Journalist suspended for three months, programme cancelled over “inappropriate remarks”

28 May 2008

Journalist suspended for three months, programme cancelled over “inappropriate remarks”

(JED/IFEX) - On 23 May 2008, Eddy Abasiko Mango, a journalist with the Kisangani-based station of state-owned Radio Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC), was suspended for three months by Bwande Bwanapuwa, the station’s provincial manager, for hosting a programme where guests criticised the provincial governor.

In his 21 May political programme called “Loba Toyoka” (Speak and You Will Be Heard), the journalist conducted an interview with two businessmen, Mapela and Mosindo Soleil, who are also members of the ruling party, Parti du Peuple Pour la Reconstruction et le Développement (PPRD), during which his guests deplored the chronic lack of electricity and high unemployment rate, and criticised "the unrestrained pursuit of personal interests by certain politicians in Kisangani."

Following the programme, the station’s provincial manager was summoned to the provincial governor’s office. Upon his return from the meeting, he suspended the journalist and cancelled the programme for "tolerating remarks that are contrary to RTNC’s editorial guidelines."

For further information, contact D. M’Baya Tshimanga, President, JED, B.P. 633 Kinshasa 1, Democratic Republic of Congo, tel: +243 819 929 323, +243 999 996 353, +243 819 898 076, fax: +44 207 504 3544, e-mail: direction jed-afrique.org, Internet: http://www.jed-afrique.org

The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of JED. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit JED.