The public broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) has been banned from covering the activities of the Angolan presidency for broadcasting an allegedly biased report.

Last week, while carrying out their duties, two RTP journalists were expelled from the presidential palace in Angola.

The President of the Portfolio and Ethics Commission for journalists in Angola, Luísa Rogério, said that this type of expulsion is recurrent, especially against private media that try to follow the presidency or the government.

"Having this happen to a Portuguese media outlet... gives visibility to something that has been happening on a recurring basis to Angolan journalists. The government itself is going to have some concerns... because the Portuguese media has reacted, the French media has reacted, the international media is drawing attention to this episode," she said, quoted by RFI. "Although Angola has risen four places in the Reporters Without Borders ranking, we still have a country with difficulties in terms of press freedom."

This is not the first time that the Angolan government has clashed with Portuguese media. In March 2017, the television channel SIC was suspended from broadcasting in Angola for airing reports critical of the regime. Now, it's RTP that has lost the privilege of access to the Presidential Palace, after broadcasting a piece about the armed conflict in Cabinda.

"We've had RTP representatives with close ties to the Presidential House, and they've kept the privilege," recalls journalist and Voice of America correspondent in Angola, Coque Mukuta.

"The government has understood that RTP, in some cases, has been going outside the box - for example, telling realities about Cabinda, diseases, problems of access to water. And when there is no alignment with the official narrative, that bothers them," he noted.