Angola: Portuguese broadcaster’s ‘deep concern’ at expulsion of journalist

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Angola: Portuguese broadcaster’s ‘deep concern’ at expulsion of journalist

9:44 CAT | 15 May 2025

Meeting between the leader of UNITA and the Angolan President, which RTP was preparing to cover on the news before being expelled from the Presidential Palace. [Photo: Lusa]

Portugal’s public broadcaster, RTP, on Wednesday expressed its “deep concern and vehement rejection” of the “expulsion of the team” assigned to cover an event at the office of Angola’s president in Luanda, in a formal note of protest sent to the president’s office and to the government.

In the note, to which the Lusa news agency had access, the directors of news of RTP, António José Teixeira, of RDP radio, Mário Galego, and the director of RTP Africa, Isabel Silva Costa, express “deep concern and vehement repudiation” of the “arbitrary expulsion of the team from Portuguese public broadcaster RTP, assigned to the Cidade Alta Palace to cover an official meeting of the Presidency.

“Despite being duly accredited and in the legitimate exercise of their journalistic function, the RTP professionals were removed from the press room, in a selective and discriminatory action that contrasts with the permanence of other journalists,” continues the note of protest.

The RTP officials take the view that the attitude of the Angolan authorities “represents an attack on press freedom and a flagrant violation of the fundamental principles of journalism and democracy.

“RTP was also excluded from the Whatsapp group of the Presidency Press Centre – the official means of disseminating the institutional agenda of accredited media outlets” in Angola, the protest note also stresses.

According to RTP, the Angolan presidency’s decision not to allow its professionals to attend official events “reveals an unacceptable attempt to silence freedom of expression in a country that claims to be committed to democratic values.”

The RTP officials reiterate their solidarity with the corporation’s professionals and demand “full respect for journalists” rights, the restoration of working conditions” as well as “an end to practices of political exclusion in access to information of public interest.

“Press freedom is not a concession,” the note concludes. It is an inalienable right in any democratic society.”

Source: Lusa