A New Chair at the CSLC
By presidential decree 2025-340, Médard Milandou Nsonga was appointed chair of the Supreme Council for Freedom of Communication, the agency that supervises Congo-Brazzaville’s media landscape. Diplomats in Brazzaville note that the move comes at a moment of heightened scrutiny of information flows.
Official communiqués speak of continuity, yet journalists’ unions argue that the new chair’s artistic background could foster fresh cultural sensitivity inside a regulator historically dominated by legalists and bureaucrats (Les Dépêches de Brazzaville, 2025).
Government sources underline that President Denis Sassou Nguesso wants a “dialogue-oriented” CSLC able to mediate between state priorities and newsroom expectations, a stance consistent with the 2023 national media development plan endorsed by cabinet.
Regional observers, including the Economic Community of Central African States secretariat, cautiously welcome the nomination, framing it as part of Brazzaville’s pledge to align domestic regulations with the African Charter on Broadcasting (ECCAS briefing, 2024).
Balancing Regulation and Freedom
Milandou Nsonga inherits a docket crowded with complaints about alleged disproportionate suspensions of outlets and difficulties in obtaining official data. Reporters Without Borders ranked Congo 114th out of 180 countries in its 2024 World Press Freedom Index, noting “administrative opacity” rather than explicit censorship.
Senior officials counter that many sanctions have aimed to enforce professional ethics and protect citizens from defamation. They cite the 2019 Law on Audiovisual Communication, which mandates “respect for public order,” a clause common in francophone jurisdictions.
The new chair’s challenge is therefore to interpret that clause narrowly while preserving institutional credibility. In a brief statement, he promised “predictable, proportionate, and transparent decisions” and floated the idea of publishing reasoned rulings within 48 hours of plenary votes.
Legal scholars at Marien Ngouabi University suggest a memorandum of understanding between the CSLC and the judiciary to prevent overlapping jurisdictions, an arrangement that could reassure investors monitoring rule-of-law indicators (African Development Bank policy note, 2023).
International media law experts advise establishing a multistakeholder appeals panel, including civil society and academia, to review major CSLC decisions. Such a mechanism, already practiced in Ghana, could enhance legitimacy without diminishing state sovereignty.
Digital Era Challenges and Opportunities
Congo counts more than five million mobile internet subscriptions, and online outlets break news faster than state television. Yet only twelve percent of CSLC-accredited media are digital, leaving bloggers and start-ups in a grey zone, according to the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Digital Economy.
Milandou Nsonga has hinted at a fast-track accreditation window and partnerships with tech firms for cybersecurity audits. The proposal resonates with the African Union’s Digital Transformation Strategy, which encourages member states to integrate media entrepreneurship into broader connectivity goals.
Editors of leading online portals welcome the overture but request fiscal incentives and training grants, recalling that bandwidth costs in Brazzaville remain among Central Africa’s highest (World Bank data, 2024). Finance Ministry officials say discussions are “ongoing within budgetary constraints”.
Foreign missions see an upside: a more diverse digital ecosystem could bolster transparency around climate projects and infrastructure tenders funded by international partners, aligning with Sustainable Development Goal 16 on access to information.
Diplomatic Implications for Regional Partners
Brazzaville hosts several regional headquarters, including the Central African Forests Commission. Diplomats stress that predictable media governance reduces reputational risks for multilateral initiatives battling illegal logging and transboundary crime.
A reenergized CSLC could also serve as a model for peer regulators in Cameroon, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where similar debates rage about internet shutdowns and journalist safety. ECCAS officials are already planning a best-practices symposium in Libreville.
Western embassies underline that any improvements will complement, not replace, their capacity-building programmes, such as the EU-funded PAJED initiative, which has trained over two-hundred Congolese reporters on verification techniques since 2022.
China’s Xinhua agency, which operates a regional bureau in Brazzaville, expressed confidence that updated guidelines will create a “sounder business environment” for multilingual content distribution, pointing to growing South-South media cooperation.
The Road Ahead for Media Pluralism
Milandou Nsonga’s first tangible test may arrive with the forthcoming municipal elections. Observers expect him to issue equal-time directives and deploy monitoring teams nationwide, leveraging the CSLC’s modest but experienced provincial coordinators.
Journalist syndicates intend to evaluate progress through a scorecard measuring sanction transparency, training hours delivered, and response time to harassment alerts. The Congo Media Observatory, a local NGO, has offered to publish quarterly metrics.
For now, expectations remain cautious but not cynical. As veteran editor Julienne Ndongo put it, “We do not ask the council to fight our battles, only to keep the ring fair.” Those words capture a sentiment heard across newsrooms from Pointe-Noire to Ouesso.
Should the CSLC deliver even incremental reforms, it could strengthen Congo-Brazzaville’s reputation as a stable interlocutor in Central Africa’s evolving information order, a prospect many partners quietly encourage.
The coming months will reveal whether promises translate into institutional muscle, but stakeholders agree that the conversation has at least shifted from abstract principles to practical milestones.
