A paper written and delivered at a public lecture at the University of Makeni (UNIMAK) by Umaru Fofana
To the Chancellor, Principal, staff and students of the University of Makeni, I say good evening. I must express my profound honour and recognition for being invited here today to give a talk to students of this watershed university. I cannot express enough how happy and excited I am, personally, at the establishing of a university in this part of the country. It had been long overdue but certainly better late than never.
There are far more benefits quality education brings a society than can be imagined. One of them being that a good quality education enhances good journalism, which I am here to talk about. And there are far graver consequences the lack of good and quality education begets a community than can be quantified. They range from poverty, underdevelopment to ignorance and all their attendant ramifications.
Mr Chairman, staff and students of UNIMAK, I am here to speak to you about the role of the media in a democracy. Since the media is vast and includes the music, movie or entertainment industries, I will modify it by saying the NEWS MEDIA. While I try to do so, I will be giving you some anecdotal evidence – on and off script – from my personal experience as a journalist for some sixteen years. In our question and answer session I will even be more passionate to you in a bid to get our collective resolve in moving our country forward like many others in the sub-region are doing.
When I chose journalism as a career I did so deliberately – because I wanted to disseminate information truly and honestly and conscientiously; Because I wanted to expose the ills of society being carried out by those entrusted with power either by man or by God; and because I wanted to stand and speak out for the ordinary people who would otherwise be left in the lurch, by telling truth to power, even if at my own peril.
What I was not prepared for and never anticipated when I chose this career, but something which has manifested itself very often, is that while doing that advocacy for the masses, some of them sometimes betray you by attacking or vilifying you, NOT because you have not said the truth…but because the truth hurts their personal interests – be they ethnic, regional or political. Or, as in the case of some, driven by other selfish intent such as corporate interest under whose employ they are or with whom they feel close to for one reason or another. Even where they are employed under very deplorable conditions and you expose that depravity to make their employer meet their obligations, these employees sometimes betray you by siding with their wicked employer. Or even when their landed property is taken from them for pittance and you challenge that in the interest of these very landowners, they will turn on you if only to side with companies and politicians who have sold them out.
But the consolation for me in these situations has been that those who have attacked me or called me names at one point have come back to me for assistance at another point. Not financial assistance, I must stress because I don’t have money, but for reasons of advocacy and possible redemption. The reason I have not held it against them is the very reason for which the media exists.
There is an inextricable link between democracy, good governance and political participation. And underpinning that link and running through all of that is the role of the news media. The Media’s role in a democracy is safeguarding that very democracy against abuse which leaders are susceptible to do. Through the media the public has access to the inside of governance, which sometimes stinks. And through the media the leaders get a feel of what the people think about their policies and their implementation. And when the journalist hides that feeling from either end the people are doomed and the leaders become cut off from the people and get arrogant. The leaders will therefore pay more attention to pleasing the wants of the journalists if only to compromise them, than meeting the needs of the masses.
It was the Italian fascist leader, Benito Musolini who said “Democracy is a kingless regime infested by many kings who are sometimes more exclusive, tyrannical and destructive”. Obviously Musolini was not a believer in a government of the people, by the people and for the people. But he was probably right on this. A democracy without a robust challenge can easily slide into a dictatorship because it opens up the tendency for even the best-intentioned people to be exposed to some of the worst policies and actions, hence the reason for the media.
The fear of being exposed by the media before the public is why most politicians keep themselves under control to a very large extent, which is why the media has such a colossal role to play in a democracy. And the stature of the media is in no way less than that of politicians; hence journalists must not go to bed with politicians – metaphorically speaking that is.
According to one of the most influential scholars in the field of mass communication studies, Dennis MCQuail, the media as a signpost, it is a guide or an interpreter; the media is also a mirror of events in society. And when you know what a mirror does – and I know we all know it is to show the true reflection of what is in front of it – then as journalists we will know what exactly to do.
