Guinea Bissau state TV employees kick against rising govt censorship

Officials of Guinea Bissau’s public television channel, (TGB) have announced to the Information Directorate and to the Government that they will no longer accept the rising spate of news censorship in any shape or form.

Francisco Indeque, president of the TGB workers’ union, presented a petition signed by 88 out of the 141 employees of the station to the director of the country’s only television station.

The signatories bemoaned interference in the discharge of their professional duties and said they will no longer accept the status quo. A copy of the petition was also delivered to the Minister of Social Communication, Victor Pereira.

“Of the 141 television employees, 88 have signed the petition. From now on we will not allow censorship of the work of any entity, be it political or social,” noted Francisco Indeque.

According to him, since the creation of TGB in 1989, “there has never been so much censorship as now”.

“TV officials even go to the studio behind the journalist to coerce him into the pieces of news they should cut,” Indeque said, stressing that journalists had decided to say “no more censorship.” Efforts to contact TGB’s management has so far proven futile.