Radio Television National Congolaise (RTNC)

Radio Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC) is the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s state-run broadcasting institution, serving as the country’s principal source of radio and television programming. RTNC was established by Decree No. 09/62 of 3 December 2009, which fixed the statutes of the public establishment named Radio-Télévision Nationale Congolaise, placed under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Communication and Media. RTNC forms part of the institutional lineage of the former Office Zaïrois de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision (OZRT), the national broadcaster during the Zaire era. RTNC operates as an institution distinct from the Radiodiffusion Nationale Congolaise (RNC) of the neighbouring Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville), with which it should not be confused.

Media assets

Television: RTNC1, RTNC2, RTNC3, RTNC4

Radio: RTNC

Ownership and governance

RTNC was established by Decree No. 09/62 of 3 December 2009, which fixed the statutes of the public establishment under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Communication and Media. The broadcaster forms part of the institutional lineage of the former Office Zaïrois de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision (OZRT) of the Zaire era. The 2009 statute places RTNC under public-establishment governance with a Board of Directors and presidentially appointed leadership; the State Media Monitor 2025 baseline records the broadcaster’s governance as anchored in this presidentially appointed structure, underscoring its proximity to the executive branch.

The current senior management was named by presidential ordinance read on RTNC on 15 November 2022:

• Sylvie Elenge Nyembo — Director General (DG)
• José-Adolphe Voto Tongba — Deputy Director General (DGA); official spelling renders the surname variously as Voto or Voto Tongba
• Floribert Lubota Ngwangu — President of the Board of Administration (PCA); the surname is also rendered Luboto Ngwangu across sources, and the official spelling should be read against the presidential ordinance

The Director General and Deputy are both academics associated with the Institut Facultaire des Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication (IFASIC), the Kinshasa communication-studies institution.

The supervisory ministry is the Ministry of Communication and Media, headed by Minister and government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya Katembwe, in office continuously since his first appointment in April 2021 in the government of Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde. Muyaya was reappointed in the first government formed under Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka in 2024, and confirmed again on 7 August 2025 in the 53-member “government of national unity” reshuffle, retaining his post as government spokesperson.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s political system is dominated by President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS), re-elected in the 20 December 2023 general election, a result confirmed by the Constitutional Court in early January 2024 at 73.47% of the vote, and sworn in for a second term on 20 January 2024 at the Martyrs’ Stadium in Kinshasa. The presidential Union Sacrée de la Nation coalition holds a large majority in the National Assembly. In 2026, Congolese and international reporting increasingly noted debate over whether Tshisekedi might pursue constitutional change or a third term ahead of the next presidential election; the President had already announced in October 2024 a commission to draft a new constitution, citing among other things the articles limiting presidential mandates. The dominant security question of the cycle remains the war in the east, where the Alliance Fleuve Congo / Mouvement du 23 mars (AFC/M23) armed coalition, described as Rwanda-backed by Kinshasa, UN experts, and several Western governments, seized Goma in late January 2025 and advanced on Bukavu in February 2025. RSF reported in March 2026 that AFC/M23 had used shipping containers in Goma, including at the provincial legislative assembly compound, to detain civilians and at least two journalists.

Source of funding and budget

As described in the State Media Monitor 2025 baseline, RTNC’s financing model, on paper, includes three revenue streams: licence fees ostensibly levied on all households with access to audiovisual content, advertising and commercial revenue, and state subsidies. State Media Monitor baseline interviews indicate that advertising income is not retained transparently by RTNC and that the broadcaster remains overwhelmingly dependent on government allocations, with no transparency regarding the actual size or breakdown of its budget. No audited financial statements are published by the broadcaster.

The licence-fee question advanced materially during 2025. Following a May 2024 communication by President Tshisekedi urging effective collection, the Ministry of Communication and Media reported to the Council of Ministers on 25 July 2025 that memoranda of understanding had been reached with the principal cable-television distributors operating in the DRC, CANAL+, StarTimes and Easy TV, establishing an initial collection rate of 2.4% on subscriptions. An inter-ministerial decree of 12 September 2025 (No. 15/CAB/MIN-COMEDIA/PMK/2025) lowered the recovery rate from 10% to 2.4% to make it more sustainable for subscribers, and on 9 October 2025, in the presence of Minister Muyaya and Director General Sylvie Elenge, RTNC and the cable distributors signed the protocol marking the start of effective collection. The authorities have announced plans to extend collection through the tax and customs administrations (DGI, DGDA) and the utilities SNEL and REGIDESO. The earlier proposal to integrate the fee directly into utility bills was thus folded into this broader, distributor-led collection framework.

Editorial independence

RTNC’s editorial output is widely regarded as aligned with the government’s narrative. While no formal directive requires pro-government coverage, State Media Monitor review and local expert interviews describe RTNC as a government-aligned broadcaster that dedicates substantial airtime to official achievements and ceremonies, with limited room for critical or independent reporting. To date, no statutory protections, oversight bodies, or independent mechanisms have been identified that would safeguard RTNC’s editorial independence or evaluate its performance through an impartial lens; the broadcaster operates as a de facto communication arm of the state.

In August 2023, Minister of Communication and Media Patrick Muyaya publicly discussed reform and modernisation of public communication infrastructure, including RTNC; the 2025 baseline noted that no concrete legislative reform of RTNC had materialised, and no such measures have been identified as of May 2026.

Working conditions and physical safety for RTNC personnel have been affected by the broader hostility of the DRC’s media environment. In February 2024, Mimi Etaka, an RTNC journalist in Mbandaka, was beaten by bodyguards of Équateur Provincial Governor Bobo Boloko Bolumbu after she declined to interrupt programming to broadcast three decrees through which the governor was appointing members of his provincial government; the incident prompted an RSF appeal. In August 2021, RTNC journalist Héritier Magayane was killed in North Kivu province. More recently, Thierry Banga Lole, an RTNC cameraman and technician based in Bunia (Ituri province), was killed in an armed attack on his home on 29 December 2025; police later arrested two suspects who, according to investigators, cited a robbery motive. RSF’s March 2026 report on the Great Lakes region lists both Magayane and Banga Lole among RTNC journalists killed in the period.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s broadcast regulator is the Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel et de la Communication (CSAC). RSF has consistently called on the DRC executive to strengthen CSAC’s powers and to create a self-regulatory body. The DRC ranks 130th of 180 countries and territories in the Reporters Without Borders 2026 World Press Freedom Index (score 42.16), a three-place improvement from the 133rd position recorded in 2025 (score 42.31).

AI and digital policy

RTNC operates a digital presence through its rtnc.cd portal, a Facebook page, and a YouTube channel, the latter providing access to programming and news bulletins. The portal publishes news copy across politics, society, economy, and presidential activity, closely mirroring the broadcaster’s on-air bulletins.

No publicly available RTNC policy on AI-generated content, synthetic-media disclosure, or content provenance frameworks such as C2PA was identified. The DRC’s media-regulatory framework does not currently include sector-specific provisions governing AI-generated audiovisual content, deepfakes, or synthetic-media authentication standards.

May 2026