The world’s leading democracy, as we know that governance system, is the United States of America. There the press is the final check in the check and balance system of the US government. Essentially, even though they are not a part of government, journalists in that country are the final oversight of the government owing to the unfettered freedom they are given by law.
Following the American Revolution, the people decided that there should be a government only if that government would be accountable to the people. And the people could only hold the government to account after knowing what it was doing. That role of the people knowing what the government does or does not, is either done or facilitated by the media who tell the people what government does and transmits to the government what the people think about what the government does. This is why the US Government has no ownership or control over any media that broadcasts to the country. The only government-owned or -controlled media in the United States are those that broadcast overseas, such as the Voice of America. By law, they cannot broadcast to the US. This is to enable them perform its watchdog role over the government.
All too often governments the world over, including in my dear Sierra Leone, often blame journalists and accuse them of being anti-establishment or pro-opposition. The truth is this: in telling the truth or exposing folly or malfeasance or sleaze, a journalist concentrates largely on those who have been entrusted with power by the people to look after the affairs of state. It is they who have power to abuse and it is they who have the state resources to pillage. I will give you an example….and an example is all what this is. If the Chairman of the District Council in Bombali or even the Mayor of Makeni city calls on the police to arrest and lock up someone with whom he has a disagreement, ten chances to one that person will be arrested and locked up whether or not they are innocent. But if the opposition SLPP or PMDC chairman in this same district does that, the police would, at best for that Chairman, say to him that he needs to make a formal complaint and the matter must first be investigated. So it is the responsibility of the journalist to challenge the authorities and make them behave in line and not off the rail.
That is, however, not to say, that the media cannot hold the opposition to account. After all, the opposition are an integral part of a country’s democratic process. In 2009, for example, when I went to The Gambia on BBC assignment, I noticed that there was so much grumbling against President Yahyah Jammeh’s long stay in power. Yes he had been in power then for something like fifteen years or so… But I also noticed that some leaders of some of the opposition parties had been at the helm for over 20 years and some had not called a national delegates’ conference for almost ten years. So in my reporting on the country I raised the issue of the lack on internal democracy in Gambia’s opposition. My reason for that was that if they continued with that tendency of staying too long at the helm without accountability, they could transfer that to governance if they ever got elected. Less than one year later, all the major political parties convened delegates’ conference. And I hear that one of the main opposition leaders is now being forced to step down by his party members.
“Media occupies the most vital position in a democratic setup and forms the very bedrock of democracy without which democracy is an aimless, futile exercise and never fulfil the aspirations of the people in real terms…The first and foremost job of the media to bring out before the public nothing but the truth in all matters without twisting the facts and should never be afraid of anyone except God. If a democracy is to run smoothly in any country, it is a must that the media in all fairness should be given full autonomy and a free hand it deserves in airing its views among the people and no unnecessary restrictions should be imposed on it…If media does not discharge its responsibility independently in any democratic country, the politicians are bound to behave like dictators…The media can be free only if it dares to differ with the Government on such issue on which it strongly feels that Government has taken a wrong stand rather than singing and praising always the stand taken by the Government”. SOURCE: http://www.shvoong.com/humanities/3501-role-media-democracy/#ixzz1qaFUQm9E
A journalist must not take sides with politicians, or support what politicians do just for the sake of doing so. Of course good policies can be lauded. But the devil is sometimes in the detail, as they say, of such policies. So the journalist should look beyond the façade in relation to a government policy, so as to enhance democracy. For example, no-one with their right senses can say that the free health care for pregnant women, suckling mothers and children under five years is not a good idea. But has it been perfect? Has it stopped all pregnant women and children from dying? Is it without leakages and drawbacks? The answer to all of that is an emphatic NO. So when a journalist rationalises the free health care they are not necessarily anti-government or pro-opposition or even saboteurs. They simply want to make a good system better, and wake up the politicians who often go to sleep when they feel the people are pleased with them or their policies or their implementation – to the harsh reality.
