Democratic Republic of Congo Media Sustainability Index (MSI)
April 24, 2013
About the MSI
IREX designed the MSI to measure the strength and viability of any country's media sector. The MSI considers all the factors that contribute to a media system—the quality of journalism, effectiveness of management, the legal environment supporting freedom of the press, and more—to arrive at scores on a scale ranging between 0 and 4. These scores represent the strength of the media sector components and can be analyzed over time to chart progress (or regression) within a country. Additionally, countries or regions may be compared to one another. IREX currently conducts the MSI in 80 countries, and began studying Africa in 2006.
MSI Overview | Africa | Asia | Europe & Eurasia | Middle East & North Africa
Download Complete Demcratic Republic of Congo Chapter (PDF): 2012 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2006/7 | 2006/7 (français)
MSI Democratic Republic of Congo - 2012 Introduction
Overall Country Score: 1.59
The political and media contexts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were marked by political crises in 2012. One followed the presidential and legislative elections of November 28, 2011, which were widely deemed illegitimate both domestically and internationally. President Joseph Kabila remained in office following the 2011 poll and moved quickly to stifle criticism. The second was the start of a new war in the east in April 2012, pitting loyalist forces against a group of mutinous soldiers who are supported, according to a UN report, by neighboring Rwanda. As might be expected, these two events have created a general climate of tension and insecurity conducive to serious violations of human rights and fundamental liberties, including the freedoms of the press and of speech.
In an open letter to the new prime minister before the formation of his government, the organization Journalists in Danger (known by its French acronym, JED), which organizes and authors the Media Sustainability Index in DRC, asked him to take a solemn pledge to make every effort to erase the DRC’s tarnished image on human rights. The year 2012 did not show much in the way of improvement.
For example, a Catholic march scheduled for February 16, 2012, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of a massacre of Christians and to protest against the results of the aforementioned elections was banned the day before by the governor of Kinshasa and brutally repressed by agents of the national police deployed in the capital. Minister of Communications and Media Lambert Mende cut off, without notice or explanation, the signals of Elikya Catholic Radio and Television, as well as three television and radio stations close to the opposition, ostensibly for “propagandizing” the Catholic march.
The panelists lamented the particularly dangerous situation facing media operatives and journalists, describing deteriorating security that accelerated during the election period. During the past five years, at least eight journalists were murdered and hundreds more arrested and thrown behind bars. Many others suffer daily threats and physical assaults as a result of their work.
During the MSI panel discussion, the group settled on four recommended actions that would allow the press to correctly play its role and to do so in peace. First, the government should suspend imprisonment for journalists for offenses such as defamation or offensiveness to state officials, pending the adoption and implementation of a law decriminalizing press offenses. Second, the government should prioritize a bill on transparency that would require public representatives at all levels to be accountable to the people by giving journalists free access to official information sources without exception. Third, the government should provide for substantial media assistance in its annual budget to strengthen its capacity and to guarantee its independence. Finally, the government should eliminate the Ministry of Communications and Media entirely, as it is responsible for many violations of the freedom of the press, to strengthen the autonomy and independence of the sector’s regulatory bodies.
The Democratic Republic of Congo study was coordinated by, and conducted in partnership with, Journaliste en Danger, Kinshasa.
