Freedom of the Press - Angola (2002)

Status: Not Free
Legal Environment: 21
Political Influences: 33
Economic Pressures: 25
Total Score: 79

Population: n/a
GNI/capita: n/a
Life Expectancy: 38
Religious Groups: n/a
Ethnic Groups: Ovimbundu (37 percent), Kimbundu (25 percent), Bakongo (13 percent), mestico (2 percent) European (1 percent), other (22 percent)
Capital: Luanda

Year-long harassment and arrests of journalists, and deprivation of passports and limitations on the right to travel within Angola further reduced the level of press freedom. Criminal defamation, loosely defined when referring to officials, is punishable by imprisonment. Private media include five weekly publications and five radio stations, including the Catholic Radio Ecclesia. With minimal interference, these media report critically on government policies and poor socioeconomic conditions. Radio Ecclesia shut down in July, however, to protest a defamation campaign by a state-owned daily labeling the Catholic radio a "new version" of the UNITA rebel broadcast station. Print journalists have been detained in police cells, and one was held for criminal investigation for traveling to another province without permission. Police manhandled reporters covering a street demonstration. A national radio journalist was shot dead by a provincial administrator.