ARC opens administrative offense proceedings and orders RTC to pay a fine of 350 thousand escudos

According to deliberation no. 66 of the Regulatory Council of the Media Regulatory Authority (ARC), of October 22, to which Inforpress had access today, the process is due to the "interference and violation" of the board of Rádio Televisão Cabo-Verdiana (RTC) in the "editorial autonomy" of Televisão de Cabo Verde (TCV).

According to the document, the issue is the decision by director Victor Varela, who was chairman of the board of directors in place of Karine Miranda, to refuse to broadcast an episode of the program "Show da Manhã" (Morning Show) in the municipality of Tarrafal.

This, the text adds, on the grounds that the Board of Directors of Televisão de Cabo Verde (TCV) "does not have the powers to sign agreements, establish partnerships or manage the concessionaire's human resources".

According to the ARC Regulatory Board, although it recognizes the legitimacy of the concern expressed by the board of directors regarding the relocation of the human resources required to carry out the programme in the municipality of Tarrafal and the need for timely intervention by the board of directors, these arguments are insufficient to justify the act of rejecting the relocation request.

Thus, the Regulatory Council considered that, by preventing the team from traveling, the administration "violated the norm that guarantees the editorial autonomy and freedom of programming of the organ, compromising the mission of public service".

"Such conduct is disproportionate to the objectives of the concession, namely the promotion of diversity, proximity and the enhancement of manifestations of recognized social and cultural relevance associated with the program in question," reads the document.

Also according to the ARC Regulatory Board, the chairman of the substitute board of directors, "by acting as he did, assumed and accepted the risk that his act of rejection was a necessary and determining condition for making the program unfeasible, as previously defined by TCV's management."

For ARC, the elements found allow us to conclude that "the administration acted intentionally" and that "the lack of care shown by the administration in a situation where it was obliged to act with a certain standard of diligence, imposed by the very nature of its activity, was serious".

The ARC also pointed out that the board of directors, despite having justified its actions by taking into account the rules in force at the public service concessionaire, "did not show any sense of regret", nor did it show "awareness of the disvalue of its conduct".

It therefore decided that the board of directors of RTC should pay the fine of 350,000 escudos within two weeks of the decision becoming final.

In case of impossibility of timely payment, it must notify the ARC in writing, which will decide on possible adequacy or compensation, the document adds.

On Thursday, RTC's board of directors suspended TCV director Bernardina Ferreira for 45 days, with loss of pay.

The disciplinary process dates back to August 14 of this year and followed the position of TCV's director, who accused RTC's board of directors of "interfering in the editorial content of public television", namely by "signing a contract with a private production company".

In a statement released on Thursday, RTC's board of directors suspended Bernardina Ferreira for 45 days, with loss of pay.

In a statement released today, the Trade Union Association of Journalists of Cape Verde (Ajoc) considered this decision to be an "act of reprisal and serious intimidation", following the ARC's deliberations of August 25 and September 2, which "confirmed illegitimate interference" by the board of directors in the editorial content of TCV.

For Ajoc, the disciplinary proceedings launched against the director of TCV on August 14, 2025, which culminated in this sanction, is the expression of "unacceptable political and administrative interference in the editorial sphere of public television."

Inforpress