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Congo-Brazzaville Unfortunate lapses by the Congolese press |
MEDIA
Insults, incitement to hatred, spreading false news...
Breaches of professional
ethics are once more rife in the Congolese press,
often accused of being
partly responsible for the civil wars
«Reading the Congolese press at the moment is frightening. Every day, they are discussing nothing but the fourth war that is on the way...», says an observer somewhat uneasily. Needless to say, he’s accurately reflecting the general feeling in Brazzaville. «And when politicians, always keen on controversy, see that, they get excited. They think that what the journalists are saying is based on fact, although they are often just stories made up to sell papers. What is strange is, that it has always begun like this. Then the war starts», he adds.
By the end of the transition period (24 October 2000), a transition that lasted three years, the Congolese press, often accused of being partly responsible for the civil wars that have ravaged the country, had lapsed into its old ways. The Minister for Communications, François Ibovi, had not hesitated to condemn this behaviour as «incitement to violence».
Provocations
So, what’s been happening? Privately-owned newspapers display front pages which arouse both fear and anger in the public, who have only just emerged from seven years of war. For example, there was one paper that in July last, had a banner headline: «Kolelas at Kinshasa and Lubumbashi, preparing for war again». The article described a supposed visit to Congo RDC by Bernard Kolelas, the former Prime Minister and other officials of the government of deposed President Pascal Lissouba. Without checking or confirming the information, other Brazzaville newspapers repeated the news, commenting that the aim of the visit was to depose President Sassou Nguesso, suspected of helping the rebels in Congo RDC led by Jean-Pierre Bemba. This news traumatised the population of the capital. A formal rebuttal from President Laurent Désiré Kabila was needed to reduce the anxiety levels, stating that he had never had a visit from Kolelas in Congo RDC. One of the newspapers that published the item, seeking to justify itself, simply stated that «the issue sold like hot cakes, proof enough that, despite what they say, Kolelas is an emblematic figure still in national politics».
In a recent issue, another weekly, famous for its outbursts against the Minister for Communications, writing about the war, said that the government once more had «its finger on the trigger. It has redeployed young people here and there, with weapons. Once more, the youth are on the streets in uniform, Kalachnikov in hand. Other sources report a plan to assassinate the President of the Republic at Mungounga». The Minister of Communications was previously Lissouba’s Minister of Finance. Founded only a year ago, this journal is accumulating legal problems.
According to a sociologist, «the whole problem with these journalists is, their lack of discernment when they are writing. They make statements about things without weighing up or considering the consequences. Their sources of information are rumour and pamphlets. Then they set about making forecasts». This opinion is shared by the French Ambassador, who on 13 June last, deplored the conduct of some newwspapers in the capital for their lack of professionalism. «They are writing things about the embassy, but we have not even had a telephone call from a journalist asking to confirm the information with us", he said, insisting on the need to retrain professionals from the press.
Since 1990, Congo-Brazza’s struggling democracy has not been accompanied by the emergency of a quality press in private hands. Defamation, insults, various cruel facts, controversies that excite politicians form the basis for business for many publications.
The ethnic press
Another aspect of Congolese newspapers is their political-ethnic side. When the democratic revolution took place in 1990, a variety of privately owned journals hit the streets. These publications, that were strongly in favour of change, unfortunately were under the editorial control of political parties with a significant ethnic bias. Thus from 1992 onwards, when political-ethnic violence broke out, the journalists were versed in indoctrination and propaganda. They praised the private militias that had ben raised, armed and given drugs by the parties being formed in the working-class areas. Consequently, since then, there were papers read mainly by Northerners, others by Southerners (especially in the Kolelas’ Pool region), and finally publications supporting the actions of Pascal Lissouba, very popular with the people of Nibolek.
As in other African countries, radio and television remain faithful to the government line. It uses them to reply to those who do not share its own point of view. Facts are often distorted. For example, on 11 July last, a dispute broke out between elements of the presidential guard and a group of Cobra Militia. For a few hours, the Poto-Poto district, in the north of the town, was sealed off. The outcome: several people injured by bullets fired into the crowd. The television and radio reports simply said that it was an operation carried out against armed robbers.
During the 1997 war, the State-owned media, then controlled by the Lissouba regime, spread fictitious reports, with the aim of paralysing the opposition forces of Sassou Nguesso. In order to give their version of the facts, Sassou’s democratic and patriotic forces started their own radio and television stations, using the same tool of misinformation.
Frequently, the state-employed journalist is quicker to act like a travelling poet or musician, than a social commentator or a historian of the present day. He finds it difficult to adjust to the new democratic deal. Often trained in former Eastern bloc communist countries, he prefers to follow a politician from the same ethnic group as himself, or who shares his point of view. Some run private journals, sometimes using pseudonyms.
In general, the catastrophic economic situation condemns most people working in the profession to becoming corrupt, or to accept the instructions of the main employer, the State. As for privately owned journals, these employ journalists who are inadequately trained. They, therefore, have no knowledge of professional ethics. They use ever more «cut-and-paste» methods, involving editing and publishing accommodating articles in return for money.
How can it be put right? Stanislas Zalinski, head of legal projects in French-speaking countries, passing through Brazzaville in July, regretfully stated that the Congolese press «needs educating. There needs to be a developing democratic culture, that ensures that no-one needs to buy a paper that contains insults. This only results in division and conflict». Other observers believe that «the profession needs to be organised with people who know how to combine persistence, renunciation and a taste for work. Otherwise, the Congolese press will continue its backward slide».
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