The Media Missionaries

6. AFRICA

REGIONAL OVERVIEW

No region needs more help with media than Africa. Most of Africa has fragile democracies, weak institutions, widespread illiteracy, little access to technology, and a health crisis. In order to bolster accountability in African countries, independent, professional journalists are critically needed.

Yet state control of broadcast media is rampant, and there are very few trained independent broadcasters in Africa. There are a number of skilled print journalists, but most populations are unable to access newspapers. Journalists are poor and often don't have the means to carry out their trade. They operate on a shoestring, often with antiquated equipment.

Nevertheless, some Africans can-and do- make money in the media, particularly in radio. (2) And journalism can make an impact on democracy. Ghana and Senegal are success cases, where media really changed the way the countries work, according to Joan Mower, who headed the Freedom Forum's international programs.

RADIO: THE HOTTEST MEDIUM

The most popular and accessible medium is FM radio; call-in shows are the most typical kind of news/radio program. There is a great need to develop radio news. Where this has been done, such as Burundi, it has been a big success. (3) Yet "this market is ignored by the donor community," said Mower. "No money is being directed toward getting quality newscasts on these private, money-making radio stations" such as Joy FM in Ghana or Radio Phoenix in Zambia.

Most radio in Africa started as AM, government broadcasting, especially in the Francophone countries. In the intellectual environment of the 1970s and 1980s, subnational identities became a strong force. In Zaire and Congo, for example, FM could be used by ethnic, religious groups because it was cheaper, clearer, but with just a short, 13-mile radius. In Nigeria, Muslim fundamentalists set up FM stations. When Congo was breaking up, people were afraid; they turned on the radio but there was no radio voice to speak to the nation as a whole. (4)

The Dutch and Americans have helped strengthen FM capacity, but no plan to network the FM stations has been put into place. A proposal to start a U.S. "Radio Democracy for Africa," like VOA, was approved by the House but not the Senate. It's "back to square one" on that project, said Susan Rice, former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. (5)

Most African nations have a number of competing television stations, which show American fare with some French, British and other programming. The western media viewpoint is now widely available. This has engendered "a natural resentment of the obvious richness" of America, observed Amolo Ng'weno, a creator of Africa Online, a successful Internet service. The feeling is not anti-Western, but rather a sense of the arrogance of the Western politicians. "There's an idea that when you have so much, having a few problems is probably not a bad thing," he said, referring to the African reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks. (6)

INTERNET: THE NEXT GREAT MEDIUM

Internet access and policy are at a critical stage here. "The potential of Internet in Africa is staggering," concluded a recent Carnegie Corporation magazine cover story. Four years ago, only 11 African countries had any Internet access at all. Now all 54 of them have permanent connections and a competitive ISP market is growing across the continent. (7) Africa's information famine can be eased through the "leapfrog" technology of the Internet, the article predicted. African Virtual University (AVU) based in Nairobi, Kenya (http://www.avu.org), has linked students from 24 African universities to classrooms and libraries worldwide. Over 10,000 free email accounts have been opened by AVU but students must pay for the courses.

In Togo, Internet-based telephone services are springing up where no telephones have been before. Craft makers are selling their goods all over the world via PeopleLink (http://www.peoplink.org) and a women's fishing cooperative in West Africa is finding and negotiating prices with overseas buyers via the Internet for its 7,350 members.

"Even in the poorest sections, (Internet) is too cheap to ignore. It is more cost-effective for the poor than the rich," noted Daniel Wagner of www.literacy.org. Literacy and technology are becoming interdependent. The technology must be consumer oriented and context/culture sensitive, he said. Development people need to focus on the bottom quarter of the 'digital divide," because "the upper 3/4 will take care of itself." Yet most information technology developers are looking after not the poor, but the middle class, because that's where they have the biggest chance of commercial success.

