Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

Inserts became <strong>the</strong> means by
which <strong>the</strong>se elusive groups would
be captured. Thus if you look in
most African countries, <strong>the</strong> leading
newspapers have inserts throughout
<strong>the</strong> week. There is <strong>the</strong> inevitable
business and finance pullout but
nearly all <strong>the</strong> rest are dedicated to
what Kenyan editor Jaindi Kisero
calls “fluff” – second-rate lifestyle
stories and fashion. In all of
Eastern Africa, for example, <strong>the</strong>re
is not a single newspaper that has
introduced a public affairs pullout
in <strong>the</strong> last 10 <strong>years</strong>.
Meanwhile in broadcast, aided by
<strong>the</strong> spread of <strong>the</strong> mobile phone,
radio stations went big on call-ins. It
is amazing listening to <strong>the</strong> call-ins.
From Accra to Dar es Salaam, <strong>the</strong>y
are <strong>the</strong> same. You have angry and
passionate callers; agitated, scolding
politicians, teachers, nurses, parents,
journalists, diplomats, priests and
more.
And that is where it stops. In Uganda,
a country with 120 FM stations,
only two approximate being current
affairs and issues-based talkshow
radios – KFM and CBS, which has
been shut down by <strong>the</strong> authorities in
Kampala several times. There cannot
be more than five such stations in
<strong>the</strong> wider East Africa, a region with
over 300 private FM stations.
Most FM stations restrict <strong>the</strong>ir
obligation to allowing <strong>the</strong>se callins.
Because <strong>the</strong>re are so many
stations, <strong>the</strong>re is a lot of noise but
little focus. All this has led to an
instant-coffee effect, where callers
get <strong>the</strong>ir gratification from venting
on air. After that <strong>the</strong>y go home and
sleep soundly, happy that <strong>the</strong>y have
had <strong>the</strong>ir say. There is no conversion
into action or follow-up. Tomorrow
it is ano<strong>the</strong>r topic – perhaps gay
bashing. FM radio, <strong>the</strong>refore, has
become <strong>the</strong> modern opium of <strong>the</strong>
people.
But it’s in <strong>the</strong> competition for
advertising revenues and audiences
88 | Media in Africa - 2011
that <strong>the</strong> most disservice has been
done to good journalism. Apart from
<strong>the</strong> fluff of celebrity news, lifestyle
and sex, <strong>the</strong>re are feeding frenzies
over <strong>the</strong> political catfights. They are
dramatic but <strong>the</strong>y mean little.
Some readers and listeners have
decided to take matters into <strong>the</strong>ir
own hands.
Following a controversial election
in Kenya in December 2007, <strong>the</strong>re
was violence in which about 1 500
people were killed and nearly 600
000 displaced. José Luis Moreno
Ocampo, <strong>the</strong> Chief Prosecutor at <strong>the</strong>
International Criminal Court at The
Hague, has since brought charges
against three senior politicians,
a senior government bureaucrat,
a journalist and a former police
chief for <strong>the</strong> killings and rapes. The
suspects came to be known as <strong>the</strong>
“Ocampo six”.
Early in 2011 as <strong>the</strong>y neared <strong>the</strong>ir
first appearance at The Hague, and
<strong>the</strong>n upon <strong>the</strong>ir return, <strong>the</strong> Kenya
media went in to overdrive with
<strong>the</strong> story. There was nothing else
in <strong>the</strong> newspapers, FM or TV news
– at a time when food prices were
skyrocketing and a famine was
wreaking havoc in <strong>the</strong> eastern part
of <strong>the</strong> country.
Eventually <strong>the</strong> public tired of it all.
People were not tuning into TV news
and a petition, “I support Ocampo
six media blackout” started online.
When <strong>the</strong> petition reached 1 000,
media houses caught fright and cut
and ran, dropping <strong>the</strong> Ocampo Six
story.
It was a remarkable demonstration
of disconnect between <strong>the</strong> media
and public, and also probably a
turning point. With that, <strong>the</strong> media
who are supposed to know better
and “set <strong>the</strong> agenda”, needed to
be taught some basic lessons in
journalism by <strong>the</strong> public.
Meanwhile, big advertisers have
dealt <strong>the</strong> finishing blow. Dictators
still threaten and imprison journal-
ists but most are defiant enough not
to be cowed. Ministers of information
still threaten media and <strong>the</strong>
international media freedom groups
rightly shame <strong>the</strong>se politicians.
However, 20 <strong>years</strong> of free market
economies in Africa have produced
giant banks and Africa’s love affair
with <strong>the</strong> mobile phone has spawned
deep-pocketed and powerful mobile
phone companies.
My sense is that terror by politicians
and security forces accounts for,
at most, about 10 percent of <strong>the</strong>
self-censorship and restriction of
media freedom in <strong>the</strong> more open
African countries. 90 percent of <strong>the</strong>
censorship is done by corporates.
If presidents and army chiefs attack
journalists, <strong>the</strong>y can expect <strong>the</strong>ir
publishers and employers to stand
by <strong>the</strong>m. But if <strong>the</strong> MD of a giant
telco protests at an unfavourable
story, <strong>the</strong>y can expect to be ordered
to publish a groveling apology and
be suspended.
In Kenya, President Mwai Kibaki’s
office might ask a newspaper not
to publish a story, and it will still
be published. However, some of <strong>the</strong>
powerful CEOs can get stories out –
and in – newspapers, radio and TV
at will.
In reality <strong>the</strong>n, African presidents
killed media freedom <strong>years</strong> ago when
<strong>the</strong>y liberalised <strong>the</strong>ir economies and
airwaves. When <strong>the</strong>y arrest and jail
journalists today, <strong>the</strong>y are kicking
people who have already fallen.
Fortunately <strong>the</strong>re are lively websites,
blogs and activity on <strong>the</strong> social media
platforms Facebook and Twitter,
which publish <strong>the</strong> inconvenient
material that mainstream media is
covering up or too afraid to touch.
It’s this digital space which needs
<strong>the</strong> most protection today.