The Congolese High Council for Audiovisual and Communication (CSAC) has just suspended Canal + Pop for 45 days throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo as a precautionary measure.
In French-speaking Africa, censorship does not only affect news channels; it also affects entertainment channels. CANAL+POP is currently the victim of this: the CSAC has criticized it for broadcasting the program "The Bachelor," despite a formal ban on its broadcast issued a few days earlier.
It is the very concept of the program that is being called into question, since the ban predates its broadcast: a single man (the Bachelor) must choose his future wife from a group of 20 young women. The bachelor eliminates his suitors over the course of several episodes, ultimately proposing marriage to the final winner.
The CSAC justifies its decision on the grounds that the program contains immoral scenes that are contrary to the customs of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The announcement of this suspension comes a few days after the president of the CSAC presented the President of the Republic with a plan to regulate traditional and social media in order to ensure "media health" in the DRC.
The director of CANAL+ DRC, Mireille Kabemba, has been invited to appear before the CSAC to present her defense within seven days.