Regional media projects - Southern Africa

Professional Network

By Thomas Tufte

Co-operation across borders in Southern Africa strengthens freedom of the press

If you log on to the web site, MISA, you get an immediate insight into the media situation characteristic of Southern Africa.

A quick glance through the page shows recent problems with freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and media pluralism in Angola, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

The web site belongs to MISA, the Media Institute of Southern Africa, one of the most important organisations working to ensure freedom of the press, freedom of expression, and media pluralism in Southern Africa. Violations of any kind are registered and notice is given to a large circle of contact persons.

The story of MISA is about securing the rightful position of the independent media in the new-born democracies of the region. Ullamaja Kivikuru, media researcher and expert on Africa, has just concluded a report to FINNIDA. In this report, she points out that: “The existence of MISA has been decisive in these processes because the organisation works through a network of national branches and rapidly develops strategies for action plans which are distributed through its well-functioning e-mail service. MISA spreads the word fast, in Africa as well as outside the continent, thereby creating a rather uncomfortable situation for those governments who are still living in the past”.

Salomao Moyane is editor of the independent newspaper “Savana” in Mozambique. He clarifies that freedom of expression and freedom of the press are about ensuring that journalists and media can work independently, free of state control.

“The press should not answer to the governments but to the people, the readers. Some politicians tend to think that we are accountable to governments. We stress the opposite in courses for journalists”.

Regional organisations, such as MISA, NSJ, and not least the regional journalism training centre in Mozambique, have been offering courses for journalists for a number of years.

Journalists' rights and media rights in a democracy have been on the regular curriculum of these courses whose teaching staff has included Salomao Moyane.

By building a professional network of competence and knowledge across borders in Southern Africa, MISA and NSJ have each in their own way played an important role for the independent media and journalists in the region.

Out of isolation

For many years the regional problems have been isolation, lack of contact and of information flow between journalists in different countries. These problems have occurred particularly in South Africa. This was pointed out by Roland Stanbridge, a senior lecturer at Rhodes University in South Africa and a popular lecturer at NSJ. Furthermore, he is the newly elected vice-president of MISA's national branch in South Africa.

“South Africa still suffers from the long isolation which marked its era of apartheid. South African media workers have had very little contact with the media and poor access to information from their closest neighbouring countries. South African journalists have rarely met their colleagues”, Roland Stanbridge explains.

Throughout the 1990s, the most important tasks performed by MISA and NSJ have been joint training of journalists, joint registration of violations against individuals' rights and against the media, establishment of a press bureau as well as support to independent media. These initiatives have brought about greater regional integration. Integration not for the sake of integration itself but for the sake of democracy. MISA and NSJ have contributed decisively to this integration process.

-“In a regional perspective, it is necessary to raise awareness about the fact that we belong to a region. We must create regional norms – joint norms”, states Salomao Moyane, who is not only an editor but, what is more, is the driving force behind the re-establishment of a national MISA chapter in Mozambique.

The Windhoek beginning

Like many other national initiatives in the region, a number of regional media projects were initiated by a UNESCO-supported conference in May 1991 in Windhoek, Namibia. On this occasion, a large number of the region's journalists got together. They adopted the “Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press”. This declaration has later become a milestone and the decisive reference in the fight for a free, independent, and pluralistic press, regionally as well as internationally. Focus used to be on the written press but community radio stations and other local media have budded in many places and have become a media sector which both MISA and NSJ work with.

Both MISA and NSJ were established in the wake of the Windhoek Conference and have received Danish support since the beginning. Danida has granted financial support to NSJ since 1993. The first couple of years, MISA was supported by the Danish development organisation Ibis, but Danida took over in 1997. From 1998 to 2002 Danida will support MISA with a grant of more than DKK 14 million.

Violations

MISA has obtained good results and gained widespread respect for its warning system. The concept is simple and has worked well: when members of MISA learn of violations taking place in their countries, they alert MISA headquarters in Windhoek.

