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Mass media in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are both nationally and internationally state owned and operated.

Freedom of speech and the press

While the constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press, the government has restricted this right in practise. Arrests, murders and other harassment of journalists is frequently reported.

In 2009, the freedom of the press global ranking released each year by Reporters Without Borders ranked the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 146 out of 175 countries.^[1][2]

There are several organizations monitoring freedom of the press in the Democratic Republic of the Congo:

• Union nationale de la presse congolaise
• Journaliste en danger

"Coupage"

Many journalists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are subjected to the practise of coupage (in English: cutting), where journalists are paid to write articles on behalf of persons who are the article's actual subject.^[3][4] Press independence remains stifled. There are two significant impacts from this practise:

• it affects the principle of remuneration of some journalists, enabling the Congolese print media to make it difficult for journalists to earn a living from legitimate journalism alone;
• it makes it easier to bribe the press, as much for partisan articles as for articles containing generally neutral information.

Print

Major newspapers are only nominally privately owned. Journalists must be members of the state-controlled union to practise their profession. The press today is firmly under MPR control. The largest dailies were Elima, Courrier d’Afrique, and Salongo (fr) (10,000).

The majority of print press publications are in French, an official language of the country. Despite their ambitions of national news coverage, it is difficult for these publications to attain broad coverage, both due to challenges in gathering information, and in physically distributing the publications. Many journalists are therefore tied to a city or a region, essentially Kinshasa.

Several daily newspapers are published, of which the majority have a pro-government bias. Some newspapers are published irregularly.

Print publications

Daily publications

Bi-Weekly publications

Weekly publications

Telecommunications

The postal, telephone, and telegraph services are owned and operated by the government. In 2002 there were an estimated 10,000 mainline phones in use nationwide. In 2003 there were an estimated 19 cell phones in use for every 1,000 people. State-controlled radio and television transmissions, operated under Radio-Television Nationale Congolaise (RTNC), are the prominent broadcasting stations, reaching the largest number of citizens. The RTNC radio broadcast of La Voix du Congo, is available in French, Swahili, Lingala, Tshiluba, and Kikongo. There are also many privately run broadcasting stations. In 2001, there were 3 AM and 11 FM radio stations and 4 television stations. In 2003, there were an estimated 385 radios and 2 television sets for every 1,000 people.

Television

Since 1990 many television stations have been broadcasting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2006, 58 television channels were available. Of these, 38 are in Kinshasa.^[6]

Television stations

Radio and radio stations

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has many radio stations, the majority of which are based in Kinshasa. The transitional Constitution installed an entity called Haute autorité des Medias (HAM), which oversees media activity, including radio broadcasting.

It is estimated that 60% of broadcasts are in the four national languages: (Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili, Tshiluba). The rest are in French and, rarely, in English.^[7]