(JED/IFEX) – On 15 June 2004, Patrick Simangoye, news director at Gabonese Radio-Television’s Channel 2 (Radiotélévision gabonaise, RTG2), a public broadcaster based in the capital, Libreville, was suspended by the station’s management at the request of Communications Minister Medhy Teale. According to information obtained by JED, the journalist is accused of “giving morality lessons” during […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 15 June 2004, Patrick Simangoye, news director at Gabonese Radio-Television’s Channel 2 (Radiotélévision gabonaise, RTG2), a public broadcaster based in the capital, Libreville, was suspended by the station’s management at the request of Communications Minister Medhy Teale.
According to information obtained by JED, the journalist is accused of “giving morality lessons” during the morning edition of the 14 June news. In response to the concerns of listeners and television viewers who had called for the re-broadcast of Euro 2004 football matches on RTG2, the journalist reportedly said, “we are going to approach the Communications Ministry to find out a little bit more, as we are asking ourselves about it too.”
Immediately after the news programme, Simangoye was summoned to the Communications Ministry, accompanied by all of the station’s directors, including Director General Godel Inanga and the head of the sports service, Pablo Moussodji Ngoma.
Simangoye told JED that, in the presence of his colleagues, the minister openly threatened him, promising to “settle the score” with him before demanding he leave his office. The following day, the journalist received a memo announcing his suspension until further notice on the minister’s instructions.
The same day, technicians installed a satellite link at RTG2 that has since allowed the broadcast of Euro 2004 matches throughout the country.
