SECTOR 3 3.4 The state/public broadcaster is accountable to the public through an independent board that is representative of the society at large and selected in an independent, open and transparent manner According to panellists, public broadcasters only theoretically exist in Mozambique when compared to what constitutes a true public broadcaster as established in the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa (namely in its Article VI, dedicated to public broadcasting services). RM and TVM, which are supported by public media companies (RM EP and TVM EP – created by diplomas of the Council of Ministers) are officially considered public broadcasters in Mozambique. In Mozambique and against what is established in Article VI of the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa,5 “so-called” public broadcasting can be summed up as follows: • It is not managed by a board of directors protected from interference, particularly of a political or economic nature. • It has no editorial independence and it even shows that it is no more than a government information outlet or mere propaganda instrument. • It is not adequately funded, which results in it not being protected from biased interference in its budget, even if only for the mere omission of duties by the government which funds it through programme contracts – whilst the budgets were supposed to be defined by the parliament and inserted in relevant laws. • Its scope is not adequately defined, in the sense that the information delivered to the public is not politically balanced, particularly during electoral periods. It was therefore assessed that “so-called” public broadcasting in Mozambique only complies with one of the indicators internationally defined, namely attempting to have broadcasting systems covering the entire country. With regard to the exoneration and appointment of the presidents of the board, both at RM and TVM, the government holds the constitutional obligation (Article 50 of the Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique) to consult with the CSCS. This was not done for several years until MISA-Mozambique judicially contested the appointment of Armando Inroga, a former member of the government, for the position of president of the board at TVM in March 2018. That situation must have contributed to his exoneration and the appointments that followed complied with the constitutional requirements, both at TVM and RM. 36 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MOZAMBIQUE 2018