V. Violations of Media Freedom in the 2008 Election

Unequal Access to State Media

The "right to broadcast" time-an allocation of equal time on state radio and television-was the only space formally available to political parties during the campaign period, as no political debates between candidates were broadcast. Broadcasters generally respected the "right to broadcast." However, outside this provision for equal treatment framed in the Electoral Law (see Chapter III), before and during the one-month election campaign the MPLA dominated the news broadcasts on the national state radio RNA, national state television TPA, and coverage in the state-owned daily Jornal de Angola, in both quantitative and qualitative terms.[27]

Observer groups noted systematic abuse of the state media by the MPLA.[28] The European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) concluded that the Angolan state media failed to meet international election standards and fulfill provisions of Angolan law regarding equal treatment of contestants.[29] Before and during the election campaign, however, only two Angolan civil society groups, the Political and Social Observatory of Angola (OPSA) and the Association Justice Peace and Democracy (AJPD), publicly expressed such concerns: OPSA highlighted an increased pro-MPLA bias in Jornal de Angola in the months prior to the election campaign, and observed that the state media were "transforming banal state acts into propaganda events" while giving "at times more space to an event of a MPLA local committee than to the leadership of any other party."[30] News broadcasts on state television and radio during the campaign were marked by the complete absence of any voices critical of the government.[31]

Human Rights Watch observed both qualitative and quantitative bias toward the MPLA. For example, during the last two weeks of the campaign, public television and radio news bulletins were dominated by President Dos Santos's visits to provincial capitals, including Huambo, Saurimo, Uige, and Benguela. Coverage of the visits occupied a third of a 90-minute television news bulletin, and would be partly repeated in summary the following day.[32] The president's visits and other events associated with the inauguration of infrastructure projects were covered without distinction between the role of party and state. The party-political character of the events, associating the new infrastructure projects with the MPLA, was emphasized by interviewing party officials who were present, or, in the case of television, including frequent shots of party flags and banners.

MPLA officials have tried to justify disproportionate coverage of MPLA campaign events in the state media on the basis that their public events were more numerous, and that extensive coverage of inaugural events for infrastructure projects was merely reflecting normal government activity.[33]

State media tended to present the opposition in a negative way during the campaign.[34] Opposition parties were not given the opportunity to broadcast their opinions on unfair campaign tactics of the ruling party, or comment on accusations against them aired on the state media. For example, on August 28 TPA1 reported in the evening news that suspects had been stopped at Luanda airport while trying to illegally take large amounts of cash out of the country. The only individual who was named in the report was David Mendes, an official of the opposition Angolan Youth, Workers' and Peasants' Party (PAJOCA) and a well-known human rights lawyer. A police official recounted at length what had allegedly happened. Neither Mendes (who was not arrested or charged) nor a legal representative was given the opportunity to comment.[35]

In another case, on September 1 UNITA made use of its "right to broadcast" slot to present a letter it claimed showed a state-owned bank had donated the equivalent of around US$43,000 to the MPLA's election campaign. The same day, UNITA presented a formal complaint to the CNE, attaching the letter as evidence of an illegal donation to the MPLA. State television news said nothing about the allegation. The following night the evening news devoted 12 minutes to a claim by the MPLA and the bank that the letter was a forgery and accusing UNITA of abusing its "right to broadcast" time.[36] UNITA was given no opportunity to respond.

In addition, news bulletins broadcast on TPA1 during the campaign regularly covered events where erstwhile opposition party members announced they were abandoning their party and joining the MPLA. Coverage of such events culminated on the last day of the official campaign, September 3.

That day, the TPA showed particularly strong political bias generally. Its evening news was dominated by MPLA events in several provinces including the president's rally in Luanda, despite the fact that all parties were holding events to wrap up their campaigns. Other parties' final campaign events received a maximum of two minutes coverage each, and the coverage of some of these events was immediately followed by public statements from dissidents or defectors calling on people to vote for the MPLA. For example, coverage of UNITA's final campaign event was followed by a public statement by a son of the famous UNITA general Samuel Chiwale. He justified his defection from UNITA alleging that his father's party was completely disorganized in Luanda and had no clear program. The final event of PAJOCA was followed by a public statement from the leader of a former breakaway faction, Miguel Tetembwa, calling on voters to support the MPLA. The same broadcast featured an interview with a woman who was weeping as she talked about her painful experience of being with UNITA during the war. She said the current UNITA leader Isaías Samukuva was lying when he said UNITA had left its military past behind. The news broadcast on MPLA campaign events in several provinces also featured defectors from UNITA and the PRS.[37]

During the whole campaign period, Jornal de Angola featured a daily unsigned column under the title "Right to broadcast," which ridiculed the radio and television airtime allocated to opposition parties one by one, while praising the MPLA spots. The column regularly attacked UNITA by blaming it for the country's destruction during the civil war. It is a well-known phenomenon in Angola that Jornal de Angola-the only daily and the cheapest and most widely distributed newspaper in the country-has for many years made use of controversial and at times defamatory opinion articles, written under pseudonyms, against opposition parties as well as individuals and groups perceived as critics of the government. With the daily comments on "right to broadcast" airtime, these methods became commonplace during the election campaign.

