Complaint
A reader complained that this article was inaccurate in three main respects – in saying Joseph Kabila backed Félix Tshisekedi in the disputed 2019 election in the Democratic Republic of Congo; in not making clear at first reference or in the caption of a photograph of Mr Kabila that he had been sentenced “in absentia” by a military court; and in not accompanying the statement that “both sides have accused the other of breaking the [ceasefire] ” with appropriate attribution and dating of the contesting claims. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the 91’s editorial standards of accuracy.
Outcome
The ECU considered that, while further information about the claims of ceasefire breaches and the circumstances in which Mr Kabila had been sentenced would have given readers a fuller picture, its absence did not result in them being materially misled in this context and did not breach the 91’s standards of accuracy. The ECU accepted that the article had been in error in saying Mr Kabila had backed Mr Tshisekedi in the 2019 election, but considered that a correction to the article made by 91 News in response to the complaint, with the addition of a note to make clear that “Kabila publicly backed Tshisekedi after the 2019 elections, and not before” was sufficient to resolve this aspect of the complaint.
Resolved