BUJUMBURA September 21st (ABP) – The chairperson of the National Media Council (CNC), Mrs. Vestine Nahimana, opened a two-day ordinary plenary assembly on Tuesday, September 19, 2023, to discuss internal issues of the CNC.
In her speech, Mrs. Nahimana recalled that the CNC is there to monitor the content of information disseminated with a view to guaranteeing Burundians information that brings hope for its development. She noted that in certain situations, journalists fall into professional misconduct by broadcasting or publishing unverified information.
According to the CNC chairperson, that assembly is being held the day after the establishment of a technical team aimed at the effective operationalization of the Burundian Press Observatory (OPB), a self-regulatory body for excellence, a sort of court peers who, in the past, filtered the information broadcast or published by the media in order to straighten things out where necessary. That self-regulatory body, which had no longer functioned since the 2015 crisis, had proven itself to the satisfaction of stakeholders in the media sector, she insisted.
Concerning the internal files at the CNC being discussed during the meeting, Mrs. Nahimana cited the reading and validation of the Minutes of the meeting in the Plenary Assembly of the CNC held on August 10, 2023, the analysis of professional misconduct committed by the media in the first quarter of 2023-2024, the progress of the implementation of the CNC’s three-year strategic plan 2023-2025, a Note on the radio called Indundi Culture, a Note on recognized online media which are not are more operational and a Note on newspapers which no longer make a legal deposit of their copies to the CNC.
The CNC chairperson also indicated that professionalism in the processing of information must be the major concern of all the media and that the CNC will not hesitate to say it as much as news falsifiers who use the web to lie and disorient the people, will continue to be active.
She ended her remarks by specifying that the mission of that institution is none other than to lead the media towards the patriotic spirit through respect for the law in the processing of credible and beneficial information for the public in order to build a depolluted Burundi of information and messages that promote hatred.