Belém was physically assaulted and lost his glasses. The keys of their vehicle were removed. Luis Afonso, the driver, said that the military officers confiscated the mobile phones of both journalists for several hours. The journalists were released hours later only after they were presented to the commander of the officers at the scene. Fernando Macedo, a human rights activist and president of the Association of Justice, Peace and Democracy (AJPD), said during an interview with Radio Ecclesia that if there was no acceptable reason for the journalists being detained, then the military officers had violated press freedom. Macedo said that the law provides for competent authorities to facilitate the work of journalists. • ALERT Date: April 30, 2008 Person: Ernesto Bartolomeu Violation/issue: Censored/harassed Ernesto Bartolomeu, news anchor on the main news channel 1 of Televisão Pública de Angola (TPA), is facing disciplinary procedures for publicly saying things that did not please both the television management and ministry of information officials. The “evil words”, as they put it, were said by Bartolomeu during a conference on journalism and elections, held at the Journalism Training Centre (CEFOJOR) during the last week of April 2008. While posing a question to the speaker, Luis Costa Ribas, Bartolomeu described the regular editorial interference in stories at the broadcaster to suit the ruling party, the MPLA. According to Bartolomeu, pressure is often exerted on reporters even by telephone while they are on air, to favour one political party over the other for allocation of more airtime. Bartolomeu wanted to know how to reconcile this with good journalism practice during an election period. These statements led to his suspension. Bartolomeu received telephone calls 10 minutes after asking the question asking him if “he had lost his head”. TPA argues that Bartolomeu revealed information regarded as professional secrecy at the broadcaster. So This Is Democracy? 2008 -13- Media Institute of Southern Africa