which operates GOVConnect, a television station (UHF 23) and a radio station (1020 AM, 94.1 FM) that broadcast Commonwealth Assembly meetings, press conferences, visits by foreign dignitaries, and other government-related programming. GOVConnect's AM station is also the CMA-designated emergency broadcasting station.

Commercial broadcasting
After the Opening, the radio sector was opened up to the private sector. While there are a multitude of private businesses that own and operate television and radio stations today, the broadcast sector is increasingly dominated by two companies. Nonetheless, the commercial media sector is quite diverse, with a variety of television and radio stations broadcasting different programming to different demographics.

Metro Media Ltd. is the largest private broadcasting organization in Port Impala. The broadcaster was founded just a year after the Opening and the subsequent licensing of private media. Metro Media owned just one radio station, but has since grown through the establishment of new stations and the acquisition of a few smaller broadcasters. Today, Metro Media owns two television and two radio stations, airing a variety of programs:

- Metro5 (VHF 5): The country's first television station, beating MBO Blue by five days. Much of its programming includes live sports, dramas, soap operas, reality shows, news, and foals' programs on Saturday mornings. Metro5 is also available on pay television to viewers in the neighboring country of Grand Hoofnea.

- Metro9 (UHF 9): Much of Metro9's programming centers around imports, unlike Metro5's mostly homegrown programming. Otherwise, its schedule is similar to that of Metro5, even though there's an increased amount of documentaries compared to its sister station.

- Beatz 95.5 (95.5 FM): The country's second private radio station. Airs hip-hop music.

- NewsRadio 1010 (1010 AM): A clear-channel news and talk station. Infamous for its center-right, pro-National Alliance slant. Many of the station's personalities were former propaganda directors at MBO Radio during the pre-Opening days.

The second-largest commercial broadcaster in the city-state is Impala Teleradio, Inc., a company owned and operated by the owners of the Peninsula Daily and The Week. Impala Teleradio owns and operates one television and three radio stations:

- TVXI (UHF 11): The country's fourth commercial television station. Airs much more news and current affairs programming compared to its commercial rivals.

- Impala Hits & Talk (99.5 FM): Exactly what it says on the tin; a top-100 hits and talk station.

- Clear 101.1 (101.1 FM): A smooth jazz station.

- Sea 98.7 (98.7 FM): An R&B, rock, and "regular" jazz station.

While Metro Media and Impala Teleradio are the city-state's largest private broadcasters, there are many other single-station owners that also broadcast a variety of music and news programming on their radio frequencies. There are three other television stations: Peninsula's 20, which is known for its wide assortment of movies and comedies, CityTV 7, known for its sports, comedy, and foals' programming, and Seaside TV, which is well known for its longform dramas.

Of course, with zebras making up almost 13% of the population, there is also private Zebrican-language broadcast media - owned exclusively by Impala Zebrican Media, a private consortium of several zebra businessstallions. Radiye Zh'ebric (1070 AM, 91.3 FM) and Te'vezya Zh'ebric (UHF 16) are the sole private Zebrican-language radio and television stations, providing a counterweight to MBO Gold's Zebrican-language programs and the 24-hour public radio station MBO R2.

Newspapers
After the Opening, the state-owned dailies (Metro Daily and The National Truth) were sold off to private investors, leaving the Metro Gazette as the only government newspaper, to be used solely for the publication and promulgation of new laws. The National Truth no longer exists, having been closed down nine years before Bright Idea's inauguration as Mayor.

The most-read newspaper in the country is the Peninsula Daily, a daily broadsheet newspaper owned by Metro Media and Impala Newspapers. The Peninsula Daily quickly threw off the shackles of censorship immediately after the Opening, then amassed a large reader base by publishing extensive corruption investigations into past officials. The Peninsula Daily still holds some of its investigative roots to this day, keeping its reader base loyal to the paper.