Sometime last year, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo’s aides began testing the third-term debate, lobbying for an amendment to the constitution to do away with term limits. The word was that he needed time to complete his work. Nigerians were, outside his closest political circles, aghast. Term limits are totemic symbols of good governance in the new Africa. But Obasanjo pushed on and he did not succeed. The decision by senators to trump his ambitions was a turning point in African politics and a plural, diverse media played a key role.
So did technology. The mobile phone became a vital source of information. Those opposed to the amendment used text messages to inform journalists when lobbyists would meet, when bribes would be paid and what civil society was planning. Newspapers campaigned against the third term, reflecting a nationwide groundswell against the plan. In the end, the Senate turned down the motion, nixing Obasanjo’s plans.
It was a high water mark for African media, revealing the growing influence of free media on the continent. In South Africa, the media plays a similar role. It does the same in Kenya, where newspapers and television have become adept activists in the fight against graft which has a corrosive effect on democracy.
At the same time, the era is also notching up a number of lower water marks. In Zimbabwe, we have been witness to the death of press freedom. All but two independent newspapers (the Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard) have been forced to close. The foreign press is barred; a journalist visa is impossible to come by; government is in constant battle with shortwave radio stations which are battling to report rights abuses in the southern African nation.
In Ethiopia and Eritrea, the picture is the same. In Ethiopia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has locked up scores of journalists as democracy back-slides in the horn of Africa. What is the response of authorities? The ruling Zanu-PF party of President Robert Mugabe is on the warpath with the media, labeling all critics as handmaidens of their imperial masters. The African Union, headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia appears blind to the infringements of media freedom on its doorstep. At its summit in the Gambia in July, the gathering of continental leaders did not speak out about the murders of journalists in the Gambia or about that government's decision to effectively ban a round-table on media freedom.
In the era of democracy in Africa which is still very young, the position of media freedom reflects that of good governance: it is filled with potential but at a tipping point. One cannot exist without the other. What should be done? It is vital that freedom fatigue must not be allowed to set in. The advocates of media freedom should not throw up their hands and walk away. Neither should we in Africa always look to the west for salvation.
Two exciting developments suggest this will not happen. The African Editors' Forum, almost three years old, is the continent's first effort at starting an editors' movement. This forum builds solidarity across countries and ensures that we are all sensitized to the challenges facing our brothers and sisters in other countries. We can keep up the pressure for media freedom by continually exposing infringements and fighting for better laws or the scrapping of pernicious laws, like the insult laws that continue to hobble many countries. Insult laws criminalize robust, critical reporting by making it an offence to "insult" heads of state.
African media owners are also beginning to act in unity. In June as well, African media owners who met in Johannesburg resolved to fight infringements of media freedom. Across the continent, efforts are afoot to free the airwaves from state control. Independent radio stations and television broadcasts are winning new audiences; lobbyists are fighting against the preeminence of state broadcasting. In South Africa, civil society is critical of slippage at the South African Broadcasting Corporation which is reverting to type, filling its airwaves with government news.
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There is a long way to go and there is no simple or singular African story to tell as far as media freedom is concerned. As we enter the next 50 years of post-colonial Africa, it's clear that the continental media will be a key player. It needs all the support it can get for it is a barometer of democracy.
This article originally appeared in the UN Global Compact Quarterly.
Ferial Haffajee assumed the editorship of the Mail & Guardian in February 2004. She is the newspaper’s fifth editor and the first woman in the job. She chairs the South African National Editors' Forum’s Media Freedom Committee and is a judge of the annual Mondi Magazine Awards. A member of the Africa Leadership Initiative, started by Isaac Shongwe of Barlow Logistics, she won the 2004 Shoprite Checkers / SABC2 Woman of the Year Award (media and communication) and was listed as one of the top 10 women in media in 2004 by The Media magazine.
