African Media Barometer DRC

After the country’s post-conflict national dialogue ended in 2001, the Republic of the Congo passed a “Freedom of Information and Communication” law and it is one of the few countries in Central Africa to abolish prison sentences for media offenses. However, journalists are frequently receiving, death threats. Congo has also “abolished” its censorship law, but yet newspapers are required to make a declaration to the state counsel’s office before publication. Consequently, public trust in the media has dropped, resulting in weak sales of newspapers.

Generally, the ruling party dominates the state media and little room is given to the opposition parties. There is no clear media development policy or a statutory provision for media subsidies.

Even though, the country has a High Council for Freedom of Communication which is responsible for the regulation of broadcasting, its operation is controlled by the ruling party. The state broadcasters such as Radio Congo and Tele-Congo have no board and as a result the government and political authorities tend to influence the content mostly with biased information. Moreover, independent broadcasters are left to wait for years before they are issued with broadcasting licence. In general, the Congolese media both private and state are frequently criticised for wide ranging flaws and one-sided reporting (mostly government related news) this generally erode their credibility.