Ullamaja Kivikuru has provided evidence that, from September to December 1998, MISA sent out a monthly average of 44 action alerts on attacks on journalists and media in the region. At that time most of these alleged violations were reported from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, and Lesotho. During the first three weeks of 1999, a total of 42 violations were registered. In every case, it was reports of prohibitions, imprisonment, and alleged episodes of torture inflicted upon journalists. These figures cannot be used directly as a gauge of the condition of the region but they can be used as an indication of which countries are most effective in reporting the violations. Ms Kivikuru's figures speak for themselves: violations still occur.

Despite these gloomy episodes, there is a general agreement that MISA's warning system has been to the benefit of many people.

-“A large number of journalists have been helped in this connection. Without MISA there would actually be a lot of information that just didn't get out”, as Mr Stanbridge from Rhodes University, among others, points out.

Other manifestations clearly point in the same direction: MISA's decisive role in the fight for freedom of expression and for the development of a free press in the Southern African region is exceptional. This is confirmed by Professor Guy Berger from Rhodes University.

-MISA's essential contribution is ensuring freedom of the press, “watchdogging”. In the event of a violation of someone's rights, MISA turns to its network. It is an extremely strong lobby, which makes contact with governments demanding release of journalists and repealing of laws. This is the most important role of MISA. However, it differs from country to country. In South Africa others take care of the political lobbyism.

MISA can thus act as watchdog, research institute, political adviser, and a capacity- building network at the same time. It can also play even more difficult roles. However, with regards to the regional importance of MISA, it is undoubtedly the political work, the job as spokesperson that has been the organisation's most successful function, Guy Berger says.

Regional supplementary training

More than 500 journalists have attended supplementary training courses at the Nordic SADC-Journalism Centre, NSJ. The courses take place at different locations within the region and last up to three weeks. Most of them are in English but a few are also taught in Portuguese.

AnaBela Mazinge, a journalist at the state-controlled newspaper Noticias in Mozambique, attended a NSJ course in reporting. It was a national course held in Portuguese which gathered journalists from the provinces in Mozambique. Ms Mazinge was most satisfied with the professionally very interesting class but raised some objections against the large gap between theory and everyday practice at the newspaper.

“I liked the course but the fact is that our everyday work life is not like that. The initiative is good, however, there is one thing NSJ should consider: it would be good to invite the leaders, the editors of the newspapers, to participate in a course. We (the journalists, ed.) are in no position to change the profile of the newspaper or the way it is written.”

Journalist Lina Mucanse from Mozambique's national Radio speaks highly of the two courses she has attended. An internet course in Malawi five years ago provided her with a network she still can count on and use in her work. “They disclose the world”, she says.

In practice, she uses her contacts in connection with articles on other countries. She often uses the Internet, even though it is a problem that all of the editorial staff share only one access to the Internet.

Actually quite a few editors do attend NSJ courses. Most of them, however, are from the independent media. Ms Mazinge's positive response to the contents of the courses is shared by many of the participants. An evaluation of what former participants got out of the courses shows the same results. The 1998 evaluation was conducted by Guy Berger and one of his colleagues, and gave an overall positive result. A former participant, an editor from a Malawi newspaper, gives an engaged account of his experiences with the course:

-More than any other local, regional, or international media training institute, NSJ has played a dominant and decisive role in guiding Malawi journalists on how produce good journalism. This is the only training institution many reporters have ever been to. If this fact can be related to the sober-minded journalism of the present democratic Malawi then NSJ's campaign can account for more than 60 per cent of the successful outcome. The campaign was launched even before the constitution guaranteed freedom of the press. Before 1996 NSJ was actually the only training institution for Malawi journalists.

“NSJ has supported the exchange of journalists and the creation of conditions for exchange of information”, such is Ms Moyane's belief.

“Not only has NSJ created training opportunities for journalists, it has also given journalists from different countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, and Malawi the opportunity to meet. To a very high degree, this has helped create a sense of community in the region”.

Money and politics

Despite the positive picture painted by many former participants of the courses, NSJ's work has also been difficult. The head of NSJ, Zambian journalist John Mukela, explains that the courses have been almost free of charge, thus entailing a low flow of funds generated from the operations. This choice was made to ensure participation in the courses but has lead to a high degree of dependence on donors.

For the past three years NSJ has operated a department offering to arrange courses for others, including UNESCO. This has generated rather high earnings for the organisation. Mr Mukuela emphasises that in coming years this branch of NSJ's activities will be strengthened. The training centre should be largely self-financed. To ensure this a gradually increased user fee will be introduced.

