(MFWA/IFEX) – Radio Victoire, a privately-owned FM station in Lomé, that was suspended for 15 days by the media regulator, Haute Autorité de l’Audiovisuel de la Communication (HAAC), on 24 January 2007, resumed operations after serving the full term of the suspension. On 9 January, HAAC suspended the radio station for an alleged professional misconduct. […]
(MFWA/IFEX) – Radio Victoire, a privately-owned FM station in Lomé, that was suspended for 15 days by the media regulator, Haute Autorité de l’Audiovisuel de la Communication (HAAC), on 24 January 2007, resumed operations after serving the full term of the suspension.
On 9 January, HAAC suspended the radio station for an alleged professional misconduct.
MFWA’s correspondent reported that the station did not resume full-scale programming, but limited its broadcast to only music and announcements.
HAAC had said at the time of suspension that Radio Victoire “chose not to respect the advice and opinion of the media regulator” regarding the contents of a sports programme after “several recommendations and warnings”.
The station’s management rejected HAAC’s explanation, claiming that the real reason for the suspension was that they failed to comply with the HAAC directive to ban Jacques Roux, a foreign journalist, from participating in a radio discussion on a sports programme, “Fou de foot”.
Roux, according to MFWA’s correspondent, continuously criticized the former president of the Togolese Confederation of Football (FTF), Rock Balakiyem Gnasingbé, brother of President Faure Gnassingbé.
Despite protests and condemnations by stakeholders in the Togolese media, HAAC refused to lift the sanction.
