Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
Journalists is that its strength<br />
relies <strong>on</strong> comp<strong>on</strong>ent organisati<strong>on</strong>s<br />
sinking more substantive roots in<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> newsrooms. Many countries<br />
lack labour legislati<strong>on</strong> that would<br />
assist in this task, and it is also<br />
often nigh impossible to bridge <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
divides between those working in<br />
government-c<strong>on</strong>trolled media and<br />
those outside of it, particularly in<br />
politicised and polarised cases like<br />
Zambia and Zimbabwe. Journalists<br />
working for state-owned media are<br />
often employed as civil servants,<br />
which fur<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r complicates <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
organisati<strong>on</strong>al project. Ano<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r<br />
hurdle is weak media ec<strong>on</strong>omics<br />
where very many African journalists<br />
are forced to freelance as individuals,<br />
and as a result are not often<br />
ga<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>red toge<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r in a newsroom<br />
collective. In <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> C<strong>on</strong>go, over <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> last<br />
decade <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re were barely any paid<br />
employees in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> privately-owned<br />
<strong>press</strong>, while even those in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> statemedia<br />
faced permanent delays<br />
in salary payments. 86 Meantime,<br />
fulltime employees have little<br />
bargaining power, and payments<br />
for journalists compare poorly to<br />
o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r professi<strong>on</strong>als. 87 The comm<strong>on</strong><br />
c<strong>on</strong>sequence is to make journalists<br />
more vulnerable to taking bribes. 88<br />
Over 20 <str<strong>on</strong>g>years</str<strong>on</strong>g>, it still remains <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
case that journalists’ capacity<br />
to assert at least basic editorial<br />
independence against owners,<br />
advertisers, sources or powerful<br />
social groups is far from str<strong>on</strong>g.<br />
There is a l<strong>on</strong>g history, dating back<br />
to col<strong>on</strong>ial times, of media being<br />
seen in an instrumentalist manner<br />
by governments, owners or political<br />
movements. For this reas<strong>on</strong>, while<br />
a pluralism of many “tools” serving<br />
as channels for vested interests is<br />
better than a m<strong>on</strong>opoly, it is not<br />
as good as having journalists with<br />
capacity to maintain aut<strong>on</strong>omy<br />
and be shielded by editorial independence<br />
that is guided <strong>on</strong>ly by<br />
ethics. Editorial independence, vital<br />
as it is, is too seldom codified, with<br />
<strong>on</strong>e interesting excepti<strong>on</strong> being in<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> SABC’s Editorial Policies.<br />
Taking stock overall, if <strong>on</strong>e were to<br />
ask if <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re has been progress since<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Windhoek</str<strong>on</strong>g> in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> organisati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
capacity of African journalists as<br />
a c<strong>on</strong>stituency, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> answer would<br />
have to be in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> affirmative –<br />
even if a lot more still needs to be<br />
achieved.<br />
6.3 Ethical capacity<br />
6.3.1 How ethics are practised<br />
across <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> mediascape<br />
Journalism ethics as signalled in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Windhoek</str<strong>on</strong>g> <str<strong>on</strong>g>Declarati<strong>on</strong></str<strong>on</strong>g> make up a<br />
realm in which capacity increases<br />
have happened since 1991, but<br />
insufficiently. In most state-owned<br />
media, journalistic ethics c<strong>on</strong>tinue<br />
to be subordinated so as to favour<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> government of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> day. In<br />
private-owned media, especially<br />
those outlets that take <strong>on</strong> an<br />
oppositi<strong>on</strong>al role or which specialise<br />
in tabloid sensati<strong>on</strong>alism, many<br />
ethical problems persist. Included in<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> list of ills are <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> bribes taken by<br />
journalists. This widespread problem<br />
is known variously as brown<br />
envelope, coupage, soli, gratu,<br />
gumbo, camorra and plugging. It<br />
has corrupted journalistic c<strong>on</strong>tent<br />
through reporters electing to take<br />
underhand payments from sources<br />
who seek “below <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> line” media<br />
play. This is especially serious in<br />
regard to electi<strong>on</strong>s coverage. As<br />
stated by Nigerian journalist Lanre<br />
Idowu, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> effect is that “media<br />
access remains largely determined<br />
by <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> size of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> candidates’ purse<br />
and not <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> richness of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir ideas.” 89<br />
Ano<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r c<strong>on</strong>sequence is that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re<br />
is little incentive, let al<strong>on</strong>e moral<br />
high-ground, to cover corrupti<strong>on</strong> in<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> state or business if it is also a<br />
feature in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> media.<br />
Already in 1996, Panos’s Diana<br />
Senghor wrote that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> new<br />
pluralism for private media had<br />
produced a perverse effect with<br />
Overview<br />
some ethical practices arising that<br />
threatened democratisati<strong>on</strong>. 90 In<br />
her estimati<strong>on</strong>, a decline in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
number of papers in some West<br />
African countries had less to<br />
do with government sancti<strong>on</strong>s,<br />
than public rejecti<strong>on</strong> of unethical<br />
journalism. Ethical violati<strong>on</strong>s, she<br />
proposed, could be examined in<br />
four dimensi<strong>on</strong>s: (i) <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir character,<br />
(ii) which media <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y occurred<br />
in, (iii) <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir victims, and (iv) <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
prescripti<strong>on</strong>s for correcti<strong>on</strong>. She<br />
listed <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> principles as being<br />
most compromised as: social<br />
resp<strong>on</strong>sibility, truthfulness, respect<br />
for human rights, and professi<strong>on</strong>al<br />
integrity. Private media were most<br />
to blame for libel, but all sectors<br />
had media that were overly partisan<br />
to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> point of being unfair. The<br />
victims, she wrote, were largely <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
political elite - something that can<br />
discredit democracy more broadly.<br />
These points remain broadly relevant<br />
in 2011. However, <strong>on</strong>e should be<br />
wary of going as far as academic<br />
Francis Kasoma <strong>on</strong>ce did. He noted<br />
that even <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> little <strong>freedom</strong> of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
<strong>press</strong> which many independent<br />
newspapers were enjoying in 1997<br />
could be drastically curtailed if <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y<br />
c<strong>on</strong>tinued to flout basic ethics. As a<br />
cauti<strong>on</strong>ary note, his point is correct.<br />
But he went <strong>on</strong> to add: “When<br />
this happens, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> irresp<strong>on</strong>sible<br />
independent <strong>press</strong> will be as much<br />
to blame as <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> governments taking<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> drac<strong>on</strong>ian measures to stop<br />
irresp<strong>on</strong>sible journalism.” 91 Kasoma<br />
missed <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> point that governments<br />
that respect <strong>freedom</strong> of ex<strong>press</strong>i<strong>on</strong><br />
are required to tolerate a range of<br />
unethical speech (within democratically<br />
reas<strong>on</strong>able law), and<br />
fur<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r that journalistic speech is<br />
enjoined to be ethical purely <strong>on</strong><br />
a voluntary basis inasmuch as it<br />
claims to be a form of speech that<br />
is “o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r-regarding” ra<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r than<br />
merely “self-regarding”. 92<br />
Media in Africa - 2011 | 31