The Courier

Rike Sitas, Dean-Henning. A City (detail), 2004, technique: software application.

“Generally, the African media, whether in the public or private sector, must play their part informing and alerting the public. They must also make the public and government aware of development issues, not only cultural, but also social ones. They have to organise debates rather than sticking to the ‘Ostrich’ principle”, emphasises Mactar Sylla. The degree of difficulty of this task depends on which country you’re in. Without going as far as backing the idea of a fourth estate, it’s essential that the media, whether the written press, television or radio, are able to play the role of informing and guiding the public, relating the facts whatever they may be and whoever is responsible for them.

When you see how they’re used, there’s a basic problem: the majority of public service bodies, ‘State’ media, come across more as their masters’ voices, rather than tools to assist good governance.

“Organising the audio-visual sector”

François Misser: But for years now, in all countries on the continent, journalists have been fighting to get stories out in the open. It’s all very well telling them: “you must inform the citizens”, but isn’t that what many of them are trying to do already? Shouldn't pressure also be put on governments so that journalists have more room to manoeuvre in their work?

Mactar Sylla: Things have to happen simultaneously. Both sides have a part to play. It’s true that many journalists are getting along with their jobs, regardless of where they work and difficulties they have to overcome. But more progress is needed.

Regulation and a legal framework for the audio-visual sector have to be worked on. In countries where there is no legal framework to regulate the sector, no one knows exactly what the public mission is, what the requirements of the job are, what protection they have and what status journalists have. It’s quite clear that when you have none of that, the fight is difficult, not to mention unequal.

“It would be unthinkable to tell a surgeon how to operate.”

FM: To which countries does this apply?

MS: They know who they are. God recognises his own. My own country, Senegal, passes for a democracy. Where are the transparent and clear rules for the setting up private television in Senegal? No one has them. It’s all a bit arbitrary! And the same goes for other countries. When assessing the status quo, there’s a kind of regulatory vacuum. But resolving legal problems is not a panacea. You can’t wave a magic wand. It’s also about the importance placed on communication in my country. Is it an important sector? Does it contribute to development? This doesn’t seem to be the case. Very often it’s a tool for guiding and making the message of the people in power louder rather than a part of culture with a capital ‘C’; a respected profession and dynamic sector. Where there is neither vision, nor strategy, nor policy, all manner of sidestepping goes on, making the task of professionals even harder.
But you mustn’t give up. Journalists have to continue to play their part, whether in the public or private sector, whilst taking their constraints into account.

There’s no point taking unnecessary risks. But I think it will be increasingly difficult to prevent journalists from achieving this level of professionalism, freedom and independence. It’s not a battle for the journalist per se, but a battle for the journalist in his professional role to give the public information about development. The journalist is not an enemy! When there’s a coup d’etat in Africa, after the airports and the presidency of the republic, it’s journalists who keep everything going: the radio, the television and the papers. We are not instigators of trouble, we are in favour of peace; we are agents of development but we must be respected in the way we do our work. Nobody would ever tell a surgeon how to operate on his or her patient. But with we journalists, people tell us how to do our job, what to write and what not to write.

FM: You imply there’s a journalism full of griots or storytellers, puppets of the government out there, but the private press doesn’t entirely come off clean. Some media butter up those who express xenophobic views, you say?

MS: You’re right. Private status doesn’t guarantee professionalism. Many media ventures are not professional. As the English say, sometimes there’s a ‘hidden agenda’. And many are part and parcel of it. Take the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, where there are plenty of papers and television channels, each group at the highest level of power with its own television channel and press following. This brings us back to the question of an overall institutional framework to lay down the rules of the game. These rules must be set up to prevail, regardless of who occupies the places at the very top.