Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

are making <strong>the</strong>ir way into <strong>the</strong>
newsroom.
Who is to blame for this?
The usual suspect is poor salary levels
of journalists. The rationale goes
that in order to make ends meet,
media workers are forced to engage
in moonlighting (informal extra
work) and grab whatever benefit
comes <strong>the</strong>ir way. But researchers
observe that individual journalists
have different attitudes to envelope
journalism; some stand up for professional
decency and reject envelopes
despite meagre pay checks.
“The 100 birr bill
inside of <strong>the</strong> envelope
(USD 6) is no small
money for an
Ethiopian journalist; it
represents up to 10%
of <strong>the</strong> monthly salary
of a regular reporter.”
Journalism history too shows that
<strong>the</strong> media industry elsewhere in
<strong>the</strong> world has offered very poor
economic conditions for reporters
without brown envelopes becoming
common practice. It is <strong>the</strong>refore
tempting to look to social or cultural
dynamics in order to explain why
shady manners are gaining ground.
Thus, for good reasons, societal
trends like petty corruption are used
to explain bribery in <strong>the</strong> media.
The point of danger, none<strong>the</strong>less,
occurs when <strong>the</strong> ethical explanation
turns into an ethical justification.
“Because petty bribery is so common
in rest of society, it may as well be
accepted by <strong>the</strong> media.” Or, at <strong>the</strong>
personal level: “When everyone else
does it, why shouldn’t I take <strong>the</strong>
envelope?”
<strong>Twenty</strong> <strong>years</strong> <strong>after</strong> <strong>Windhoek</strong> it is
138 | Media in Africa - 2011
time to remind ourselves that journalism
has never been comfortable
with adopting to <strong>the</strong> mainstream.
The power of journalism lies in questioning
popular conventions ra<strong>the</strong>r
than endorsing <strong>the</strong> mainstream. Exposing
corruption and unethical attitudes
in <strong>the</strong> public administration
is of little value if media workers
<strong>the</strong>mselves cultivate <strong>the</strong> same type
of activities.
Importantly, professional standards
in <strong>the</strong> African media are not in general
decay. The media are less and
less a mouthpiece for political parties,
and self-regulation is progressing.
To this end, it is interesting to
note that <strong>the</strong> place where <strong>the</strong> professional
community is by far <strong>the</strong>
strongest, South Africa, is also <strong>the</strong>
only place where brown envelopes
are not a common problem.
While <strong>the</strong> route to professional
standards in <strong>the</strong> media previously
went through regulatory bodies, <strong>the</strong>
route today goes through <strong>the</strong> media
<strong>the</strong>mselves. And <strong>the</strong> key is with <strong>the</strong>
individual journalists.
REFERENCES:
Ristow, Bill. 2010. Cash for
coverage: Bribery of journalists
around <strong>the</strong> world. Report, Center
for International Media Assistance,
Washington DC. Available from:
http://cima.ned.org/publications/
research-reports/cash-coveragebribery-journalists-around-world
Skjerdal, Terje. 2010. Research
on brown envelope journalism
in <strong>the</strong> African media. African
Communication Research 3(3),
367–406.