Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

elow US$ 5-million. This was
<strong>the</strong> minimum amount required to
grow small and medium enterprises
into substantially larger media
businesses.
Fortunately a number of media organisations
now exist to tackle <strong>the</strong>
challenge of media development in
Africa in its purest form — developing
<strong>the</strong> business skills of <strong>the</strong> media.
This is ra<strong>the</strong>r than only addressing
<strong>the</strong> media law and policy and journalism
training environments.
The best known of <strong>the</strong>se is <strong>the</strong>
Sou<strong>the</strong>rn African Media Development
Fund (Samdef) in Botswana
which focuses on non-state media
in <strong>the</strong> SADC states. Efforts have
been underway for some time to
establish a West African Media
Development Fund (Wamdef), but
progress has again been hampered
by donors who are reluctant to
make development aid available for
this purpose.
On a pan-African level <strong>the</strong> African
Media Initiative (AMI) was established
in 2008 to streng<strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong>
continent’s private and independent
media sector from an owner
and operator perspective in order
to promote democratic governance,
social development and economic
growth.
The Association of Independent
Publishers of Sou<strong>the</strong>rn Africa (AIP-
SA) is ano<strong>the</strong>r highly innovative organisation
in which small grassroots
media share best practices, business
training and advertising skills.
To make media pluralism effective
and sustainable, in <strong>the</strong> interests of
press freedom, we need more of
<strong>the</strong>se kinds of initiatives.
Section 3: Independence
Networking editors is key
to media independence
By Rosemary Okello-Orlale
Rosemary Okello-Orlale is <strong>the</strong>
executive director of African
Woman and Child Feature
Service (AWC). She is also
secretary to <strong>the</strong> Kenya Editors’
Guild and treasurer of <strong>the</strong>
African Editors’ Forum.
“As editors you occupy positions of
great eminence. You have a voice
and are in control of means by which
to make that voice heard. What
you say and do today is <strong>the</strong>refore
one of <strong>the</strong> determinants of what
South Africa will be tomorrow.”
This statement was made by Thabo
Mbeki during <strong>the</strong> inauguration of
<strong>the</strong> South African National Editors’
Forum on 19 October 1996.
The observation by Mbeki, Deputy
President of South Africa at that
time, captures <strong>the</strong> role of <strong>the</strong>
editors especially within <strong>the</strong> African
context. Despite <strong>the</strong> huge challenges
that media and journalists face
every day, editors determine how
<strong>the</strong> continent is perceived. As <strong>the</strong>
gatekeepers in media houses, <strong>the</strong>y
have <strong>the</strong> power to decide what <strong>the</strong>
public should read, when and how,
and to an extent <strong>the</strong>y also decide
what <strong>the</strong> public should not know.
Their role in what voices people
hear and what information people
get is generally managed through
editorial policies, <strong>the</strong> use of a code
of ethics and efforts to ensure a
high level of professionalism in
media content. Due to <strong>the</strong> nature
of <strong>the</strong>ir work, editors are always
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