Africa has an estimated ratio of one Internet user for every 750 people outside South Africa, which has more; this compares to a world average of about one for every 35 people. (In North America, it's about one in three.) (8)

Obstacles to information in Africa include the absence of a telephone infrastructure, lack of an educated workforce with language and technological skills, and political policy. "African governments are the big barrier to progress in this area as in most areas," said former United Nations aid worker Nancy Hafkin. (9)

Connecting and empowering news organizations to be part of the Internet helps make them a force for change, according to Tim Carrington of the World Bank Institute. In Zambia, for example, people downloaded a banned newspaper and passed it out on the streets. (10) Institut Superieur des Sciences de l'information et de la Communication (ISSIC) in Senegal is one of the institutions teaching journalists computer-assisted reporting and Internet skills.

MEDIA TRAINING NEEDS

Most of the media development work in Africa has been done by European organizations and the U.S. government, which has funneled much of its media development aid through the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) organization. From 1985 to 1993, Africa also accounted for about half of ICFJ's work. (11) ICFJ has sent 27 Knight fellows to nine countries in Africa over the past seven years. ICFJ helped reform the technical universities (Technikons) throughout South Africa, developed journalism school curricula in Ethiopia and Botswana, and run anti-corruption training in Nigeria. They have strengthened media centers in Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, Senegal and Uganda, and developed community radio throughout South Africa. ICFJ's new McGee Journalism Fellowship in Southern Africa will send a fellow to southern Africa each year.

Connecting journalism and legal groups regionally can help head off repressive new laws in a given country. MISA headquarters in Namibia signaled to Botswana that a repressive media law was about to be passed; the Botswana chapter had missed it. International help is also important. "Without the international spotlight, international pressure, the local policy work is not effective," concluded Ann Hudock of World Learning, a USAID contractor doing international media development. (12)

The African press follows the European tradition, with newspapers that tend to be highly partisan. News about politics dominates most newspapers. Government papers espouse the government line; others reflect the opposition parties. In some countries, such as Angola and Rwanda, there is no notion of reporting both sides of a story.

African journalists generally want more training, ranging from how to use a keyboard to website development. Basic writing skills could be improved, as well as copy-editing, which often is ignored. Investigative reporting is rarely based on multiple sources or crosschecking of information. It tends to be in the form of "leaks" from a politician.

Economic reporting tends to be press-release-based, from either the government or companies, with little analysis. Environmental reporting is almost non-existent, but desperately needed. Dakar, Senegal, for instance, is littered with plastic bags, but stories on this subject rarely surface. (13) Management training in the media business is needed.

Despite a huge increase in AIDS awareness, reporting on health and women's issues is spotty, with few features or in-depth stories about what is really going on in the health world. Papers generally don't have "women's" or "health" sections. Taboos are rampant, particularly about AIDS. One promising area is in U.S. grants for radio projects, which, in the name of teaching Africans "how to be great deejays," encourage programming about HIV/AIDS education.

Capital infusions of printing presses and computers would be very helpful, but the donors need to be accountable and not just dump used presses that will fall apart. Policy efforts and legal help are needed in coordination with existing groups. In Nigeria, for example, there is a very general, weak claim to press freedom under the Constitution, but it doesn't amount to anything in reality. (14)

AFRICA LESSONS LEARNED AND UNMET NEEDS

1. 1. Radio journalism training is a very promising area for assistance. This is the favored medium in Africa, yet news programming is poorly done. One place to make a difference might be helping Zambian Mike Daka of Zamcom start an independent radio station, which focuses on news.
2. Internet training and support could play an important role in independent media and democracy development.
3. Bottom-up initiatives work far better than top-down ones. The most popular programs are homegrown.
4. Computers, paper, pens and other supplies are always needed (except perhaps in Johannesburg.)
5. Basic workshops-reporting 101-are needed almost across the board. How to write a lead, how to interview an ambassador, how to find available information; how to report both sides of a story, all need to be strengthened.
6. Media resource centers also are useful in some countries.
7. Workshops on graphics and design also would be helpful. Papers tend to be sloppily laid out, with little thought or logic to story/ad placement.
8. Journalists need to be encouraged to help break the taboo against HIV/AIDS. They also need help figuring out how to cover the environment and the economy.
9. Ethiopia needs special help.
10. In Rwanda and elsewhere, good printing presses (not used presses that fall apart) would be very helpful.
11. Repressive laws should be addressed and endangered journalists supported throughout Africa, in collaboration between international groups and local journalism organizations.