<p>In a context where climate risks are increasingly significant in Africa, and where the lack of knowledge among the majority of the population about the causes and consequences of climate change undermines the success of mitigation and adaptation policies, this article explores the role of media freedom as a global adaptation strategy to climate change. The sample used comprises 46 African countries observed over the study period from 1995 to 2020. The results are obtained using the system’s generalized method of moments applied to a dynamic panel. Other analytical methods are used as part of the mediation and robustness analyses, such as structural and generalized structural equations. The results show that media freedom increases adaptation to climate change in Africa. It reduces vulnerability to climate change and increases the readiness of African countries to adapt to it. Political, economic, and legal influences, as well as acts of repression against the press, reduce adaptation to climate change. National climate governance and natural resource rents are important mediators of these effects. National climate laws and policies increase the effect of media freedom on climate change adaptation, while natural resource rents reduce it. These results call attention to the need to promote media freedom in Africa by reducing external influences on the media. They also call attention to the need to promote economic diversification in Africa, to limit the harmful effects on the economy of heavy dependence on natural resources. </p>