Dina Ferreira accuses RTC management of tarnishing her good name and destroying her career

Wanting to enlighten public opinion, the director of TCV reacted to the statement from the Board of Directors (BoD) of RTC, explaining the current situation and responding chronologically to the BoD's narrative.

According to Dina Ferreira, on July 18 the CEO, Karine Miranda, and the administrator for the technical area, Vítor Varela, "contracted an editorial program for TCV, signed in a contract that stipulated that the program would be broadcast weekly, for 12 months, in a total of 52 episodes and at a price of 70,000$00 for each episode."

Also according to the director, "the signing of the contract took place without the knowledge of TCV's management, who found out about the document signed by the production company itself, after it failed to deliver the program directly" for broadcast.

The following week, administrator Vítor Varela - and PCA's replacement at the time - sent an email to TCV's management "presenting the contract as a fait accompli and the program as an acquisition ready for broadcast", which received a reaction from the public television's management.

The management of TCV, in yet another "attempt at dialogue", reacted by "appealing to common sense and informing that it would request an opinion from the ARC [Regulatory Authority for the Media], if CA continued to insist", overriding the prerogative of the station's director.

PCA threatens to dismiss Dina Ferreira

Reacting to the position of TCV's board, this time it was the PCA that responded, claiming that "the actions of the Board of Directors were transparent, that they were in line with the concession contract, that the board could appeal to the ARC but that failure to comply with what was defined would lead to the dismissal of managers", in a clear threat to Dina Ferreira.

Faced with Karine Miranda's attitude, TCV's management filed a complaint and request for an opinion with the ARC on July 24, "for clear interference by RTC's Board of Directors in the station's content sphere", an exclusive competence of Dina Ferreira.

Four days later (on the 28th), TCV's management again appealed to the ARC "for gross interference by the Board of Directors in the programming grid, by preventing an editorial program from being made, without financial costs or administrative expedients" and "with the necessary endorsement from the Commercial Department". A program, according to Dina Ferreira, "that was vetoed out of pure reprisal". The programme in question was to promote paralympic sport, in an event organized by the athlete Gracelindo Barbosa, from Tarrafal.

On July 28, TCV's management had a note published on the company's Facebook page in support of one of the journalists in the newsroom [Rosana Almeida] "who was being severely judged and attacked in the public square, following a piece of work she had done", which received a prompt reaction from the Board of Directors, ordering the note to be withdrawn and also using this fact "as an allegation to support the disciplinary proceedings ordered" against Dina Ferreira.

On August 14, TCV's board of directors received an order to "initiate disciplinary proceedings, alleging the facts contained in the two situations sent to the ARC and the publication of the note of support for a TCV employee."

ARC confirms interference and meddling by the Board of Directors

Also according to Dina Ferreira's account, "the Regulatory Authority for the Media confirmed the interference and meddling of the Board of Directors in TCV's content grid, through the resolutions of August 25 and September 2", both documents published on the ARC's own website.

In addition, TCV's director also mentions that "RTC's Board of Directors has also been notified of an administrative offense procedure for having prevented an editorial program from taking place and for having damaged the content grid." The outcome of this procedure can be found in the ARC's latest decision, of October 22, which fines RTC 350,000$00 "for interference by the Board of Directors in the station's content", as mentioned in our previous news item.

"The disciplinary process was born within the framework described above and the outcome came after the Board of Directors became aware of the outcome of the administrative offense process that was underway at ARC," said the director of TCV.

Loyalty, persecution and abuse of power

For Dina Ferreira, "we are clearly facing a situation of raw malice, persecution, abuse of power and a blatant attempt to silence a professional who has done her job in the light of the legislation that regulates the media sector".

According to the reaction to the RTC CA statement, "the director of TCV has not committed any error or disciplinary offense. So much so that, in identical circumstances, she would have done exactly the same thing. Because editorial autonomy is non-negotiable and freedom of the press is a right enshrined in the Constitution," she stresses.

"I regret that the Board of Directors has used data from my personal file, referring to a situation that occurred in 2002 and which in no way resembles the present case, with the sole intention of tarnishing my good name and destroying my career, which has been solid and exemplary for 26 years at RTC," concludes Dina Ferreira.

Santiago magazine