High Council for Communication (Niger)

Under the First Republic, the Military government of 1974-1989, and the transitional military led Second Republic, there was no press in Niger outside government sources. Consequently, there were no regulatory bodies prior to the press liberalisation which began in 1991-1993.^[4]

The CSC was established under the Third Republic, and first began operations in 1994. Its first remit was to provide broadcast licenses for private electronic media, granting its first radio broadcast license to a local affiliate of Radio France International in February of that year.^[5] Under the Third Republic, the CSC oversaw the first legalisation of a free press in Niger's history and the creation of dozens of independent newspapers and radio stations. Legalisation of these was established by the a 30 March Ordnance by the new government (Ordonnance 93-29 du 30 mars 1993, JORN spécial n° 12 du 25 juin 1993).^[6] On 30 November 1993, authority to regulate and promote low power local radio was hived off to the authority of another committee, the Comité paritaire de pilotage des radios de proximité (CPRP)^[6] According to the 1993 laws, all radio frequencies are owned by the government. In 2007 regulations were updated in the same vein. This differentiates commercial from low power community radio, and places the CSC in charge of both. CSC regulations from 2007 includes licensing which bans all purely political or confessional broadcasters.^[7]

Following the Coup d'état of 1996, free press was again suspended. With the brief creation of the Fourth Republic, the CSC was formally abolished by Law N° 97-26 of 18 July 1997 and direct oversight of limited media was confirmed in Law N° 98-23 of 11 August 1998.^[4]

Under the Constitution of the Fifth Republic (1999), the CSC is tasked as an authority "independent of political power" which is to guarantee equal access to the media by all political forces as well as liberty of the press.^[8] Its composition structure and powers, though, are constitutionally dependent upon current law. In 2006, the government adopted its most recent law on the CSC's power and structure (loi n° 2006-24 du 24 juillet 2006). This law mandates that the functioning of the CSC is dependent upon the decrees of the Council of Ministers, which in turn is at the approval of the President of Niger.^[9] As such its internal operations now falls under the Ministry of Communication. Between the Coup d'état of 1999 and the creation of the constitution, the CSC was replaced with another agency, the Observatoire nationale de la communication. This organisation was criticised by journalists as being to close to political leaders.^[10]

Following the 26 June declaring of emergency rule by President Tandja Mamadou, the CSC closed indefinitely Dounia TV, an independent TV and radio network close to the opposition. On 1 July, a press NGO statement claimed that six of the eleven CSC board members had signed a protest letter over both the closing, and the way in which the decision was taken. They claimed the board members were not consulted, but the sanction was simply taken by the chair without knowledge of the board.^[11]

The constitutional makeup of the body is limited to a mandate that it be "independent". Under the Third Republic, the President of the Republic, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the President of the Supreme Court each appointed one of the CSC’s seven members. The four remaining members, all accredited journalists, were appointed by the private sector (1) and "the most representative organizations" in the public sector (3).^[12] In 2006 there were 12 appointed members, all but one government appointees.^[13] Its current president, appointed in 2007, is Daouda Diallo.^[1][13] From 2003 to 2007, the CSC president was former state radio broadcaster Mariama Keita, the first woman to hold the post.^[14]

Both the independence and scope of powers of the CSC has been questioned by domestic and foreign observers. The Committee to Protect Journalists has flatly stated that in 2006 "Authorities also used the state-controlled High Council on Communications, known by its French acronym, CSC, to censor the press."^[12][13] As long ago as 1992, journalist groups have called for the press to be governed by press bodies. In 1997, the CSC helped found the "Council of the Press" (Conseil de presse) as a professional accrediting body. In 2007, the Council created a statue of professional journalism, which the CSC is to use to govern press conduct, and which supeceds a code created by journalist organisations in 1997. Press organisations, such as the Union des journalistes privés nigériens (Ujpn), the Syndicat des agents de l’information (Sainfo) and the Association nigérienne des éditeurs de la presse indépendante (Anepi) criticise the Council as too dependent upon the CSC and the government.^[10]