May 3, 2010
By Elias Mhegera, Dar es Salaam
IT has been established that journalism in Africa will continue to face serious challenges of lacking qualified personnel if the working environment will not be changed in order to attract the intelligentsia.
All the ten presentations that were made from the representatives of the Eastern and Southern Africa on May 2-3 indicated that it has been difficult to retain media personnel with good qualifications in the media houses.
They said that the working environment is very unfriendly to the extent that those who are well trained tend to get experience and ran away in search of ‘greener pastures’ in other fields and organizations.
These therefore prompted attendants to come up with a declaration here termed as the “Zanzibar Declaration of Eastern and Southern Africa Conference on Freedom of Information: The Right to Know”
The declaration is a synthesis of representatives of journalists, trade unions, associations, media organizations, press freedom agencies and other media stakeholders.
The countries represented were Burundi, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda.
The conference was organized by the Media Council of Tanzania, Media Institute of Southern Africa-Tanzania chapter, UNESCO, the Eastern Africa Journalists Association with the support of the United Nations System communication unit, in Tanzania
The conference amongst other things it re-affirmed the significant role that the media play in the collection and dissemination of information, education, and entertainment.
It further reiterated that freedom of information is a fundamental right, and essential to the development of human society and to the realization of other freedoms set forth in international human rights instruments.
In the same line it acknowledged the Declarations of Maputo, of Medellin, of Windhoek, of Alma‐Ata, of Sana'a, of Santiago, of Dakar and of Sofia, which stress that establishment, maintenance and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free press is essential for democracy and for development;
The declaration also reaffirmed its strong condemnation of violence and animosity against media workers and other forms of harassment particularly the killing them and detention of media professionals incommunicado.
It maintained to the reality that freedom of expression and access to information is essential to democratic discourse and open and informed debate, thereby fostering government transparency, accountability, peoples’ empowerment, mutual understanding, reconciliation and citizens’ participation in governance.
It was deeply concerned about the great risks and dangers that media workers face in Eastern and Southern Africa, including harassment, cruel and degrading punishments, torture, intimidation, death threats, imprisonment, abductions, arbitrary arrests, killings and unlawful detention.
The declaration recognized the importance of solidarity and regional networking among media professionals as a vital source of protection for freedom of information and freedom of the press and the right to free expression, and professional and editorial independence, and courage.
It was as well deeply concerned with the appalling working conditions in which media workers operate in the eastern and southern Africa region.
It took into great consideration problems caused by the deep-seated gender inequalities and the specific risks that woman journalists face such as sexual harassment, gender discrimination, and other forms of pressure exerted upon women journalists by different actors.
Further the declaration called for governments in Eastern and Southern Africa to urgently reform laws that impede the flow of information and those that are used to violate media freedoms.
In the similar bid it called for the same governments to support the work of journalists unions, associations, media groups and press freedom organizations for the protection of media professionals and to develop a climate of respect for the work of media.
Similarly it called for the same governments to urgently put in place legal and policy guarantees to ensure safety and security of media workers and their establishments, and to stop the culture of impunity following criminal acts against journalists and media organs.
The declaration called for the Media owners in the said zone to urgently put in place policy guarantees to ensure safety and security of journalists employed in their media organizations.
It also called for those governments to pay particular attention to the need for freedom of information in their respective countries and to support the efforts of the media community in the promotion and protection of freedom of information, press freedom and freedom of expression.
The media industry body called for the support from the international community, governments, inter‐governmental organizations and UN specialized agencies, donor organizations, UN Field Presences and Country Teams working in the respective countries.
Also the body prioritized strategies and programmes that would promote freedom of information, safety of journalists, ethics, professionalism, and support for journalists groups and press freedom organizations.
The conference additionally resolved to undertake and promote the practice of ethical and responsible media for the social, cultural and economic development of the said region.
It as well resolved to inculcate the culture of accountability and equity in the promotion and practice of sound and beneficial gender policies for the social, cultural and economic development of the Eastern and Southern Africa region.
Moreover the conference asserted the need for the media to champion for peace and democracy which could only be sustained if citizens have access to the information they need to be self-governing.
Therefore freedom of the press was seen as an instrumental component in the expansion of societal coexistence, stability and democracy throughout the developing world.
Media workers were required to protect and expand the same by providing the public with the information and knowledge needed to make their governments or authorities transparent and accountable.
Media organizations and unions of journalists in collaboration with non governmental organizations were asked to provide a secure forum within which media community are able to share best practices.
This is together with the zeal to protect themselves from corruption and safety hazards, and to raise the professional standards in their field.
It was observed during the conference that the media in several countries in Eastern Africa is underdeveloped, highly fragmented and partisan and insufficiently financed.
Prolonged and unresolved tensions among warring factions still determine much of what happens in the sub-region. Security forces, independent gunmen, warlords and extremist mullahs continue to threaten media workers and the survival of the media.
Many media workers have been forced to flee their countries. Somalia and Eritrea continue to stand out as two of the most dangerous countries in world for journalists.
This is made worse by the continuing culture of impunity for those committing and threatening violence against the media.
Worse still according to the records that were submitted is attacks and attempts to silence journalists have been directly related to their free and fearless reporting.
It was disclosed that there is no private media in Eritrea and all independent voices are in jail or have fled from the country.
It was observed that in the same region, media has played an increasing role in mobilizing population groups behind their leadership in violent conflicts.
In Somalia, Rwanda and other countries, the local media have turned a blind eye to societal inadequacies and the political or economic root causes of conflicts.
During the escalation of conflicts, the media have contributed to it by perpetuating prejudices, stereotypes and hate speech against other parts of the population using tribal, ethnic, religious or cultural identities as rallying cries.
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