Radio Télévision Nationale Congolaise (RTNC) is the nationwide broadcast company in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Media assets
Television: RTNC1, RTNC2, RTNC3, RTNC4
Radio: RTNC
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
RTNC was given its current status as a “public establishment” by decree no. 09/62 of 2009. The broadcaster inherited the infrastructure of the former L’Office Zaïrois de Radio diffusion et de télévision (ORTZ), the broadcaster in Zaire, which was how the country was known before the establishment of the DR Congo.
RTNC is subordinated to the ministry in charge of media and communications in the DR Congo. In August 2023, the minister of communication and media Patrick Muyaya said that he was committed to reforming the RTNC, yet without giving any concrete details.
The highest governing body at RTNC is its Board of Directors, which is composed of nine (there used to be only five) members who are appointed by the President of the republic based on government proposals.
Source of funding and budget
According to decree no. 09/62 (which established RTNC), the DR Congo national broadcaster is financed through a combination of license fees (normally paid by all households in the country that have access to audiovisual content), ad revenues and other forms of commercial revenues, and state subsidies.
According to experts working on DR Congo-related issues, the government fully controls RTNC’s financing. The state subsidy accounts for most of the station’s budget, and the advertising revenues generated by the station flow straight into the government’s accounts. No information about the size of RTNC’s budget is publicly available.
In May 2024, the ministry of communication announced that the institution held talks with REGIDESO, a state-owned water utility company, and SNEL, the country’s electricity provider, to implement a new model of collecting the license fee by including it on the utility bills issued to homes across the country. This move aimed to improve the rate of fee collection.
Editorial independence
Although authorities do not explicitly require the RTNC to provide coverage favorable to the government, the broadcaster is known as a government propaganda outlet, according to local journalists and experts. RTNC devotes most of its broadcast time to reports that highlight the government’s achievements.
No domestic statute or independent oversight or assessment mechanism to validate RTNC’s editorial independence has been identified.
July 2024