Since last November, nothing has gone well between the private media and the transitional authorities who have censored and jammed certain private radio and television stations. Websites are not spared. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) held a press conference in Conakry on Friday and is alarmed by the situation.
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With our correspondent in Conakry, Mouctar Bah
Signals from four radio stations scrambled, three television channels removed from packages, or even blocking of websites. Private media are in great difficulty. A situation denounced by Sadibou Marong, head of RSF’s Sub-Saharan Africa desk: “ Reporters Without Borders is in Guinea on a mission of support and solidarity with the Guinean media, a large part of which is unfortunately scrambled and is no longer accessible on a certain number of packages, but we are also in an extremely difficult context. »
The consequences are serious in the press environment in Guinea. Hundreds of job losses and entire families pay the price. “ Across the country, there are 500 to 600 media agents who can no longer work and these are extremely serious losses. Beyond that, the Guinean population is losing quality information », continues Sadibou Marong.
Faced with this situation, Kalil Oularé, general director of Djoma Média, is very worried about press freedom in Guinea: “ What we are experiencing today is beyond measure, it is something that we never thought we would experience in our country. Freedom of the press is completely crushed, the very destruction of our businesses is planned. Unfortunately, no authority in Guinea today is able to say what is happening and how it will all stop. »
For RSF, there needs to be dialogue between the Guinean authorities and the media. Prime Minister Amadou Oury Bah indicated his firm intention to continue the dialogue with media officials in a context of appeasement on both sides also calling on the press to be more responsible.
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