Journalists associations
In addition to the trade unions of communication professionals, there are also associations of media operators such as the Association des Radios Communautaires de Centrafrique (Association of Community Radios of Central Africa - ARC Centrafrique), the Association des Femmes professionnelles de la Communication (Association of Women Communication Professionals - AFPC), the Maison de la Presse et des Journalistes (House of Press and Journalists - MPJ), the Réseau des Journalistes pour les Droits de l’Homme (Network of Journalists for Human Rights - RJDH), the Réseau des Médias Africains pour la Lutte contre le Sida, la Tuberculose et le Paludisme (African Media Network for the Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - REMASTP) and the latest, the Consortium des Médias Privés de Centrafrique (Consortium of Centrafrican Private Media - COMECA), created in October 2017. Coordinated by Mr Jules Yanganda, COMECA, like the other associations of communication professionals in the Central African Republic, is committed to bringing together all the private media with the aim of reorganising and revitalising the sector.
In order to avoid excessive intervention by public institutions regulating society and the media, the Media Observatory was created in December 2005 at the initiative of the Union des Journalistes Centrafricains (Union of Journalists of Central Africa - UJCA), as a body for self-regulation of the media by journalists themselves. The objective of this association of journalists is to best protect independence and pluralism by making the journalistic profession credible and capable of promoting good standards. In addition, the Observatoire des Médias Centrafricains (Central African Media Observatory - OMCA), with the support of the American NGO Internews, periodically publishes its reports on the state of the media in CAR.
Besides the above-mentioned associations, some journalists and bloggers have created the Association Blogueurs Centrafricains (Association of Central African Bloggers - ABCA). This community of journalists, bloggers, web activists, committed artists and social-network users from the Central African Republic is dedicated to fighting hate messages online. ABCA periodically launches campaigns to fight fats news and hate speech on social networks. For lack of resources, its mission is limited exclusively to campaigns against hate messages on the Internet. Moreover, hate messages conveyed by the supporters of the President of the Republic have never been the subject of criticism on their part. This is a way to avoid pressure from the government.