Southern Africa: What has gender got to do with media freedom?

This 3 May marked 20 years of the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting Independent and Pluralistic Media, which was endorsed by UNESCO and the United Nations General Assembly in 1991. This endorsement ultimately led to the creation of 3 May as "World Press Freedom Day".
In 1991, heavy state control characterised much of the African media landscape. Following the Windhoek Declaration, things began to change. Acknowledging that media freedom is a necessary condition for democratisation, many African countries mainstreamed this into their constitutions in the first decade following the Declaration. At the Windhoek +10 conference in 2001, the right to press freedom was extended to include broadcasting freedom, which was brought about through the adoption of the African Charter on Broadcasting. The Charter in turn fed into the influential Declaration of Principles of Freedom of Expression, as adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights of the African Union.
However, the media landscape envisaged in the Declaration of 1991 is still far from being realised. This is due to various new laws and bills which ultimately threaten freedom of the media. For instance, in February 2011 the Malawi government enacted the Newspaper Ban Law which allows the information minister to ban publications deemed contrary to the public interest. In South Africa, a Media Appeals Tribunal was tabled in 2010 and, if approved, will be tasked with overseeing complaints brought against the press, which until now has been self-regulatory. These laws and others continue to infringe on the freedom of the media and undermine democracy.
The Declaration also addresses other pertinent issues such as freedom of information and expression, free flow of ideas by word and image, independent and pluralistic press, repression of media professionals, and establishment of associations that safeguard the fundamental freedoms in the Declaration and training of journalists. What strikes me when I read the Declaration today is that it puts women and men in the same bracket of media freedom.
Whereas media freedom has been understood to mean the absence of political censorship, there are many other ways in which citizens may be denied the right to be heard. As noted by the 2006 Gender Review of Media Development Organisations, women's voices may be excluded from the media. It is thus important to look at media freedom in a way that takes into consideration "gender-based censorship" which ultimately disempowers, silences and makes invisible certain people in society.
My point is that whilst the Windhoek Declaration has in many ways been successful at changing the overall African media landscape, the focus in the next decade should be on how citizens, both women and men, can be empowered by its provisions. This can only be realised if the Declaration clearly articulates the different ways media freedom impacts women and men.
Interestingly, the 20th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration takes place when the 2008 SADC Protocol on Gender and Development is closer than ever to coming into force. The Protocol brings together and enhances international and African commitments to gender equality by setting 28 targets to be achieved by 2015. Specific provisions on the media include achieving parity in decision-making (rapid strides have already been made in the political realm); giving equal voice to women and men; challenging gender stereotypes; sensitive coverage of HIV and AIDS and gender violence. The Protocol also calls on the media to mainstream gender in all laws, training and policy.
Gender equality is entirely consistent with freedom of expression. Nothing is more central to this ideal than giving voice to all segments of the population. When women comprise about 52% of the population, but only constitute 24% of news sources (according to the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project), censorship of a very real kind exists. The 2010 Gender Links Gender and Media Progress Study (GMPS) found that there has been a marginal increase in the proportion of women sources in Southern African media: from 17% in the 2003 Gender and Media Baseline Study to 19% in the GMPS.
These findings beg the question of what we really understand by freedom of expression, democracy and citizen participation. While more blatant forms of censorship may be subsiding, our media daily silences large segments of the population, notably women. Gender disparities in the news occur because of a lack of diversity in media ownership and "armchair" journalism, which results in the media seeking out a few voices of authority: often men.
Further, the media often applies double standards to men and women. Women are objectified and their physical attributes highlighted in ways that do not apply to men. The explosion of tabloid media has perpetuated these stereotypes.
Gender equality is implicit in the notions of a "pluralistic press"; "reflecting the widest possible range of opinion within the community"; "the fulfilment of human aspirations"; "freedom of the press" and "freedom of association" as espoused in the Windhoek Declaration. But the failure to state this explicitly has led to gross gender disparities in the media.
The Declaration encourages the establishment of professional associations that safeguard various freedoms. These associations should include women's media associations. Media development organisations have the opportunity, through the work they do, to lead by example in showing that gender is intrinsic to free speech, citizen participation, and progressive media practice and content.
Thus after 20 years of the Windhoek Declaration it is time to acknowledge these silent forms of censorship that daily occur in the media. The debates on mainstreaming gender in the declaration should be taken forward so that the next decade can see a region that truly exemplifies the freedoms espoused in the original document.

