Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

evenue. This in turn means <strong>the</strong>y
must deliberatively invest more
into improving newsrooms and
editorial work (Rosenstiel and
Mitchell, 2004).
• Restructure <strong>the</strong>ir firms, human
and o<strong>the</strong>r resources to take
advantage of economies of
scale and of geography as <strong>the</strong>
continent liberalises and opens
up to political and economic
change.
• Take advantage of regional
languages such as KiSwahili in
Eastern and Central Africa to
reach bigger audiences with
<strong>the</strong>ir content.
• Draw up policies and operational
systems because, as media
analyst Peter Scholtes (1998)
notes, “more than 95 percent
of your organisation’s problems
derive from your systems,
processes and methods, and not
from your individual workers.”
He continues: “Your people are
doing <strong>the</strong>ir best, but <strong>the</strong>ir best
efforts cannot compensate for
your inadequate and dysfunctional
systems. Changing <strong>the</strong>
system will change what people
do. Changing what people do
will not change <strong>the</strong> system.”
• As much as possible, <strong>the</strong>y
should heed <strong>the</strong> 80:20 principle
because it really works. They
need to establish what gives
<strong>the</strong>ir media firms 80% of
revenue and <strong>the</strong>n focus on this
more than on <strong>the</strong> rest of <strong>the</strong>ir
activities which only give <strong>the</strong>m
20% of revenue.
• Hire managers and leaders who
are keen to learn from <strong>the</strong> mistakes
of <strong>the</strong> past; leaders who
are prepared to tolerate mistakes
of <strong>the</strong>ir staff and accept
that <strong>the</strong>se are critical learning
curves from which success, especially
in innovation, is derived.
These are leaders who,
when confronted by challenges,
90 | Media in Africa - 2011
are capable of ‘reframing’ and
of thriving in conditions of ambiguity
and uncertainty.
“Africa’s media face a
host of forthcoming
challenges if <strong>the</strong>y are
to be sustainable and
relevant in <strong>the</strong> ‘age of
discontinuity’.”
• Cultivate and nurture a strong
culture of transparent accountability.
As can be seen from <strong>the</strong>
recent furore that has accompanied
revelations of <strong>the</strong> suppressed
report on <strong>the</strong> operations
of South Africa’s Sunday
Times, media firms must subject
<strong>the</strong>mselves to <strong>the</strong> same high
ethical standards that <strong>the</strong>y demand
from <strong>the</strong> public.
REFERENCES:
Drucker, P.F. 1968. The Age of
Discontinuity: Guidelines to Our
Changing Society. New York: Harper
& Row.
Rosenstiel, T. and Mitchell, A.
2004. The Impact of Investing in
Newsroom Resources. Newspaper
Research Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1,
Winter, pages 84-97.
Scholtes, P.R. 1998. The Leader’s
Handbook: A Guide to Inspiring
Your People and Managing <strong>the</strong> Daily
Workflow. New York: The McGraw-
Hill Companies.
WAN-IFRA, 2010. Financially Viable
Media in Emerging and Developing
Markets. Paris: WAN-IFRA.