Media needs to do more for good governance and development – Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General

Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba said the media needs to do much more in order to be effective guarantors of good governance and development, at a Commonwealth Rwanda Media Forum in Kigali, Rwanda, on 29 March.

Addressing participants from across East Africa at the start of the two-day forum on 'Media and Economic Development in a Globalising World', Mrs Masire-Mwamba spoke on the media as agents of development.

“A deep democracy functions in no small part through an informed and engaged citizenry. The media can help shape this, through open and responsible journalism,” she said.

“We in the Commonwealth firmly believe that Africa’s democratic consolidation and the development agenda can be considerably enhanced by robust dialogue and engagement ushered in by a free and independent media.”

During the regional forum, organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in collaboration with the Government of Rwanda, over 100 participants including the media, media scholars, government and business leaders will debate the role of the media, government and the private sector in promoting and supporting development.

Delegates will also discuss media regulation and examine emerging issues in journalism in Rwanda and the East African region, including citizen journalism, training, pay, ethics, governance structure and advertising.

During her address, Mrs Masire-Mwamba said the media has been a critical partner in contributing to the delivery of the Commonwealth’s governance programmes and she highlighted recent research that linked high levels of media freedom and independence to stronger democratic systems and faster economic development.

She added that in a recent Commonwealth report, Civil Paths to Peace, written by a group of experts led by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, they stressed the importance of the media in drawing public attention to issues, long before they become problems.

“Indeed, research from Commonwealth member countries has demonstrated that countries with free and independent media systems are better able to combat human calamities such as famine,” she said.

The Deputy Secretary-General continued that the media needed to submit to self–regulation in order to be a credible arbiter and veritable conscience of society, supported by government regulation that allows freedom of expression in a responsive and responsible manner.

She added that the greatest challenge in Africa to achieving open and transparent governance was the lack of enforcement mechanisms via appropriate legislation promoting freedom of access to information.

“For us in the Commonwealth, freedom and independence are best assured by embracing the democratic principle of openness and transparency in all aspects of government. Unfortunately this is far from the actual situation in too many of our countries, where often government control and propaganda have done a disservice to the role of the media in nation building.”

She concluded that the modern African media offered the continent and the world powerful channels of democratisation, governance and change, which must be driven ahead by “forward-looking” partnerships.

During the forum, the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association and the Commonwealth Journalists Association will engage with some of the Rwandan media houses to identify their needs and potential areas for co-operation and collaboration.