CSAC warns against online media abuse

Kinshasa, May 4^th, 2022 (CPA).- Mr. Michel Barruti, member of the legal department of the Superior Council for Audiovisual and Communication (CSAC), warned media professionals who have committed abuses observed in recent time in online publications, on the occasion of Tuesday’s celebration in Kinshasa of International Press Freedom Day. While welcoming the advent of digital which, according to him, enjoys a positive influence in the media, Michel Barruti deplored the depravity of the morals of the head of online media who do not respect the ethics and deontology of their profession. . “Freedom of the press does exist in the DRC, but many media professionals misuse it by going beyond ethical limits. The CSAC provides for sanctions in the event of abuse for newspapers, audiovisual media and those online,” he insisted. According to this CSAC executive, the audiovisual and communication regulatory authority plans to settle in the next few days the question of online media which is at the center of debates in several circles. For this celebration, the chosen theme is: “Journalism under the influence of digital technology”. This theme is explained in particular by the impact of the digital age on freedom of expression, the safety of journalists, and access to information and respect for privacy in the exercise of the profession. « Freedom of the press being a concept that allows a journalist to seek, receive and impart information and ideas regardless of frontiers by any means of expression that exists, it is considered a cornerstone of the rights of the person, an assurance that the other rights will be respected”, maintained Michel Barruti. For him, freedom of the press also promotes transparency and good governance and constitutes the guarantee of true justice for society. He recalled that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this freedom is legally guaranteed, in particular by the law of 22 June 1996 which governs the exercise of freedom of the press, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the African Charter of man and of peoples.