Cablegate: Banning of Weekly Illustrates Sorry State Of

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DEPT: FOR AF/W, BACHMAN; AF/RSA, HARPOLE; DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KPAO NG
SUBJECT: BANNING OF WEEKLY ILLUSTRATES SORRY STATE OF
NIGERIEN PRIVATE JOURNALISM

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SUMMARY
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1. On June 28, the Conseil Superieur de la Communication
(CSC), the regulatory authority for Nigerien media, banned
the publication of the private opposition weekly "L'Opinion."
The journal was banned on grounds of having published
injurious and defamatory statements directed against Niger
President Mamadou Tandja and his family; incitation to
revolt; and, "immoral offense." On July 5, the paper's
publisher, Alzouma Zakari was taken in for questioning by the
detective branch of the Nigerien National Police after he
began unauthorized publication of a new journal "Opinions,"
on July 4. Zakari was released the same day, and publicly
stated that, while he would cease to publish, he would appeal
the CSC's decision to the Nigerien Supreme Court. No other
legal action has been taken against Zakari or any of his
employees as of this writing. This action marks the first
time since 1999 that the CSC has permanently banned a
newspaper. END SUMMARY

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WHAT IS THE CSC?
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2. The CSC is an independent administrative authority
roughly analogous to the FCC. Its eleven members represent
diverse viewpoints and power sources both within and without
government. The President, PM, and the President of the
National Assembly each appoint one member, as does the
Minister of Justice, the Bar Association, the country's human
rights associations, the leader of the opposition, Nigerien
women's organizations, and the private media. Professional
journalists and telecom technicians also select two members.
With the exception of the judicial and bar association
representatives, all members are expected to have at least
ten years of experience in journalism, communications, or
telecom.

3. The CSC's action against "L'Opinion" came in two phases.
On June 7, the CSC sent a formal warning to the paper, citing
defamatory articles it had published in four of this year's
issues. After the journal devoted most of its June 21 issue
to a virulent attack on President Tandja and Prime Minister
Hama Amadou, the CSC voted unanimously to ban publication.
The last instance in which this happened was in 1999, when
the CSC banned "Le Canardo," a publication associated with
the recently overthrown military regime of Colonel Ibrahim
Mainassara Bare.

4. Notwithstanding the presence on the CSC of a
representative of one of its component organizations, one of
the Nigerien Human Rights NGOs' umbrella organizations, the
Collectif des Organisations de Defense des Droits de l'Homme
et de la Democratie (CODDHD), denounced the ban in a July 2
press release. The collective expressed its solidarity with
Zakari, and called for the CSC to revisit the issue and lift
the ban. Reaction in the Nigerien "street," has been muted,
however, a possible reflection of the fact that "L'Opinion's"
readership was limited (circulation was approximately one
thousand per week). For its part, the Nigerien civil society
movement remains primarily concerned with organizing protests
over cost of living issues and has not taken a forceful
public stance on this issue.

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L'OPINION & THE AUTHORITIES
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5. Always an opposition journal, L'Opinion had become
increasingly polemical over the course of the last year.
Editorial content infected reporting to a degree uncommon
even among Nigerien private papers. Typical of its reporting
and editorializing over the last six months were a series of
articles "L'Opinion" ran attacking some of the senior figures
in the Government of Niger (GON). In one such piece, directed
at National Assembly President Mahamane Ousmane on the 25th
of January, the journal referred to the former (1993-1996)
President of Niger as a "monster," and denounced the supposed
corruption of his regime. Another article in the same issue
referred to Ousmane as a "vulgar political opportunist'...'a
man for sale and without any political conscience," and went
on from there. Attacks on President Tandja and PM Amadou
followed, and culminated in a June 21 cover story denouncing
Tandja and Amadou as corrupt, incompetent, and cynical,
without citing any supporting evidence. The piece compared
Tandja's rise to power and ability to manage the same to a
four year old child's discovery of a 10,000 CFA ($20.00) note
in the street. The PM was referred to as a "genie of
manipulation, political intrigue, and demagoguery," while the
GON was denounced for using "brainwashing tactics similar to
those of fascist and Nazi regimes."

6. What appears to have really condemned "L'Opinion" was
what followed - text that the CSC determined to be an
incitation to revolt against the government. The June 21
article, which encompassed much of that issue's space,
concluded its denunciation of Tandja, Amadou, and the GON
along the following lines: "when a political class becomes
insolent, incompetent, insensitive to the wounds of its
agonized people, it is the duty of every citizen to resist
all forms of oppression without regard for their sources or
causes. Citizens of Niger, unite!" While the paper answered

its own hypothetical "what to do under these
conditions...stage a coup d'etat?," in the negative, its very
posing of this as a possible response may have hurt them.
Their conclusion to the question thus posed also put them on
dangerous ground with the regulators: "Niger needs a deep
cure, as the psychologists say, in the form of a democratic
transition that would set back the clock by at least five
years." During this transition period, "L'Opinion" argued, a
general audit of all of the activities of the Fifth Republic
would be undertaken.

7. COMMENT: While its insulting, ad hominem attacks on
senior political leaders put "L'Opinion" on track for a
run-in with the state, its call for a form of
unconstitutional and systemic political change finally did it
in. Under the Nigerien constitution, the CSC has the right to
regulate the press to ensure a due respect for professional
ethics. While liberty of the press is guaranteed by the
constitution, there are legal limits such as those associated
with defamation or calls for the overthrow of the state.
Government's moves against the press in Niger usually take
the form of individually filed civil and criminal defamation
charges against journalists. The outright banning of a paper
is without recent precedent, though so too is the extent of
"L'Opinion's" provocations. If Zakari is to be believed, the
legal validity of the CSC's position will be tested before
the Supreme Court in the near future.

8. While the case of "L'Opinion" illustrates some of the
limits of press freedom in Niger, it also illustrates the
limits of media professionalism among the small, privately
owned and directed papers that have blossomed in the country
over the last decade. "L'Opinion's" transition, over the
course of the last year, from an apparently reasonable
opposition weekly to a venue for poorly grounded ad hominem
attacks on public officials likely finds its explanation in
the biography of its proprietor, Alzouma Zakari. According to
Post's media contacts, Zakari, who had no journalism
background prior to founding "L'Opinion," is well known for
turning his pen against political figures in exchange for
money. Credible observers allege that his attacks are often
motivated by self-interest, outright pay-offs, and/or his own
temporary political allegiances. The incentive for Zakari's
recent, dramatic attacks on senior GON figures is unclear.
However, his decision to take his paper down into the gutter
illustrates, in sharper relief than usual, a depressingly
common phenomenon in the Nigerien private press - the
substitution of a publisher's personal agenda for the sort of
responsible, critical journalism the public deserves. END
COMMENT
ALLEN

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