Challenging start to 2019 for RFI in Africa

Challenging start to 2019 for RFI in Africa

7 January 2019

French international radio broadcaster Radio France Internationale (RFI) had a difficult start to 2019 in two African countries, with its FM broadcasts cut off in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and its correspondent saw her accreditation withdrawn. In Madagascar, an RFI journalist was singled out as liar by a supporter of defeated presidential candidate Marc Ravalomanana.

Democratic Republic of Congo

DRC government spokesman Lambert Mende announced on 2 January that the accreditation of RFI correspondent Florence Morice had been withdrawn.

He also said that RFI FM broadcasts were blocked in all DRC cities.

Mende accused Morice of violating electoral law and “the code of good conduct for foreign journalists covering the elections”.

He also alleged that RFI was stirring controversy and said: “we are not going to let a radio station throw petrol on the flames at a time when we are waiting for the compilation of the provisional results.”

RFI, which has been closely covering elections in the DRC, issued a statement saying its coverage had been impartial and expressing full support for Morice.

She had been “merely working as a professional journalist,” the statement said, RFI urged the authorities to reverse their decision to withdraw her accreditation. RFI announced that Morice had left for France on 3 January.

Madagascar RFI journalist branded a liar by presidential challenger supporter

In Madagascar a supporter of defeated presidential candidate Marc Ravalomanana attacked an RFI journalist, showing her face on a giant screen and wrongly accusing her of lying.

Speaking to RFI French service, the chair of the International Press Correspondents Association Lova Rabary said that these methods by political parties were unacceptable and dangerous.

“They need to think about what they say and what they publish, because they cannot control the reaction of their supporters. The danger is obviously, people know the face of the journalist who is presented as a liar, the fact that her photo was shown is to make the journalist, who according to them, was not doing her job well, open to public scrutiny,” Rabary said. “Each time a protest occurs in Madagascar, local media often take a position in favour of the parties present and during a crisis, the people and even the media do not accept that a journalist can be neutral and not take a position in a crisis,” Rabary added.

Views on climate change across the world

7 May 2010

The new People’s Choice award in this year’s AIBs is very exciting for a number of reasons.  It is the first time we are asking the general public to vote for awards, which allows the shortlisted entrants to gain a wider exposure for their programmes, as viewers will come from throughout the world, including many countries where the programmes are not currently broadcast.  The voting process will also use social media to gain interest and attention, providing another example of the sort of audience engagement and participation which is becoming more and more important to broadcasting in the 21st century.

In addition climate change, the subject of programmes in the People’s Choice award, is a highly topical subject which provokes fierce debate and raises issues which could have a dramatic impact on the way that all nations live.  Different countries, and even different tribes and regions within countries, risk being affected in different ways.  For example, the indigenous people of the Amazon risk their lands turning into dry savanna (see here for how our sponsor, ADB, is helping the Surui tribe) while the coastal regions risk more flooding.

Because of the differing risks, as well as different political viewpoints, the range of views on climate change is enormous and the challenges of exploring and explaining the science are great.  We hear about the fierce debates in the US Senate ; India and China are signing up to the Copenhagen accord;  a survey in Africa shows that many Africans blame God and not global emissions for climate change; countries as diverse as Mongolia, Saudi Arabia and Madagascar show increasing awareness by joining in Earth Day celebrations.

We are eager to see the submissions for the People’s Choice award to see how broadcasters from throughout the world are tackling this contraversial issue which raises such passion and which is so important to all of our futures.