Addis Ababa — Development objectives such as the MDGs are all very well but unless they are publicised, explained and discussed, their impact will be small.
This is especially true for developing countries where the media have a huge role to play in getting the message out. Effective action depends on effective information.
The trouble is that press standards and dissemination vary widely from one African country to another, so that media coverage is patchy. Many local journalists start at a disadvantage without easy access to information. Raw data are difficult to come by, so reporting authoritatively is a challenge. Communication channels can break down and lack of press freedom in some countries is a constraint.
Often interviewees are not willing to go on the record and criticise government performance for fear of retribution, so one side of the story remains untold. Or the powerful simply use media outlets to spread their propaganda. It is often a labyrinthine task to separate fact from fiction. And if educated people face these difficulties, what hope is there for the masses - the very targets of the MDGs?
But with continued training and more back-up for African journalists, some of these hurdles can be overcome. Being able to explain issues such as the MDG objectives clearly and concisely is crucial to national development policies - yet the contribution of the media has all too often been neglected.
The continental mutual accountability tool, known as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), has good intentions but in the view of many media professionals, it does too little to underpin the media.
The International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) complained that it lacked safeguards to guarantee freedom of the press. Five member organizations, including the Media Institute of Southern Africa, wrote to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan saying the APRM, "has omitted a key indicator from its criteria - the fostering of free and independent news media".
However the media of the developed world have an equally important role to play. In a frantic environment where stories have to jostle for attention, complex development issues often get short shrift. With some honourable exceptions, many reporters prefer to use shocking but often superficial factoids to make people sit up and take notice.
British Chancellor Gordon Brown has been quoted as saying that global poverty "is the most important issue of our generation".
But thousands of miles away from the communities facing that poverty, the media in developed nations don't necessarily agree. It's only when there are heart-wrenching pictures of starving children or a pop star organises a fund-raising concert that people stop and think. For a minute or two.
"Having shocked people in the 1980s, it is harder to re-shock them and re-shock them again," Gordon Brown told the BBC in a recent interview.
Anti-poverty activists and advocates argue that the international media - and their consumers - should rethink priorities and start giving more-than-fleeting coverage to African issues. The success stories as well as the failures. The flow of bad news only reinforces the stereotypical thinking that Africa is a lost cause - a serious misrepresentation in a sector that claims to seek out the truth.
But African governments too should reassess their hostility towards the media - particularly local newspapers and broadcasters - and provide room for responsible, fair and objective reporting. In this way dangerous information vacuums will not be filled with the rumours, unchecked facts and sensationalism that ultimately undermine development.