The relations between NSJ and the governments of the SADC region are a more sensitive aspect of NSJ's difficulties. The governments have not been appreciative of all the courses. For example, some NSJ courses have used certain countries' general election acts as critical case studies. Both Zambia and Zimbabwe have reacted on this. This is one of the reasons why the SADC governments do not wish to help finance the centres in the new period starting spring 2000.

Officially, the financial support was suspended because the governments lack the financial means. Unofficially, a distinct political disapproval is behind this. This has been pointed out by the head of the centre, Mr Mukela, and by independent experts such as editor Salomao Moyane and Professor Guy Berger. However, Mr Mukela states that the centre has always been meant to be financially independent. Independent of donors as well as of the region's governments. This is the overall challenge NSJ is facing in the third project period, starting spring 2000.

New challenges

MISA and NSJ are on the threshold of new challenges. The rapidly growing sector of community radio stations creates new professional challenges while the demand for new technology is on the increase. Apart from this, both organisations ought to expand their existing partnerships with national organisations. According to Jesper Højberg, an external Danida consultant, three essential media sectors should be included in future regional projects. First of all the private, independent sector which, so far, has been confronted with the written press. It consists primarily of media based in state-capitals. Secondly the rapidly growing sector of community radio stations and other local media. These are also independent media but they are located less centrally. Finally, concrete exchanges should be ensured with the existing state-run media in the future. A constructive dialogue and co-operation across the media sector should be established.

The future structure of NSJ is a good example of such co-operation. Starting spring 2000, NSJ will no longer be formally controlled by the 11 SADC-countries' governments. Instead it will become an independent organisation controlled by MISA and by four other organisations and unions: the community radio organisation AMARC Africa, the union of public media of Southern Africa, the Southern African Broadcacsting Association, SABA, the women's media organisation FAMW-SADC, and finally the representatives of a Nordic contact group including Danmarks Journalisthøjskole (The Danish School of Journalism).

According to Jesper Højberg this is a powerful structure ensuring that NSJ has a strong foundation and a large surface of contact in the region.

“These four or five national organisations represent a wide professional constituency in the region. This should yield as much as possible. One example being that the media sector's different players can now discuss regional needs for training in a joint effort.

Both MISA and NSJ are now about to meet new challenges and goals. It is a matter of institutional development but also a matter of creating a wider foundation for the sector. A foundation where national, local, and independent media in co-operation seek to secure a central role for the media in the development of democracy in the Southern African region.

MISA

MISA was founded in 1992 in the wake of the Windhoek-declaration, which was adapted in May 1991 in the capital of Namibia.

In 1994, MISA opened its headquarters in Windhoek and since the beginning Danida has been the main donor. From 1994 to 1998 the total Danish support amounted to DKK 10,624,700. The current project period runs from October 1998 to March 2002. The budget amounts to almost DKK 15 million.

NSJ

In 1993, the Nordic SADC-Journalism Center was founded with the objective to offer supplementary training of journalists in the Southern African region. Since the beginning close ties have existed between NSJ and Denmark. The Danish journalist Karin-Lis Svarre was head of the centre for the first couple of years and Martin Breum, another Danish journalist, has worked at the centre as well. So far Denmark has granted more than DKK 33 million to the centre and is expected to keep up the financial support for yet another project period.

More information

MISA:

Website

e-mail: jeanette@misa.org.na

Phone: +264 61-232975

Fax: +264 61-248016

NSJ

e-mail: nsjdep@sortmoz.com

Phone: +258 1-493400/492293

Fax: +258 1-490880/493389

Above document provided as background for The Drum Beat #57

DANIDA, the Danish International Development Agency, supports communication for development. There is currently a policy revision taking place. These articles and activities indicate pathways for future activities relatingto communication for development. Not all activities are supported by DANIDA.

Inge Estvad (journalist, est@image.dk), Finn Rasmussen (Communication Adviser, IBIS Ecuador, frasmussen@andinanet.net) and Thomas Tufte, Ph.D. (Professor, Roskilde University ttufte@ruc.dk) gathered the material that provides comprehensive insight into the policies and programmes selected.