All roads led to intense discussion and debate at
the 17th annual Highway Africa Conference.
At a workshop held on Sunday 1 September, delegates
deliberated on the relationship between the media, researchers and civil society
organisations (CSOs).
This workshop featured a panel of representatives
from six African countries.
Ashley Green-Thompson, a former Director of the SA
Network of Trauma Service Providers, and a current consultant of the Southern
Africa Trust chaired the panel discussion.
The Southern Africa Trust which supported the
discussion, is an independent, non-profit agency that facilitates processes to
increase participation in policy dialogue with a regional impact on poverty.
The panellists included the Deputy Editor of New
Vision newspaper, Catherine Mwesigwa Kizza (Uganda), science writer and
journalist, Leoni Joubert (South Africa), the Chief Reporter of the Ghana News
Agency, Linda Asante-Ageyi and the Senior Investigative Journalist at National
Publications Limited (NPL), Wisdom Chimgwede (Malawi).
The panel discussion kicked off with Kizza discussing
the dependence of the media on CSOs because of their affiliation with
grassroots organisations.
Despite the perceived role of the media as a voice
for the voiceless, Kizza criticised the media for being accessible mostly to
the elite who manage and influence news.
Kizza then went on to discuss the goals of New
Vision newspaper who aim to work closely with CSOs to encourage innovation in
society.
Asante-Ageyi reflected on how the collaboration between
her media organisation and CSOs helped to publicize high traces of aflatoxins
in maize and cyanide in water.
She acknowledged however that there is a large gap
between researchers and the media because media practitioners often do not
understand scientific jargon.
She argued that this issue needed to be dealt with
because the media address the inner issues and are the voice of the voiceless.
Chimgwede stated that the media needed to maintain
its independence while in relationship with CSOs and stressed that the stories
presented by the media needed to suit the standards of the newsrooms without
“merging” agendas with the CSOs.
Joubert who has written on issues of sustainability and
poverty built on Kizza’s argument about the elite interests.
She stated that newsrooms only cater for the ideals
of their constituencies who are mostly urbanised and also highlighted the
expense for newsrooms to cater for stories in remote areas. Her view was that
the media needed to push for funding from the CSOs in order to have grassroots’
stories included on the agenda.
Interesting questions and comments bounced around
the room when the discussion was opened to the floor.
Most media practitioners were critical about the
relationship, and raised their concerns about ensuring that stories from rural
areas appealed to people from the urban areas.
Another delegate cautioned against “cognitive
capture” i.e. making the views of the CSO one’s own when reporting.
Green-Thompson probed the panellists for information
on the impact that their collaboration had on policy-change and all agreed that
the impact was minimal yet visible.
The floor and panellists spoke about how news
organisations could maintain their independence by using counter-narratives or
not publishing a story immediately until it was suitable for the agenda.
The panellists also remarked that the marginalised
people of rural areas could be a vital audience to cater to by engaging with
their issues, especially due to concerns that the audiences of print
publications are dwindling.
No comments:
Post a Comment