Dakar — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Chadian authorities to reverse a directive announcedon October 9 by Abderamane Barka, president of the High Authority for Media and Audiovisual (HAMA) regulator, to suspend or revoke the licenses of outlets that share online content outside of narrowly defined circumstances.

"Chad's media regulator should immediately reverse its directive to suspend outlets for sharing news in ways outside of those narrowly defined by authorities and cease efforts to censor the press ahead of elections," said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ's Africa program, in New York. "As Chadians go to the polls later this year, they should be given access to a plurality of diverse media sources and content, not a constricted version of the news."

Barka ordered the suspension or revocation of licenses of private newspapers that broadcast audiovisual content online instead of written articles and of private outlets that broadcast content on Facebook that was not first distributed via their traditional newspaper, radio, or TV channels. He also demanded that all media outlets only employ journalists who have official press identity cards.

Barka said these measures are part of the ongoing cleaning up of Chad's media landscape as the country heads towards legislative, provincial, and municipal elections on December 29.

The Chadian Online Media Association said in a statement that the directive appears "to go beyond the existing legal framework" and could pose a risk to freedom of expression, noting that the country's press law states that the online press provides "mainly written and audiovisual" content.

Earlier in October, HAMA banned two managers of the private newspaper Le Visionnaire from practicing journalism for not having press cards and suspended the paper for three months over a report into government mismanagement.

CPJ's calls to Barka for comment on the directive went unanswered.