Journalism in Africa 20 years on by Guy Berger

1. Journalism in Africa 20 years onby Guy Berger Presentation to conference: World Press Freedom Day, 2011 Media in Africa 20 Years On: Our Past, Present and Future Windhoek 5 -6 May 2011

2. Whose point of view? • Journalists like to see journalists as heroes • Peers in state-owned media are propagandists • Govts like to see journalists as villains • Civil society sees them as flawed heroes • Audiences see some angels, some devils • What African journalists actually are depends on more than perspectives … • It also depends on the real standards at play…

3. Coming up • The difference that a Declaration makes • What to look at since 1991 • Context • Capital • Capacity • Knowledge • Looking ahead

4. An expanding trajectory • 1991: Issues central to newspapers • 2001: Windhoek+10 dealt with broadcasting • 2002: It fed into the broad Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa • 2011: Windhoek+20 on Sept 17-19 in Cape Town focuses on the right of access to information. • Can we do the same as with Windhoek?

5. What’s in a declaration? • Question: why did Windhoek ‘91 invite printpeople? • Question: why was it editorial people, not owners? • Ans: the centrality of the journalistic ideal! • Though newspaper-originated, the “press” in the Declaration covers journalismmore broadly • It’s a declaration by journalists inspired by noble idealism of what journalism is and what it can do. • What did the Declaration“do”? • Ans: It set standards for optimum functioning of journalism

6. What difference did it make? • It’s a gift of journalism freedom from Africa to the world: >100 countries marked World Press Freedom Day this year • What else? Independence & pluralism as standards. • What has been the impact of these standards in terms of the scope/role of journalism in Africa? • This presentation assesses 2 long decades of African journalistic performance against the standards. • Question: Is it the same old depressing story since 1991, or has African journalism become freer, even if not fully free?

7. In overview • In summary since 1991: print conditions much improved; broadcast is better, ATI is lagging. • But if 2 steps forward were taken in the first decade since 91, the most recent decade has been 1 step back in many respects • So, are we going to continue going backwards? • And how will new media affect the prospects?

8. 2. What to look at since 1991

9. 2. What to look at since 1991 Windhoek’s standards: Context, Capital, Capacity & Knowledge • Context: • Free, independent, plural media institutions • Professional and economic freedoms • Capital: • Donor support and collaboration • Capacity: • Organisations, training, ethics • Knowledge: • Research is needed

10. Holistic picture • Context, Capital, Capacity & Knowledge are all interdependent conditions if journalism is to play its fullest role in democracy and development • BUT: Context (political, legal, social) is clearly the most fundamental condition… • So, a conducive context is a necessary, though not a sufficient, condition for African journalism. • And the 1991 Declaration had some gaps that later initiatives have filled in…

11. Expanding on Windhoek standards • Context: • ATI, broadcasting, technology • Capital: • serving marginalised groups • Capacity: • editorial independence, media support groups, self-regulation systems, local content, journalistic expertise, participation by outsiders • Knowledge: • news- and media- literacy.

12. 3. Context: Political

14. 3. Context: Political • More than 100 journoskilled in Africa since 1991 • Mainly in war-torn countries (Somalia) • BUT: Angola, Gambia, Burkina Faso • And many media closures: • DRC, Rwanda last year! • New media (SMS, Internet): Moz, Tunisia, Egypt • Multi-partyism has meant pro-press in rhetoric • In practice, governmental control – and attempts even in Benin and South Africa. • Verdict: widespread progress, but not guaranteed

15. Context: Legal

16. Context: Legal • Constitutions and enabling laws: could be more of them, and less vague provisions • Courts: playing a role, not always positive • Problematic laws still exist: • Criminal defamation • Lese majeste • Very slight improvements; missed opportunities • Licensing journalists: Zim, Botswana, Cameroon, but Nigerians have pushed back • Verdict: legal context is a mixed bag

17. Broadcasting law • Liberalisation common – not national signals • Lack of independent regulation for licensing • Lack of public service requirements of licensees: especially to serve marginalised groups. • Neutrality of state-owned broadcast (& print) is not legally and institutionally enforced • Social context: there’s still a working culture of being government-service media • Verdict: pluralism yes, independence no.

18. Context cntd: ATI, pan-African issues • 5 countries now have ATI laws (SA, Angola, Uganda, Ethiopia and Liberia). • Most states are still opaque, obstructive • Pan-African instruments are lacking. • One bright spot: ECOWAS court has played a role in regard to The Gambia torturing journalist Musa Saidykhan. • Verdict: these issues lag behind progress in other areas of context

19. 4. Capital: the business basis

20. 4. Capital: the business basis • Economic Freedom: States as predatory owners • Unfair competition and abuse of advertising power • Tough logistics and lack of finance • Support: donors,SAMDEF & MDDA have helped • Impact on journalism: • State-owned media chase money at the expense of public service; community media is too weak for journalism. • meanwhile there are tabloid successes • Limited Africa-wide expansion cases • Verdict: some limited progress

21. 5. Capacity as a WindhkDecl standard

22. 5. Capacity as a WindhkDecl standard • Achievements (CNN, Highway Africa awards) • Organisational capacity: some progress • Ethical capacity: • Many problems esp journalism-for-sale • Some improvements • Self-regulation is better understood • Media-support NGOs exist, though fragmented • Specialist journalism expertise is lacking • Gender and other sensitivity is lacking • Verdict: capacity has improved, but long way to go.

23. 6. Knowledge

24. 6. Knowledge • Understanding audiences: Pamro is a start • Business research is lacking (except SPI studies) • Academic research is scarce • Inventive creative experiments are few • Stakeholder knowledge of media and journalism is still much lacking (govts, owners, audiences… even journalists!) • Verdict: we know more than we did in ’91; but we also know how little that is!

25. 7. Assessment • Some overall progress in context, capital, capacity, knowledge. • Data from Freedom House for the first decade: encouraging!

26. BUT: decline over past decade • Increase in Not Free countries, decline in Free ones, and even fewer in the Partly Free category.

27. 8. Looking ahead

28. 8. Looking ahead • New media prospects: • Cellphones are coming of age as media devices • Smart STBs in Digital Broadcasting could be NB • Legacy media institutions need convergence. • So what? When the volume of comms increases, journalism can become harder to control… • But we need to be aware of co-option of telcos and ISPs as agents to be used against journalism

29. Internet freedom in Africa

30. Summing up Windhoek set standards that: • Showed that a government monopoly of comms does not meet a society’s interests in Africa • Opened the way for more media: private mainstream and community media Since then: • Uptake of tabloids and talk radio shows that the new pluralism was still not providing for society’s needs. • Developing uptake of new media will show that even free & plural legacy media are not enough.

31. Journalism as a means to an end: • This logic continues to be valid and relevant.

32. The next 20 years will see more media & even more communications.But: will we be able to get closer to the standards for optimum journalism? Thank you. G.Berger@ru.ac.za