Chad’s online journalists decry ban ahead of December 29 elections

Online media journalists in Chad are voicing dissatisfaction and frustration over officials’ refusal to lift a ban on the broadcasting of audiovisual content. The High Media and Audiovisual Authority, or HAMA, accuses journalists of reposting videos without the content producers’ permission but journalists say they are being silenced from reporting on critical election issues.

Journalists reporting for online media platforms say they are surprised that Chad’s High Media and Audiovisual Authority, or HAMA, has refused to respect a December 20 Supreme Court decision ordering an immediate end to a ban on broadcasting online media content.

Bello Bakary Mana, the president of the Association of Online Media of Chad, Mana took part in a protest Tuesday in N’djamena against what he calls a deliberate attempt by HAMA to silence Chad’s online media.

Mana said several hundred online reporters assisted by local radio, print and TV journalists are in N’djamena to let the world know that the media is being silenced in Chad. “They will continue protesting until HAMA stops threatening journalists and lifts what he calls its illegal December 4 ban on the broadcast of online audiovisual content,” he said.

Bello, who spoke to VOA from N’djamena via a messaging app, also said only police can compel HAMA to respect the lifting of a ban on the broadcasting of online audiovisual content, but that police are controlled by the government, which ordered the ban.

HAMA says it prohibited online newspapers from broadcasting audiovisual content because many of the newspapers refused to obey an order earlier this year to stop reposting videos from foreign sources, including international media outlets, without the author or media outlets’ permission, as required by law.

Journalists say the decision, taken before elections on December 29 to mark an end to Chad’s three-year transitional period, is an indication the government, through HAMA, wants to silence online media that the government has described as highly critical.

HAMA has always complained that online media regularly publish unverifiable information about President Mahamat Idriss Deby.

Deby became Chad’s transitional president in April 2021 after his father, Idriss Deby Itno, was killed in a gun battle with rebels following 30 years in power.

Deby was declared the winner of Chad’s contested May 6 presidential polls amid opposition and civil society allegations the victory was stolen.

Government officials in Chad complained after the presidential elections that online media were reporting on and posting videos of opposition and civil society members saying that Deby wants to continue his late father’s rule, according to local media.

Journalists in Chad say by banning online audiovisual content, HAMA wants to silence online media that have been reporting that Deby’s Patriotic Salvation Movement, or MPS, wants to use the polls to consolidate its grip on power at all costs.

Abderrahmane Barka, the president of HAMA, created by Chad’s government to regulate the media in the central African state, says Chad’s High Media and Audiovisual Authority that he leads noticed that before elections, rich politicians hire media organizations to broadcast campaign messages, and that poses a disadvantage to politicians who don’t have a lot of money. He says HAMA is reinforcing the law, which requires the media to give equal access without pay to all political parties taking part in elections.

Barka spoke on state TV on Tuesday. He said Chadian laws do not permit online newspapers to broadcast audiovisual content but did not comment on whether a Supreme Court decision to lift the ban will be respected.

Chad’s online journalists say the ban has affected about 60% of their audience who no longer have access to online media. They say they are surprised that HAMA also ordered them to stop broadcasting audiovisual content that they produce locally.

Before the ban and ahead of the December 29 elections, HAMA suspended all interactive online, radio and TV programs, arguing that the media do not have sufficient human resources to produce such programs during election periods — a claim the media deny.

Last week, Reporters Without Borders asked Chad to reverse its decision and lift the ban. The media rights group says the job of HAMA is regulating and not prohibiting the media from informing, educating and entertaining their audience.

RSF acknowledges that broadcasting content without the consent of the producers is wrong and has asked Chad to allow online reporters to broadcast local content they create.