Luanda, May 16, 2025 (Lusa) - The Angolan presidency accused Portuguese broadcaster RTP on Friday of "victimisation", stressing that access to the Presidential Palace was blocked due to "biased news" and that the television station “ignored” the previously communicated decision.
A team from RTP in Luanda was "expelled" on Tuesday from the Presidential Palace before a meeting between the President of the Republic, Joao Lourenço, and the leader of UNITA (Angolan opposition), Adalberto Costa Júnior, a decision vehemently repudiated by the television station, journalists' unions in both countries and the Portuguese government, which "seriously regretted the situation, stressing that "Portugal deeply respects freedom of the press".
In a statement published today on its official Facebook page, the Angolan Presidency states that RTP has followed "almost exclusively" the activities of the Angolan government over the years, but that "due to biased news" broadcast by the station, the Angolan government has decided to end its privileged access to the Presidential Palace.
The presidential statement said that RTP was notified on 15 April 2025 of the "cessation of its coverage of events at the Presidential Palace", a decision "ignored by RTP", which showed up at the Palace press room "even though it knew it was not on the list of authorised media outlets, and was therefore asked to leave the premises, contrary to what was reported in the Portuguese press".
"No Angolan journalist or television channel dares to enter a Presidential Palace without being accredited to do so", the Angolan presidency emphasised, adding that it finds "this campaign of victimisation, which does not enhance the ties of friendship and cooperation between the two countries", strange.
In a note sent to Lusa on Thursday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that "Portugal deeply respects press freedom and therefore seriously regrets the situation that occurred with RTP in Luanda," adding that "the Portuguese government will convey its position through the appropriate diplomatic channels to the Angolan authorities."
For its part, RTP expressed "deep concern and vehement repudiation" of the "expulsion of the team".
"Despite being duly accredited and in the legitimate exercise of their journalistic function, RTP professionals were removed from the press room, in a selective and discriminatory action that contrasts with the presence of other journalists," reads the RTP protest note, which considered the Angolan authorities' attitude "an attack on press freedom and a flagrant violation of the fundamental principles of journalism and democracy."
"RTP was also excluded from the WhatsApp group of the Presidential Press Centre, the official means of disseminating the institutional agenda of accredited media outlets" in Angola, the Portuguese television station lamented, reiterating its solidarity with its professionals.
Portuguese and Angolan journalists' unions also condemned the case, with the Angolan Journalists' Union urging the Press Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Angola to "retract and reverse the measure".
RCR/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
