Media regulation is "undemocratic" and should be shared

Reginaldo Silva addressed, in Luanda, the evolution of the regulation of the media at a conference organized by the Association of Angolan Communicologists, and criticized the lack of usefulness of ERCA in this field, since the regulatory power continues to belong to the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication.

The journalist stated that the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) - never allowed the legislation on regulation to evolve into a more participatory perspective, so ERCA, created in 2017, was born with the same "manufacturing defect" of entities previous ones, resembling a "flower vase" of little use other than "dressing up the environment".

Reginaldo Silva stressed that ERCA does not grant authorizations, nor does it participate in licensing, which are still in the hands of the Government, limiting itself to being able to settle some conflicts in terms of the right of reply.

"We have made very little progress in sharing regulation", he lamented, defending that the model to be followed would be that of shared regulation, with ERCA functioning as a balance of State power, being called upon, for example, to give opinions on the licensing of organs of media, namely television and radio channels.

In this context, he pointed out the case of the suspension of three television channels by the ministry (ZAP Viva, Vida TV and Record TV Africa, alleging legal non-conformities), arguing that the control of the licensing right "should not only be in the hands of a political entity -partisan, which is the ministry".

The channels were suspended in April and are still unable to broadcast, with no further clarification from the Government on this matter or a deadline for resuming activity.

"If there was a balanced management of this right, ERCA should be called upon to speak out and we should give deadlines", stressed the member of ERCA, stating that "it was sad news" the announcement of redundancies in the ZAP.

For Reginaldo Silva, it is important that press freedom is ensured by plurality and, consequently, by a greater number of channels, which has not happened: "The last year of this Government's management in terms of social communication has been land policy burned, devastating, everything that is not ours, closes. And nobody can say anything because the law does not give power. Regulation continues to be controlled almost 100 percent by the government."

The journalist recalled that Angola is a year away from elections, without the regulation that would be desirable with ERCA, which should participate more in this power.

"There is no such sharing and that makes our regulation undemocratic and not very comprehensive. The regulation is handed over to a political entity and that does not provide enough guarantee of press freedom," he stressed.