2006 REPORT SHOWS MORE OBSTACLES TO PRESS FREEEDOM IN DR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINSHASA 001933 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O.12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM CG KDEM KPAO SUBJECT: 2006 REPORT SHOWS MORE OBSTACLES TO PRESS FREEEDOM IN DR CONGO Ref: A) 05 Kinshasa 2024, B) Kinshasa 1105, C) Kinshasa 270, D) Kinshasa 441, E) Kinshasa 1786 Sensitive But Unclassified. Not for Internet distribution. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The raw statistics of JED's annual report for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) show a quantitative increase in violations of press freedom in 2006. Bitterly fought elections, the DRC's first in two generations, and corrupt practices by underpaid journalists could well account for an apparent increase in press intimidation. Unfortunately, Reporters Without Borders directly reflects JED's raw data in a report which ranks the DRC very low in press freedom. In fact, the opposite could be argued; namely, that run-ins with Congolese authorities and other political forces are proof of media dynamism, even freedom, in the DRC. End Summary ¶2. (U) As it has done for nine years, the press-freedom watchdog Journaliste en Danger (JED) on December 11 issued its annual report on press freedom in the DRC. According to JED president Donat Mbaya Tshimanga, a simultaneous presentation was made in Bujumbura of SIPDIS JED's report for all of Central Africa. As in past years, the Embassy, through a PD grant, helped fund the cost of printing the report. Still Worse in the DRC, Says JED -------------- ¶3. (SBU) In summary terms, JED counted 125 violations of press freedom in the DRC in 2006, versus 106 in 2005 and 66 in 2004 (ref A). Forty-three percent of the violations took place in Kinshasa, about the same percentage as in 2005. (Note: The capital Kinshasa has 44 television stations, 28 FM radio stations, and over 20 regularly-published newspapers.) Other hot spots for journalists in 2006, according to Mbaya Tshimanga, were Katanga and the Western and Eastern Kasais. (Comment: We can attest anecdotally to the latter. PAO was with a VOA reporter in Mbuji Mayi, capital of Eastern Kasai, on July 23 when a stone thrown at them hit the journalist in the face. This happened during a melee which ensued in the wake of President Kabila's cortege into the city that day. This incident did not make mention in the JED report. End Comment) ¶4. (U) Violations of press freedom included nine categories ranging from assassination, disappearance or incarceration of journalists, to aggression, threats and censorship. Categories which saw substantial increases in violations were aggression (25 cases this year vs. 8 last year) and threats (28 vs. 11). There was a marked decrease in the number of journalists detained for fewer than 24 hours (16 this year vs. 41 last year). ¶5. (U) JED also counted two journalists killed in 2006, versus one (Franck Ngyke Kangundu, whose wife was also killed) in 2005. Freelance writer Bapuwa Mwamba (ref B) was one victim. His accused assassins, AWOL soldiers, are still awaiting military trial reportedly for lack of legal representation. The second "journalist" was a technician found dead after saboteurs attacked Jean-Pierre Bemba's CCTV satellite relay station near Lubumbashi in March 2006. There Ought to Be a Law -------------- ¶6. (U) In his comments at the unveiling of the report, JED President Mbaya Tshimanga attributed most of the violations of press freedom to the highly-charged political environment of 2006, which saw presidential and legislative elections in July and October, the DRC's first democratically-contested elections in more than 40 years. Tshimanga said he could understand that most private media are controlled by politicians seeking coverage for themselves, since state media (RTNC) tended to favor the incumbent ruling (PPRD) party of Joseph Kabila. Tshimanga encouraged more debate on politicians' control of so much media. ¶7. (U) The JED president noted that the High Media Authority (HAM), charged with sanctioning media excesses, did a respectable job at going after what he called "pyromaniac" journalism. Tshimanga criticized the HAM, however, for making judgments about truth in reporting, which he said should be a matter for courts or the profession itself to decide. Unfortunately, he noted, the journalistic profession did not regulate itself sufficiently. ¶8. (U) Addressing the ubiquitous corrupt practice of selling stories or editorial bias (known as "coupage"),Tshimanga said 80 percent of practicing journalists do not have contracts and must often depend on such underhanded practices to survive. Most journalists are not members of any press union, he added, and there has never been an KINSHASA 00001933 002 OF 002 organized strike in the profession. ¶9. (U) Tshimanga made two recommendations for new legislation. The first, he said, should be a law to decriminalize defamation. Accusations of slander get reporters detained, or worse, more often than any other offense. They also insidiously foster self-censorship. Secondly, Tshimanga said there should be a law on public information - something akin to our FOIA - mandating more transparency and ultimately providing journalists with more access. Recognition for JED -------------- ¶10. (U) A jury of 30 journalists assembled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) awarded JED a prize for defending freedom of the press, which is reportedly only the second time an African organization has been so honored. According to Leonard Vincent, the head of the Africa branch of RSF, JED demonstrated courage and clarity where media outlets are many, partisan and largely undisciplined, and in a country rife with corruption and impunity. RSF also praises JED for keeping the November 2005 murders of journalist Franck Ngyke Kangundu and his wife in the spotlight (ref C and D). Comment: Better to Dare Than Not -------------- ¶11. (SBU) While JED is indeed to be congratulated for its tenacity and dedication to blowing the whistle on press intimidation, the organization can go off on tangents, as when it publicly contended that then Interior Minister Theophile Mbemba was behind the Kangundu murders, a thesis JED has since dropped. ¶12. (SBU) JED also can get carried away with its raw statistics, such as those which purport to show a steadily worsening environment for press freedom in the DRC, a refrain then picked up by RSF, which placed the DRC in 142nd place in press freedom in the world (ref E). This is misleading. It is precisely the vibrancy of the DRC's very dense media environment - and, admittedly, its drive to go to press in a very competitive environment, hobbled by lack of adequate access to information - which causes the media to rankle and sometimes provoke repressive reactions. Better that, however unfortunate, than muzzled, state-controlled media. DOUGHERTY