It is without a doubt that media is lagging behind the other sectors in post-genocide Rwanda. But for those with keen interest to understand where it has come from, there are clearly meritorious efforts that have been made, and as a new-born baby reaches a stage of crawling, standing up and later independently walk without any support, every effort should be celebrated.
I want to take a minute and be the angels’ advocate of the media in Rwanda, despite existing setbacks.
The major turnaround has been brought about by the enactment of media laws; ushering practitioners into a new friendly work environment with the access to information law and a shift from state regulation to a self-regulation mechanism.
UNESCO’s understanding is that verification of a media self-regulator is evidence of regulatory intervention to ensure free and pluralistic media.
Thus, despite the existing challenges, in all fairness, the Rwanda Media Commission is doing all in its powers to achieve a free and pluralistic media.
Still debatable though, is whether it has earned confidence and respect from stakeholders.
Honest media practitioners, who worked prior to these reforms, if objective enough, can tell the difference in both environments.
Perhaps the greatest test for Rwandan media this year will be how it will assertively and extensively cover the August presidential election.
We wait to observe how ethical standards such as objectivity; fairness and independence will be replicated before, during and after the election.
There has been an increase in the number of media houses in all forms, many being those online due to the advent of the Internet; creating ground for media pluralism and diversity.
Now the verdict on whether quality programming or publication and relevant content has equally improved along with this diversity, is for the public court to determine.
Personally, I believe it hasn’t and an audience attitude study on matters of tastes and ethics is delaying to inform adjustments in the quality of content.
The Media Barometer conducted by the Rwanda Governance Board indicates that overall improvement in media was at 69.9% in 2016 from 60.7% in 2013. This is a clearly slow pace. With challenges such as defamation being a criminal offense, practitioners still harbour a feeling of restriction due to this law.
The lack of a strong private sector that is interested in investing in media sector has made some media owners to try something else.
I am among many who benefitted from one of the few journalism schools in the country. I can however, explicitly say that the would-have-been best journalists are not in the practise.
This is informed by the passion and zeal to know more in the field you find with aspiring students and university graduates. Many are hit hard by the reality in the industry and opt for offers in Public Relations with NGOs and multinational institutions for green pastures.
You hear cases of unpaid salary arrears of journalists, which pose a threat to the ethics of the profession as shown by the Media and Corruption Report by Transparency International Rwanda.
All these issues can easily distract one from acknowledging the baby steps taken for the industry to be where it is now.
Rwanda Government Board as an institution charged with media development has given grants to several local media houses that reportedly have been struggling to stay afloat.
Have they managed to effectively use this grant to revive the media business? I doubt.
Media does not work in a vacuum; it works well within a vibrant social, political and economic system. Media cannot develop within a society whose “mindset” is comparatively not willing to be shared.
There is still a lot of reticence among great minds of the land to publicly share their wisdom. I have to admit that I have heard very few intellectually stimulating live local talk shows compared to those aired in countries like Kenya, which is possibly the population with the largest number of the most educated people in our region.
A lot of our public intellectuals tend to shy away from debates in the media.
Another great battle facing journalism globally and is most likely affecting our local media that is largely dependent on foreign media as sources for local content is the post truth era, where everything is true and nothing is true.
The raise of fake news is a prevailing phenomenon. It is the era where media houses should invest more in the tools of vetting information and verification of sources. Most local journalists are also editors of their own work.
It seems the information verification protocols are waning due to urgency of reporting the story at the expense of fact checking.
Few editors, where they are, rarely call back the reporters interviewees to confirm information in the story.
Editors highly depend on the trust of certain journalists to bring good material than actually authenticating their work. The gate-keeping role is almost nonexistent.
Richard Ndayambaje is a Media Media Analyst at Rwanda Media Commission
Email: [email protected]
