Online media in Benin face a complete cancellation after the government ordered them to close, amid critics’ claims that it aims to stifle hounds ahead of next year’s elections.
The West African nation’s state media regulator issued a decree in early July ordering all media to “end publication” or face legal sanctions.
The watchdog said Internet outlets had been opened “without prior authorization” and had not been well reviewed.
“This is an impact for the country,” said Fernand Gbaguidi, spokesman for the High Authority for Audiovisuals and Communications.
Since the announcement, Leonce Gamai, managing director of the outstanding research news Banouto, has lost sleep.
The work at the point of sale is “suspended” and he had to suspend his seven-hound team until the stage is cleared up.
He insists that he has complied with all the legal procedures a long time ago and hopes that the gentle green will soon resume its activities.
But the monetary scenario is becoming more precarious.
“We have commitments to partners and have a legal responsibility to comply with them,” Gamai told the AFP.
Benin, Nigeria’s western neighbor with 11 million people, has long been one of the strongest democracies in the region.
But since business tycoon Patrice Talon was president in 2016, hounds and parties to the conflict have complained about the expansion of authoritarianism.
For many media outlets, the most recent initiative that opposes online media is an attempt to curb potentially critical voices.
Since business mogul Patrice Talon was president of Benin in 2016, hounds and parties to the conflict have complained about the expansion of authoritarianism Photo: AFP / YANICK FOLLY
The government passed a debatable law in 2018 aimed at those who paint online and criminalizing the exchange of “false information” on social media.
The law has been investigated to a growing number of news search engines and bloggers.
Last December, investigative journalist Ignace Sossou was arrested after tweeting statements through a prosecutor.
He was eventually sentenced to one year in prison for “harassment” and was released in June after serving six months.
“They need to silence us because those in force can’t get online as well as they do with classic media,” a journalist from an Internet tv channel told the AFP on an anonymity.
The reporter insisted that the motives were transparent to the authorities.
Talon has been grappling with a political crisis since the contested parliamentary elections of the year, and is facing a presidential vote next April.
Benin lost 17 spots this year, up to 113 among countries in the annual Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
“Journalists have a significant degree of freedom of expression,” the media rights organization said.
“However, state media has provided little policy of opposition activities since President Patrice Talon in 2016, and the media has been heavily monitored.”
Zakiath Latoundji, director of the Benin Union of Media Professionals, said attempts to “clean up” the online area were necessarily incorrect.
But he denounced the “brutality” of the state media regulator.
Eustace Agboton, who runs an association of journalists, insisted that the resolution amounted to “a kind of restriction on freedom of expression.”
“When we know the vital role that online media plays, we have the right to check the moment,” he said.