Afrique Media accused of defamation

The french operator was indexed as making defamatory statements during a programme on the Pan-African channel.

The channel Afrique Media has been removed from the bouquet of the french operator, Canal Sat. The reasons for the withdrawal were founded in a correspondence from Jacques du Puy, president of Canal+ Overseas, dated April 29, 2014.

Addressed to Justin B. Tagouh, president of Afrique Medi. The letter stated that, "serious defamatory accusations were brought against Canal+ Afrique by your company, via programmes within your Channel Afrique Media on several occasions, precisely, on April 24, 2014."

Patrick Eya'a, Director of information at Afrique Media, a Cameroonian channel, said that this issue of April 24, a "Pan-African debate", a multiplex of six hours with several panelists in different countries, broadcast generally on Sunday. "At this time, there was a signal problem, while we were talking about Côte d'Ivoire", he said.

The correspondence of Jacques du Puy continued, "Indeed, during a broadcast aired at 20 h 35 on your antenna, one of your speakers, Mr. Patrick Sapack, held the slanderous remarks that our society would have perceived us as an African State "the tidy sum of 2 billion offered precisely to CanalSat to sabotage the dissemination of Afrique Media... ”.

This charge of voluntary interference was simply unacceptable to the president of Canal Overseas, who believes that these statements are an infringement of the honour of the group he represents. Therefore, the contract signed between the french operator and Pan-African television, which matured on July 29, has not been renewed in accordance with the warning of the correspondence of Jacques du Puy.

They have directly written to say that they would terminate the contract", revealed Patrick Eya'. He added that, "It is a pretext to eliminate a string that they find inconvenient, as we denounce the continent's real problems."

Nevertheless, Afrique Media executives have a plan B. Through their partnership with other operators. Their signal is now sent inter alia, by Rascom, its Astral or Eutelsat, Beninese Distributor.