Do the Media Matter? (2)

Public Agenda (Accra)

Amos Safo

I am glad that part one of this article was well received not only in Ghana, but internationally, judging from the comments I got on the net. In this second part and in subsequent editions, I will continue to use excerpts from the study by Internews Europe and Global Forum for Media Development titled "Media Matters."

In today’s edition we shall look at crosscutting issues that affect the effective operation of the media. Let me state clearly that the obstacles the media face in one country are virtually the same in many countries across the world, even in the developed countries.

The study captures argument of Monroe Price, of the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Peter Krug of the University of Oklahoma College of Law that bad law is not the greatest threat to media freedoms, it is rather administrative acts which apply the law arbitrarily or beyond its proper legal boundaries. We in Ghana woke up on Friday (July 10) morning to hear the sad news that a reporter of Radio Gold, an FM station was beaten to the point of death by self-styled city guards, simply because he insisted on reporting the demolishing of structures along the streets belonging to petty traders. The demolishing exercise was being done to sell Accra as a clean city to visiting US President, Barrack Obama. No law in Ghana bars reporters from reporting on any event, it is the poor use of official discretion that in many instances have denied journalists access to information.

Media Democratisation

How independent media contributes, or not, to democracy and governance is one of the most pertinent questions facing policymakers in this sector. When it suits politicians they acknowledge that media have a critical role in upholding the ideals of democracy. The same politicians in our part of the world want to hang the media when their misdeeds are exposed. The media are called all sorts of names and threatened with court fines. In fact in the eighties and the nineties the trend of legal suits against journalists in Ghana by politicians and the courts ruling almost always in favour of the politicians sent the right signals that the judicial system was becoming a willing tool in the hands of politicians who were bent on stifling media freedom. I remember in 1998, journalists went on a demonstration to the Supreme Court of Ghana to protest the judiciary’s heavy handedness against journalists.

In the study under review, Ann Hudock of the Asia Foundation presents a challenging analysis of the notion that independent and economically sustainable media necessarily or by definition contribute to democracy, and calls for new strategic measures beyond support to mainstream media in ways that give greater voice to marginalised groups. Hudock shows how the maturing of the democracy and governance field, the events of 9/11 and the emergence of new technologies that are threatening the pre-eminence of traditional media outlets have fundamentally altered the context for the provision of media assistance. I couldn’t agree more with her. In Ghana it is a common practice for governments to impose heavy taxes on newsprint as a way of stifling newspapers. After the change of government in January 2009, one of the items that attracted high price changes was newsprint. As a result many newspapers that couldn’t afford the newsprint had to fold up. The last time I counted, as many as ten newspapers had folded between January and May 2009.

Journalism Representation and Press Freedom

The link between the poverty alleviation agenda and press freedom is inextricable. In view of Christopher Warren of the International Federation of Journalists, core concerns of journalism unions around the world – such as collective voice, the promotion of professionalism, safety and ethics, the combating of corruption, fair wages and labour rights – must be integrated into the poverty alleviation agenda in order to support press freedom and sustainable poverty alleviation. "Through supporting local journalists’ trade unions, press freedom is strengthened. And through strengthened press freedom, poverty alleviation becomes a more achievable aim", he argues. In fact, it is worth noting here that it is newspapers that are worse affected by most of these operational difficulties. Arguably, radio and TV incur less costs than newspapers, and to the extent that newspapers all over the world still set the agenda for radio and TV to discuss, I strongly believe that when the last newspaper dies, the last voice will die. The last voice in my view is the voice whose plight needs to be heard by duty bearers.

Affordable Capital

The challenge of how local independent media can remain financially and editorially autonomous in emerging democracies is the biggest challenge confronting the news media. This view is excellently illustrated by Sasa Vucinic of the Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF). He outlines the reasons why affordable capital is not available to media businesses, and the experience of the MDLF in tackling the issue of undercapitalisation through its US$50 million loan portfolio. May I ask what percentage of such funds have come to African media in particular. I am nonetheless supportive of Vucinic’s call for such initiatives to be scaled up, as they represent a drop in the ocean of demand for low-cost capital from the sector.

To poor media in developing countries that desperately need to break even, covering global issues, such as climate change, international trade negotiations or global governance of ICT is not appealing, in as much as they do not appeal to the reading public. In Ghana for instance, it is hot political news and sports that sell; which explains why there’s been very little reporting on development issues.

Perhaps, Teresa Hanley, John Barnes and Murali Shanmugavelan, of the Panos Institute London were spot on when they concluded that the lack of coverage of serious issues such as climate change, good governance and health brings with it serious implications for governance and policy makers: "Limited media engagement may contribute to reduced public support for policy decisions which at first sight do not seem to be widely beneficial in the short term – such as the allocation of funds to enable adaptation to climate change – but are crucial in the long term, setting up a situation where development may be hindered", they argued.

According to the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group, the global health sector has become the lead global sector in terms of mobilising of multilateral partnerships such as the Global Fund to Fight TB, AIDS and Malaria and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations (GAVI). However, Ron MacInnis of Internews Network explains how both global and national public health frameworks are doing little to develop the indigenous capacity of media professionals (journalists, editors and owners) to report on health in an informed and appropriate manner.

Key issues affecting media development in poor countries include:

*Low pay for journalists, low professional standards, and insufficient resources for investigative coverage are pervasive. African newsrooms, for instance, face a high turnover of staff, and are haemorrhaging experienced practitioners, who are pursuing more lucrative careers as public relations officers, according to Jeanette Minnie of Zambezi FoX.

*The rise of new media is corroding the economic models and dynamics of established media. Jaime Abello of the Fundacion Nuevo Periodismo Iberoamericano finds, for example, that in many parts of Latin America, the internet is reframing the relationship between media and audiences and heightening a perception in the continent that traditional mass media operate more as "power-players than as services to their citizens."

These advances are occurring in the wider context of successful defences of press independence, such as that of the victory of the Mathichon newspaper in Thailand. The efforts of dedicated journalists to hold their governments to account through the kind of investigative reporting that resulted in the first imprisonment of a government minister in Malawi for the misuse of public funds are testimony to the positive change that the sector is catalysing. These gains, although not negligible, remain isolated and vulnerable to reversal, and in order for them to be consolidated, replicated and scaled up, concerted support to the professionals working to achieve them is required.