[3] Under the Third Republic, the CSC oversaw the first legalisation of a free press in Niger's history and the creation of dozens of independent newspapers and radio stations.
This law mandates that the functioning of the CSC is dependent upon the decrees of the Council of Ministers, which in turn is at the approval of the President of Niger.
Between the Coup d'état of 1999 and the creation of the constitution, the CSC was replaced with another agency, the Observatoire nationale de la communication.
On 1 July, a press NGO statement claimed that six of the eleven CSC board members had signed a protest letter over both the closing, and the way in which the decision was taken.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has flatly stated that in 2006 "Authorities also used the state-controlled High Council on Communications, known by its French acronym, CSC, to censor the press.
[14] Since the beginning of the Tuareg insurgency in the north, the CSC has closed a number of outlets, and pronounced blanket bans on coverage of certain topics in the media, and of reporting from the northern part of the nation.
[15] Specific stations have been suspended for the content of their coverage, the topics discussed in on air debates, or simply for reporting on the conflict in the north.
[16] In 2008, the CSC closed broadcaster Radio and Television Dounia for "not respecting the terms of reference": according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, this was a reference to the broadcaster's coverage of the ongoing split in the ruling MNSD-Nassara, where supporters of former chair Hama Amadou are in a power struggle with President Mamadou Tandja.
[17] The International Federation of Journalists has declared that in this case "The High Council of Communication should play its role of regulating the media in the country but it should follow proper procedures...
[18] Amidst the 2009 constitutional crisis, President Tandja decreed on 8 July 2009 that the President of the Council could "take any restraining measures without warning" against a media outlet that "publishes an article or broadcasts information that endangers state security or public order"; he would no longer need the approval of other members of the Council to take such actions.