Saeanna Chingamuka is the Manager of the Gender and Media Diversity Centre. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary series on gender and press freedom.
http://www.genderlinks.org.za/article/Southern-africa-what-has-gender-got-to-do-with-media-freedom-2011-05-10

Know your audience and speak their language

by Johanna Mavhungu


Case Studies of Sustainable Media Business Models: Kameme FM from Kenya and the Al-Ahram Media Group presented to the AMLC delegates what makes their media organisations sustainable. Kanja Waruru, Group Marketing Director, kick started with facts and figures provided by Steadman research now Synovate Group,on media in Kenya.


One of the commonalities between the two cases was that they understood their audiences, but used two different methods to keep in touch with them. Kameme uses research and niche programming to ensure that audiences interact via phone-ins and book clubs – listeners conduct book reviews. While Al-Ahram has a citizen journalism programme funded by the International Centre for Journalists (ICJ).

SPI PDMM - What a start!

By Boldwill Hungwe - PDMM Knight Scholar and experienced Zimbabwean journalist

Upon arriving at the Sol Plaatje Institute for Media Leadership to revitalise the entrepreneurial spirit in me that has been dormant for a couple of years, least did I know that it does not take a huge gong to provoke it. In fact, I grew up being told that you can only be a successful entrepreneur or manager if you are exposed to an affluent upbringing where Dad comes back at sunset from work, carrying a briefcase and ask you to park his car in the garage carefully, not to knock down his golf clubs.

You needed no one to tell you that you are going to run your own business in the not so distant future. It was hereditary-from parents to children. But my parents had no car, a golf kit nor even a tuck-shop to run. My Dad, a Pastor, has spent most of his gracious time telling people to be comfortable with whom they are. We were actually told by our elders that the only goal we could reach was a tertiary institute and probably, if God allows, to be a nurse or teacher despite having other aspirations. Running your own company or assuming a managerial position was a pipeline dream.

I remember one day when I awoke from this mindset after reading one of the motivational statements that was said by Dr Myles Munroe (a motivational speaker from Bahamas) that the “world’s greatest wealth is the cemetery-where many big dreams never found their fruition”. Coming from a learning environment where the teacher is the “king” and dictates your learning process and defines you career path, discovering whether you are a leader or entrepreneur took a miracle. No one even told us that by running our backyard vegetable gardens that was the first precise step towards running a business.

It needs such reputable institutes like Sol Plaatji to help people discover their potential and who they are in the world of business. The first day I attended a lecture, I discovered one of the most important attributes about Sol Plaatje Post Graduate Diploma in Media Management curricular. The class is yours. It’s just like “being given money to go on a shopping spree”. The critical part is the choices one makes thereafter. At the same time the Lecturer helps you to navigate through the revealing modules, because obviously we know our destination, but someone else knows the route and terrain.

When I went through the first module with Francis at one moment I thought “business has some spiritual aspect to it”. Analysing some of the case studies, you make some of the most critical decisions about your own life. You are taken through a cleansing process that exposes you, breaks you apart and starts building you anew. The interesting part of the course is that you will be self-evaluating yourself, repositioning your attitudes and redefining who you are as an aspiring manager or entrepreneur. It’s a total change of mindset. And this comes not from anything out of this world but by learning from the mistakes and successes of other prominent business people around the world whom you thought are the “untouchables of this world”.

I have known Francis as veteran African journalist and an avid follower of Formula One, but his teaching method is such a peculiar art and he has taken me into this “business journey” where you certainly have to be rebaptised. In life you just have to be at the right place at the right time. Francis, thanks for the introduction. I feel at home.