Academics urge greater pluralism and diversity in African media

JOHANNESBURG: At the two-day expert group meeting organised by ARTICLE19: Global Campaign for Freedom of Expression, members of the Network of Academics on Policy and Regulation for Media Pluralism and Diversity in Africa discussed strategies for raising the standards on broadcasting and media regulation and practice, so that regulators will be able to reach across social and cultural differences on the continent.

Part of the challenge has been that “regulation is done without the full understanding of the goals of policy”, said University of Witwatersrand(Wits) Professor, Tawana Kupe, a founding member of the Network and chair of the meeting. Professor Kupe said that regulation has been out of step with the needs of African people in an era of greater democracy and increased demand for public participation in governance.

“We must increase debate and dialogue to broaden and deepen the meaning of diversity and pluralism and how to make policy that supports that”, said Nadia Bulbulia, also of Wits, and a former Commissioner for the independent communications regulator (ICASA) in South Africa.

Abubakar Siddick Ahmed, a former commissioner from Ghana agrees. He said that broadcast policy in African countries “has tended to be buried under law and so no one knows what to do”. He suggested taking policy out of the legal context to make it accessible for people. “Taking policy out of the strict legal context will sharpen the lens for clarifying what we mean by diversity”, he added.

The importance of clarifying the meaning of diversity and pluralism also resonated for Professor Jamal Eddine Naji of Mohammed V Souissi University, Rabat, Morocco. He recommends that these concepts be generally more democratised by having the relevant dialogue in local languages that people can follow.

Demand for diversity

“Languages of discussion and the capabilities of discussants also need to be diverse, and be linked to content and quality of broadcasting”, he said. He decried the tendency of African governments “to think they are practising diversity just by licensing a couple of private stations to operate alongside state broadcasters.”

Participants at the meeting also considered the impact of media ownership on pluralism and diversity “but without tearing the fabric of the nation”, said Joe Kadhi of the United States International University, Nairobi, Kenya, who also said that “cross-media ownership, fast becoming monopolistic, promotes ethnic separation rather than diversity of voices and ideas.” This is a worrying trend in a number of African countries.

For other Network founding members Julietta Langa, President of the High Council for Social Communication in Mozambique, and Adolf Mbaine, a lecturer at Makarere University in Uganda, the key goal is to enable training and capacity building for regulators and would be policy-makers.

With training materials such as the Broadcasting Pluralism and Diversity: Training Manual for African Regulators designed by ARTICLE19 in consultation with Network members, “the expectation is that broadcasting policy in Africa will gradually attain international standards and best practice in keeping with African context and cultural values”, said Adolf Mbaine.

Article courtesy of http://www.article19.org/