Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

able to operate free of direct control
of <strong>the</strong> commercial interests, owners,
<strong>the</strong> government or foreign donors.
The concept of editorial independence
assumes that journalists are
professionals and should be allowed
to decide what newsworthy agenda
is as a matter of editorial policy and
professional judgement.
“Much as <strong>the</strong>
freedom of <strong>the</strong>
media to operate
independently of
controls is desirable,
that privilege has
to necessarily go
alongside certain
responsibilities in
<strong>the</strong> exercise of that
freedom.”
This is why MCT resolved to establish
a Think Tank on Freedom of Expression
and Media Issues in its 2007/8-
2010/11 Programme Strategy. The
eight-member high profile team
was formed in 2009 and tasked to
prepare a blueprint on editorial independence
to which all stakeholders
could subscribe.
The process culminated in drafting
<strong>the</strong> Dar es Salaam <strong>Declaration</strong> on
Editorial Freedom, Independence
and Responsibility (DEFIR). In
developing DEFIR, a conscious
balance between freedom and
responsibility prevailed.
The guiding dictum is: Much as <strong>the</strong>
freedom of <strong>the</strong> media to operate independently
of controls is desirable,
that privilege has to necessarily go
alongside certain responsibilities in
<strong>the</strong> exercise of that freedom.
DEFIR is a complementing factor
to <strong>the</strong> code of conduct, as it sets
out clear lines of responsibility for
78 | Media in Africa - 2011
each media player. The <strong>Declaration</strong>
was launched on March 18, 2011
and endorsed by key national and
diplomatic stakeholders.
MCT supports <strong>the</strong> Think Tank by
writing position papers on media
issues, delivering lectures to media
schools as well as conducting live
TV talk shows on issues of public
interest.
In enhancing professional self-
regulation at <strong>the</strong> newsroom level,
MCT also helps to provide demanddriven
in-house journalism training
and <strong>the</strong> development of editorial
style-books.
In this regard, media houses
are supposed to identify weak
professional areas in need of handson
technical intervention, including
<strong>the</strong> need for having standard
editorial style-books.
Aware of <strong>the</strong> dilemma of relying
solely on <strong>the</strong> power of moral exhortation
for upholding <strong>the</strong> codes and
principles, MCT provides distinctive
and practical moral support to <strong>the</strong>
classic concept of media ombudsman.
This is a professional media employee
whose main task is to receive and
investigate complaints from media
audiences about <strong>the</strong> ethical performance
in news coverage.
MCT is promoting this approach
because ombudsmen are better
placed to suggest fitting remedies or
responses to correct or clarify news
reports. We would like to see <strong>the</strong>
mushrooming of ombudsmen across
<strong>the</strong> country’s media houses. They
could work like <strong>the</strong> ombudsman at
The Guardian newspaper in UK, who
publishes a regular list of corrections
and clarifications that respond to
complaints.
Similarly, <strong>the</strong> same post has <strong>the</strong>
power to adjudicate more serious
complaints and change <strong>the</strong> editorial
policy.