CNN's plans positive coverage of Angola

In a rejoinder to the CNN's response, Maka Angola offers further clarification: "The Angolan General Law of Advertisement, of July 30, 2002, states that all state and official advertisement should be done through a "public tendering procedure" (Art. 35, 1). This law has been violated by the Angolan presidency which allocated, without public tender, and through nepotism and corruption, millions of dollars for the president's children to contract CNN International advertisement services." Click here to download Maka Angola's rejoinder to the CNN's response (pdf).

It is also noteworthy to remind CNN of the visit made by its Africa bureau chief, Kim Norgaard, to Angola, last January. During the visit, the CNN representative met with the Angolan authorities to discuss arrangements for CNN to improve the image of the Angolan regime, through a series of reportages, based on the country's oil dependent economic growth.

On January 17, 2012, Kim Norgaard said, during a meeting with government officials, that "(...) We have decided to meet with the minister of information, so that together we will draft a plan to allow us to assuredly broadcast the real situation of Angola to the world, contrary to what is happening outside." (Jornal de Angola, January 18, 2012)

On behalf of the government, the minister of information, Carolina Cerqueira, acknowledged CNN's plan as good and assured CNN that its coverage will be supported by the Ministry of Information "by all possible means, so that these series of reportages will be done with an in-depth focus and a nationwide reach, to better project the image of Angola." (Idem)

It is highly unusual for a respectable international media outlet, such as CNN, to make formal agreements with a regime on news coverage of a given country, due to the basic standards of independence and integrity it is subject to. It is even more problematic to note that that very same regime, in this case the Angolan, plans to spend US$17 million in paid advertisement on CNN International.

Update at 5.28pm on 24 February 2012: Since this report was first posted, CNN has asked for the following response to be appended to it:

CNN's Africa Bureau Chief, Kim Norgaard, met last month with Angolan government ministers to request media credentials and visas. This is standard practice and CNN rejects any other interpretation of this meeting. As a commercial broadcaster, CNN carries a range of advertising campaigns, all of which are reviewed according to its advertising standards and practices. We carried some advertising from ANIP a couple of years ago. We have no agreements in place to carry any other advertising.

Source: allAfrica.com