Media monitoring is one of the most important components of any democratic society, which despite all its many freedoms and rights, must ensure that the fourth-estate – as a society’s watchdog – does not overstep the boundaries of its freedom.
However, establishing a media monitoring culture or institution is not a ‘cheap’ exercise, given all sorts of implications – social, economic, ethical and political – that surround the whole process.
In many African countries, where media freedom is taboo, media monitoring organisations are virtually nonexistent. But where there is one, critics and independent analysts unanimously agree that the institution’s practices are not only flawed and biased, but also lack credibility. The critics reason that in many cases the government’s ‘spies’ and ‘spin-doctors’ manipulate the organisation’s activities and use media monitoring to score political points.
Wary of this and its consequences, many African independent media practitioners are now looking to South Africa – Africa’s economic powerhouse and a model of media freedom in Africa – to help.
Sandra Roberts, project co-ordinator of the SA Media Monitoring Project (MMP), told Bizcommunity.com: “The MMP is open to working with various [African] organisations interested in the media. We work with them on the basis of human rights, including freedom of the media, encouraging them to embrace human rights standards and use them as a benchmark for media performance.”
Roberts and her colleague Patrice Mulama, who travelled to Rwanda in December last year to share media monitoring experiences with the monitors of the Rwandan Media Monitoring Project (RMMP), brought home a set of emotive and interesting experiences.
The RMMP falls under the High Council of the Press (HCP) and was established in 2003 to monitor media coverage of that year’s elections in Rwanda.
Rwanda, a small, landlocked Central African country, has one of the most troubled pasts of any country. The world stood by as close to one million people, mainly Tutsis, were massacred by Hutus in April 1994.
“We have been working with the RMMT for a number of years now,” Roberts said. “In discussion with monitors, it seems that they face many of the issues we face here, but more issues are related to a lack of media professionalism and good analytical journalism, in that journalists’ output lacks credibility. This is not due to a lack of will, but possibly to limited capacity.”
By: Issa Sikiti da Silva
