Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

contrast, <strong>the</strong> ACB was little known
and perceived to have had little
impact in Senegal. Its impact was
also perceived as low in Ghana and
Niger. Despite <strong>the</strong>se variations, it is
likely that media policies in all five
countries have been influenced
by <strong>the</strong> ACB, if not directly, <strong>the</strong>n
indirectly.
On general regulatory issues, <strong>the</strong> ACB
asserts <strong>the</strong> primacy of constitutional
guarantees of freedom expression.
It proposes a three tier model of
regulation — consisting of public
service, commercial and community
broadcasting — and it promotes <strong>the</strong>
establishment of an independent
body to regulate <strong>the</strong> sector.
All five of <strong>the</strong> West African countries
studied have constitutional
guarantees of <strong>the</strong> right to freedom
of expression, but none have a
regulatory body for broadcasting
that is both independent of
government and has decisionmaking
powers for authorisation
and withdrawal of broadcast
licences.
All five countries recognise to
some degree a three tier model for
broadcasting - public service, private
and community. The public service
broadcasting model, however, has
not been strongly implemented and,
except to a limited extent in Ghana,
<strong>the</strong> state/publicly-owned national
broadcasters remain under <strong>the</strong>
control of <strong>the</strong> government in power.
In none of <strong>the</strong> five countries
has <strong>the</strong>re been significant legal
or regulatory reform since 2001
of <strong>the</strong> governance and funding
arrangements for <strong>the</strong> public/state
broadcaster. Where improvement
is observed, it is more likely to be a
result of:
• increased competition for
audience from <strong>the</strong> growing
private broadcasting sector,
• changes in senior management
of <strong>the</strong> broadcasting organisation,
and/or
156 | Media in Africa - 2011
• increased attention by <strong>the</strong>
broadcasting regulatory body
to <strong>the</strong> compliance of <strong>the</strong>
public/state broadcaster with
broadcast content obligations.
Private broadcasting is present in
all of <strong>the</strong> countries. Community
radio is present in all except
Nigeria, where it is recognised in
<strong>the</strong> Nigeria Broadcasting Code but
not yet implemented. Ghana, Mali
and Nigeria have all introduced,
since 2001, formal recognition of
community broadcasting as a sector
distinct from private commercial
broadcasting. This has been through
administrative guidelines in <strong>the</strong>
case of Ghana, law in <strong>the</strong> case of
Mali, and <strong>the</strong> regulatory code in <strong>the</strong>
case of Nigeria. Such recognition
existed already in law in Niger and
in regulatory terms of reference in
Senegal.
All five countries have also
experienced significant growth in
private commercial and community
broadcasting services, with <strong>the</strong>
exception of Nigeria, which is yet
to implement <strong>the</strong> licensing of
community broadcasting services.
The research found that awareness
of <strong>the</strong> ACB was perceived as lowest
among those social groups best placed
to implement its recommendations
— parliamentarians and politicians.
This suggests any strategy for
broadening <strong>the</strong> impact of <strong>the</strong> ACB
should target this group. Country
level surveys that incorporate
<strong>the</strong> ACB recommendations can
assist, such as <strong>the</strong> African Media
Barometer, while o<strong>the</strong>rs that do
not — including those of RSF,
Freedom House and IREX — could
be encouraged to do so. At <strong>the</strong>
continental level, joint efforts to
promote <strong>the</strong> ACB recommendations
by media rights advocacy groups
could contribute to recognition
within <strong>the</strong> African Union, ACHPR
and within <strong>the</strong> African regional
economic bodies.
“None have a
regulatory body for
broadcasting that
is both independent
of government
and has decisionmaking
powers
for authorisation
and withdrawal of
broadcast licenses.”
At <strong>the</strong> same time, a wider
perspective on broadcasting
development would have to address
<strong>the</strong> challenges of digitalisation and
<strong>the</strong> impact of mobile and internet
platforms on <strong>the</strong> distribution of
media content. With international
commitments to digital television
switchover by 2015 for many African
governments, but few with realistic
migration strategies in place, <strong>the</strong>re
is a pressing need for a public
interest review of <strong>the</strong> challenges for
development of an African model
for digital broadcasting and for
utilisation of <strong>the</strong> digital spectrum
dividend.