Mass media in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Open-knowledge reference entry
Mass media in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are nationally and internationally state-owned and operated.
History
Pluralism and press independence in the Congo emerged before independence in the Belgian Congo. At independence, privately owned newspapers operated under a liberal legal framework derived from the 1959 decrees on public freedoms. This framework remained in place until 1965. Following Mobutu's rise to power, the regime recognized the press's influence on public opinion and, between 1965 and 1972, sought to acquire several publications by installing its supporters in key positions and covertly financing them.
According to Congolese author and information and communication sciences researcher Patrick De Favre Bintene, 1972 was a pivotal year in the history of the Congo's media. The Zairian doctrine of the "return to authenticity" (recours à l'authenticité), according to Bintene, led to a strategy aimed at reducing the mass media's structural dependence. This policy emphasized the promotion of national culture. In 1972, Congolese newspapers adopted Zairian names, and a press emerged that was written wholly or partly in national languages. That same year, all newspapers were brought under state control, with the state providing the resources necessary for their operation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mass media in the Democratic Republic of the Congo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.