Often, people vilify the media even when the journalist is seeking the interest of these very people. Imagine, if Radio Mankneh or Radio Maria, for example, decide not to challenge the Makeni City Council for awarding fake contracts for the construction of a market, which has taken years and has still not been completed, who else does? And often when they do, some people who stand to benefit from the timely completion of such a market will accuse the journalist of being against the government simply because they are compromised.
This brings me to one of my last points namely that journalist MUST not be politicians, or must not practice politics while still active in journalism. There is probably nothing wrong with someone using their career/profession to prepare themselves for politics afterward. After all President Ernest Bai Koroma used his profession as an insurance broker to prepare himself for politics. Ahmad Tejan Kabbah used his UN career to do the same. Politicians have used their professions – lawyer, doctor or teacher – to later become politicians and ministers. I therefore see nothing wrong in a journalist becoming a politician. BUT that journalist must do so upon leaving the profession NOT do both in tandem. Any journalist who enters politics in tandem with using his newspaper or/radio/TV station without first retiring, is worse than a soldier who uses his gun to get to power while still holding on to the gun – in other words worse than a coup-plotter.
Among other reasons, I say worse because the role of the journalist is like none other. Expectations are high of the journalist from the public – and for good measure. While it is normal for other professionals to attend political party rallies or conventions as delegates, if a journalist does that it raises a lot of eyebrows. That expectation is what journalists must keep to be able to hold the leaders to account and strengthen democracy by staying impartial where they cannot be neutral.
According to Sheila S Coronel, the Executive Director of the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism of the Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, “the media are sometimes used as proxies in the battle between rival political groups, in the process sowing divisiveness rather than consensus, hate speech instead of sober debate, and suspicion rather than social trust. In these cases, the media contribute to public cynicism and democratic decay.” This is self-explanatory and I am sure we can all see some of this happening today in our media landscape. It is despicable and retrograde.
It has to be said that journalists need their freedom to be able to function well in the interest of democracy, good governance and the political participation of the people. That is essential for the development of any nation. Media plays a crucial role in shaping a healthy democracy. It is the backbone of a democracy. It is ONLY the media that reminds politicians about their unfulfilled promises at the time of elections. In Sierra Leone for example, radio has made a significant achievement in educating rural illiterate masses in making them aware of all the events in their language. The media also exposes loopholes in the democratic system, which ultimately helps government in filling the vacuums of loopholes and making a system more accountable, responsive and citizen-friendly. A democracy without media is like a vehicle without wheels, it is said.
DEMOCRACY is impossible without a free press. This is a precept that is deeply ingrained in democratic theory and practice. Sheila believes that the notion of the media being guardian of the public interest, and a conduit between the government and the people remains deeply ingrained. I say it is so today in our country more than at any time.
But there exist certain laws that are bad for the media to be able to perform this crucial function. They are made worse by brute force against journalists by police officers who should protect them. Decentralization of governance has meant that the targeting of journalists has also trickled down to the local government realm with some councils closing down radio stations at will as if it is their personal property. This is why we argue that the continued existence of Criminal and Seditious Libel Law in our country’s law books is anti-people, undemocratic, and probably criminal in itself. While we believe that the media cannot be left loose, criminalising free speech is not the way to do so.
Additionally, the lack of an access to information law in the country, despite repeated assurances, undermines knowledge, infringes the practice of journalism and by implication emasculates democracy and good governance. The UNDP says that addressing poverty requires not just a transfer of economic resources to the needy but also making information available to the poor so that they can participate more meaningfully in political and social life. After all, the poor cannot assert their rights if they don’t know what these are. I agree with them ENTIRELY.
Today, in most countries that have undergone a democratic transition since the 1980s, the press is an important player on the political stage. Politicians often fear journalists because they have succeeded in uncovering corruption, the abuse of power and assorted malfeasance. They are also relentlessly wooed because a bad press can mean the end of a political career. The media must resist that wooing by politicians lest we should betray the wider interest of society. And our democracy will be undermined and our society will get far worse than it is.
The author is President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists and Chief Executive Officer of FreeMedia Group, publishers of Politico Newspaper
