(JED/IFEX) – On 13 January 2005, the Congolese media regulatory body (Haute Autorité des Médias, HAM) announced the one-month suspension of the controversial programme “Forum des médias”. The weekly programme is produced and broadcast by the public broadcaster’s (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise, RTNC) Channel Two station. In its explanation for the suspension, the HAM remarked that […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 13 January 2005, the Congolese media regulatory body (Haute Autorité des Médias, HAM) announced the one-month suspension of the controversial programme “Forum des médias”. The weekly programme is produced and broadcast by the public broadcaster’s (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise, RTNC) Channel Two station.
In its explanation for the suspension, the HAM remarked that the programme had “proved to be in violation of ethical standards set out under the terms and conditions of its own contract.” The regulatory body recalled that, in a 19 May 2004 letter to RTNC management, it had recommended the station “bring the programme into line under the terms and conditions of its contract, to limit the [dangerous] extrapolations and extremist views condemned by many viewers.”
“Forum des médias” is a controversial programme in which “guests” are invited each week to discuss the issues of the day. Over the last few months, the programme – which is reportedly under the complete control of the Information Ministry – has become a breeding ground for fanaticisms of every kind. It convenes virtually the same group of individuals each week and has become a catalyst for the vilification of anyone not aligned with the official version of current events in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Congolese citizens of Rwandan origin, including Vice-Presidents Azarias Ruberwa and Jean Pierre Bemba, have been the principal targets of the programme. JED’s president was himself singled out for attack on the programme in December 2004, when he was accused of “distributing leaflets in foreign embassies” to discredit “Forum des médias”.
JED welcomed the HAM decision, recalling that in a 14 May 2004 joint letter with Reporters sans frontières (RSF), it denounced what it called the programme’s “dangerous extremism,” including incitements to murder and ethnic discrimination. RTNC management responded by promising disciplinary action for the programme’s host if things did not change.
