Conference attendees
This is the last part of the keynote speech for the 2022 edition of the West African Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA), organized by the Media Foundation for East Africa West, October 18-19, 2022, Alisa Hotel, Accra; Parts One and Two were released on Monday October 24, 2022 and Tuesday October 25, 2022 respectively.
While the “capture of democracy” undermines the freedom, independence and pluralism of the media, other factors, external to the media, undermine the resolve and ability of the media and journalists to protect the rights and interests of citizens against widespread attacks on democracy. Cyber-harassment, with female journalists generally subject to more intensive attacks, is rampant in almost all countries against the media and critical voices.
They can be perpetuated by mercenaries of governments in power as well as all political parties, or by thugs hired by powerful and wealthy individuals and groups. Non-state actors unleashing attacks, intimidation and violence to silence critical and truth-telling media include extremist forces, criminal gangsters, business interests and, in some countries, powerful traditional authorities. These attacks can include arson or the arbitrary closing of media houses.
Compared to the 1980s and 1990s, extreme cases of journalist killings are now rare bad news. Even then, the isolated incidents that occurred faced the same old problem of impunity. Indeed, the police and security forces, in addition to being the main perpetrators of attacks and intimidation of journalists, do little or nothing to investigate attacks on journalists, however violent. .
In all of these assaults, it is not surprising that the most obvious victim is investigative journalism which, by the way, happens to be one of the newest practices of the journalistic profession in most of Africa and which took off during the 1990s/90s resurgence in press freedom and the creation of independent media.
Continued government control of state media deprives citizens of the ability to have credible sources of information and channels for participation in discussions of public affairs.
The widespread aversion of governments to transforming state media into independent public services demonstrates their interest in maintaining control over the state or public institutions wherever and whenever they can.
Ultimately, an important effect of these external factors is the lowering of professional journalistic standards and an undermining of public trust in the media.
One of the consequences of declining public trust is that in several countries, where the public used to defend and express solidarity with the media when they were attacked, it is now common to to see the same public attacking journalists and dumping them with wary anti-democrats. political forces.
These experiences occurred in countries, including some where press freedom was considered to flourish, such as Ghana and South Africa.
The media and the fight against democratic recession or “democracy capture” With the media itself under siege, what can it do and how can it operate to promote a movement to restore democracy from its threats and current challenges?
It must be understood that the media is not a homogeneous industry or institution. Indeed, to advance democracy, we must always strive to promote and protect media pluralism and diversity, principles that are under attack by “democracy capture”.
Instead of healthy contrasting diversity and competition, capturing democracy perpetuates the corruption of media professionalism by hiring mercenary journalists whose operations to manipulate public opinion include attacking and intimidating critical and opposing journalists on behalf of their political paymasters.
Whereas in the past dictatorships used editors, columnists and public media commentators to track down and scare away critics and opposition voices, today the enablers of “democracy capture” employ henchmen in the private media sector.
So we come back to the question: what is the role of the media in this almost impossible mission to fight to restore and renew democratic values, principles and institutions? Some media are already at the service of the forces of degeneration and destruction.
Therefore, we could only address our concerns to the struggling and endangered independent media community.
For the media to be relevant and receive support, first, it must strive to uphold high standards of professionalism and fight the cheap but attractive route of unprofessional conduct. This is the only way for self-respecting journalists and responsible media organizations to regain and regain the trust of the people; second, as difficult and often frightening as it may seem, independent media should continue to report on issues of human rights violations and support social justice causes; thirdly, to ensure their collective survival and freedom, independent media must strive to forge partnerships and alliances, within the country and across borders, to share publications and programs designed to expose incidents of ” capturing democracy” and promoting democratic causes; fourth, individual journalists of democratic conviction must play an active role in their professional associations in order to prevent the hijacking of their organizations by mercenary agents of the “capture of democracy” facilitators; Fifth, there seems to be a decline in commitment to the fight to protect and defend press freedom across the continent.
This spirit must be revived by professional media associations and human rights organisations; six, independent media must find ways, in countries where it is still possible to operate openly without violent reprisals, to launch campaigns to promote and defend the values and principles of democracy through rigorous publications and critical broadcast programs; seven, independent media should make it their mission to generate public interest and active engagement in issues of democracy and issues of rights and good governance; Eighth, independent media organizations should involve civil society groups and democracy and human rights NGOs in partnerships and coalitions to promote democracy issues and campaigns; nine, there appears to be a decline in international support for the work of advocating for the causes of democracy and media freedom; there is a need to build support to build the capacity of civil society to campaign for democratic causes; 10, independent media and civil society organizations working to promote democracy should engage regional intergovernmental agencies such as ECOWAS and the AU to organize campaigns for governments to respect the protocols and conventions on the principles and democratic institutions; Eleven, it is proposed that this conference will result in resolutions for strategies to strengthen the role of the media in the struggle to defend, promote and strengthen the values, principles and institutions of democracy in our countries.
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