Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

critical to journalism as well as
to citizens and groups striving
for transparency and openness. It
is essential to good governance,
accountable international relations,
honest business practices and
environmental concerns, amongst
o<strong>the</strong>rs. The earlier demands in
<strong>Windhoek</strong> were that <strong>the</strong> state
should permit <strong>the</strong> right to free
expression through <strong>the</strong> press
and subsequently broadcasting,
and <strong>the</strong>se issues understandably
dominated <strong>the</strong> flavour of <strong>the</strong> two
decades <strong>after</strong> 1991. Today, <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r
side of <strong>the</strong> coin is for <strong>the</strong> state to not
just stay out of unwarranted control
of information in society, but to
also open up its own information
resources for public inspection and
control. That requires governments
practice transparency and also
proactively empower citizens to
access public information, such as by
using (and promoting <strong>the</strong> spread of)
Information and Communications
Technologies (ICTs).
The schema above lays out how
<strong>Windhoek</strong> prompted <strong>the</strong> evolution
of African standards appropriate
to <strong>the</strong> ideal of journalism. It also
points us to investigating in more
depth how actual practice compares
to <strong>the</strong>se standards over <strong>the</strong> past 20
<strong>years</strong>. Accordingly, this brings us
to an assessment of progress since
1991 in <strong>the</strong> conditions for African
journalism, including <strong>the</strong> wider
environment of free expression and
media freedom. Also relevant is an
assessment of <strong>the</strong> state of access
to information. The verdict, as
elaborated below, is that <strong>the</strong>re have
been major improvements in regard
to <strong>the</strong> vision for a free print media,
partial progress in broadcasting, but
still a lot of work needed in regard
to <strong>the</strong> right to information. Warning
lights need to flash, however, in
relation to a general retrogressive
trend in <strong>the</strong> past decade. The terrain
for journalism is still far from
optimum, and new issues are also
arising in relation to <strong>the</strong> spread of
<strong>the</strong> Internet. All of this is explored
below.
3. What we’re looking at:
<strong>Windhoek</strong> 1991 set out several ideal
standards for African journalism to
flourish, and <strong>the</strong>se can be grouped
into in four broad categories. They
are: <strong>the</strong> context, capital, capacity
and knowledge needed for African
journalism to contribute fully to
democracy and development on <strong>the</strong>
continent.
Contextual standards – political,
legal, social:
a) A society should have free and
diverse media institutions: As
a standard, <strong>the</strong>re should be <strong>the</strong>
establishment, maintenance
and fostering of an independent,
pluralistic and free press.
This aspiration was fur<strong>the</strong>r
elaborated in <strong>the</strong> <strong>Declaration</strong>:
(i) independence was from
governmental, political or
economic control; (ii) freedom
was from government control
of materials and infrastructure
essential for production and
dissemination; (iii) pluralism
was specified as being an end
to monopolies and ensuring,
instead, <strong>the</strong> widest range of
media outlets and opinions.
b) There should be professional
and economic freedoms: This
standard requires freedom for
jailed and exiled journalists;
an end to repression against
individual journalists; and
<strong>the</strong> lifting of restrictions (eg.
on newsprint and licensing
systems) that constrain <strong>the</strong>
opportunity to publish and
to circulate media within and
across national borders.
Overview
Tanzania: What’s new in Zanzibar?
A buyer is spoilt for choice as he
scans <strong>the</strong> plurality of titles available
in Stone Town, in 2008. (Photo by
Alessio Rinella, http://www.flickr.
com/photos/rinhello/)
Capital:
a) There should be support:
<strong>Windhoek</strong> urged direct donor
funding for non-governmental
publications, with <strong>the</strong> limitation
that any external support
for state-owned media should
be only “where authorities
guarantee a constitutional and
effective freedom of information
and expression and <strong>the</strong>
independence of <strong>the</strong> press”.
b) Collaboration is needed:
The standard to be striven for
here is cooperation between
publishers within Africa, and
between publishers of <strong>the</strong>
North and South, and support
for <strong>the</strong> creation of regional
African press enterprises.
Media in Africa - 2011 | 17