At the time, the journalist unions, the National Council on Media, and the National Electoral Commission remained silent in the face of the array of abuses. It took until three months after the elections for the RNA section of the Union of Angolan Journalists (Sindicato dos Jornalistas de Angola, SJA) to admit that the principles of equal treatment of election contestants were "systematically violated" in the state-owned media.[38]

The CNE failed altogether to comment or take any action despite daily examples in the state media that legal provisions regarding equal access to the media were being violated. Equally, the National Council on Media failed to issue public statements or otherwise comment during the campaign to call attention to these violations of Angolan legislation, after having urged media professionals to respect the Electoral Code of Conduct in January 2008.[39]

Threats against Independent Media

In the months before the elections, journalists at private media outlets were sent a clear message of intimidation when the editors of two privately-owned weeklies, Folha 8 and Semanário Angolense, were summoned to court for trials in libel lawsuits initiated several years previously. The lawsuit against Folha 8 editor William Tonet, filed by the president's wife Ana Paula dos Santos, did not progress further, as the court session on June 13, 2008 was cancelled due to the absence of the plaintiff. However, Semanário Angolense editor Felisberto Graça Campos, facing three separate libel cases filed by government officials , was convicted and sentenced on June 24, 2008 to a six-month prison term, as well as being ordered to pay damages equivalent to US$90,ooo . Campos's appeal is pending at this writing and he remains at liberty.[40]

The new press law's lack of clarity regarding the definition of defamation and its criminalization restrict freedom of expression as such, and pending libel lawsuits against journalists for defamation in the period leading to elections compound that restriction.

Censorship of journalists in the state media became evident before the elections when Ernesto Bartolomeu, a popular presenter on TPA, was suspended for publicly criticizing growing government interference in television. After the elections, Bartolomeu was restored to his job.

Throughout the election process, access to independent media was extremely limited outside of Luanda, which affected the right of voters to access information. Due to widespread illiteracy, radio broadcasting plays a crucial role in Angola's vast rural areas, but with a few exceptions in some provinces (Benguela, Cabinda, and Huila) the state radio RNA continues to be the only broadcaster outside of the capital.

No private radio station broadcast public debates between candidates during the campaign, despite being allowed to do so. Privately-owned radio stations have not been immune to government pressure to give more prominence to government views during the election campaign. For example, as local journalists told Human Rights Watch, Rádio Comercial in Cabinda frequently broadcast campaign speeches of the provincial governor in full, and airtime devoted previously to diverse opinions was gradually reduced before the elections, a fact the journalists attribute to the radio's ownership by senior MPLA officials.[41]

Implications for the media environment in a 2009 election

Since the 2008 elections, journalists of private media have been summoned for further libel lawsuits filed by senior government officials. In November 2008 Elsa Alexandre, a journalist on the private weekly Jornal Angolense, was informed of a libel lawsuit lodged back in 2005 by a general, the head of the national bridge company, and is awaiting trial.[42] In January 2009 William Tonet of Folha 8 was summoned to court for a further libel lawsuit filed in January 2008 by two generals, the heads of the president's Military Office and the External Intelligence Services. This lawsuit adds to another 22 lawsuits filed by the same generals against Tonet. His lawyer complained to Human Rights Watch that these lawsuits are dealt with separately by the courts, which increases judicial and other costs for his client.[43]

Further suspensions of state media journalists have occurred for legitimate criticism of the government. On October 1, 2008, a senior journalist and director of the private weekly Novo Jornal, Victor Silva, was sacked as a commentator by the state-owned RNA, on the basis that he had violated the radio station's editorial line by voicing during a debate program critical comments about some of the president's newly appointed vice-governors. The program was taken off air immediately and two journalists who were working on it were suspended.[44]

Political interference into privately-owned radio stations has not stopped. For example, two journalists of Rádio Comercial in Cabinda were reportedly suspended on the orders of the provincial delegate of the Ministry of Social Communication on October 10, 2008, for having criticized MPLA bias in the award of a journalism prize by the provincial government.[45]

Since the elections, the private media group Medianova has launched several new media outlets in Angola, including the weekly newspaper O País, the radio station Rádio Mais in Luanda, and the television channel TV Zimbo. New private media outlets, especially local radio stations and television channels, contribute to increased diversity of information in Angola. However, when the new television channel started broadcasting for a three-month experimental phase it was allowed to bypass the pending adoption of the respective legislation and licensing mechanisms that should include a public tender for new television concessions. Similarly, Rádio Mais has announced a plan to launch in eight provinces, although the relevant legislation has not yet been passed.[46] The government has not raised any legal obstacle against these media projects, in clear contrast with the alleged legal restrictions brought against Rádio Ecclésia (see Chapter III). Several observers told Human Rights Watch the government's privileged treatment of Medianova's new outlets as compared with Rádio Ecclésia was politically motivated, since Medianova is owned by senior government officials close to the president.[47] Human Rights Watch is not aware of any concrete developments regarding the government's blockage of the Rádio Ecclésiasignal extension since the elections.[48]