Stephanie Wolters interviewed Uduak Amimo, the new senior editorial adviser to the BBC World Service, about the media on the continent today.
What is your assessment of the state of media in Africa today?
I think Africa has suffered from a bad media image in the past and I think that certainly is changing now. You see more African journalists on the world stage, you also see more African journalists doing their own thing, and by that I mean not waiting for international broadcasters such as the BBC, but setting up media organisations by themselves and for themselves.
There are some positive and interesting developments on the African media scene. Africans have woken up to the reality that they can, and should, own their own stories and that there is nothing stopping them from doing that.
I think, in the past, journalism was seen as a preserve of the West. African populations were not necessarily aware of the power of the media. I think governments were aware of it, which is why you see these hard restrictions on state media. People wanted information, which is why they turned to international broadcasters like the BBC, VOA, Deutsche Welle … to find out what was going on in their own country.
That changed with the wave of democracy that swept through Africa. Governments freed the airwaves and … people became aware that they can own their stories, they should own their stories and they don’t really need anyone else to help them … maybe for the training, maybe for the infrastructure, but no one knows their stories better than themselves, and they found the confidence to do it.
Do you think that African media are doing a good job of covering the continent?
I think it depends on where you are. I am of Kenyan and Nigerian extraction. In Kenya, yes definitely, the media does a good job. Obviously it’s not perfect. There will be problems, there will be allegations of corruption and bias, but, broadly, I think the Kenyan media is fantastic in covering issues that matter to Kenyans. I would say the same for Ugandan papers to some extent.
I spent some time in Ghana — I have to say that I was disappointed by what I found. There is not a lot of original thought, not a lot of creativity. People seem out of touch with the reality of the Ghanaian situation — this is a country that, in the Sixties, used to produce well-known journalists.
The Nigerian media has a tradition of resisting military rule, dictatorship, there was underground press … I think my Kenyan side would look at Nigerian media now, the layout of papers, and say, you could do better … but in terms of vibrancy it certainly is there.
You also have a similar tradition in Benin, where the media was at the forefront in agitating for democratic change. I think you can’t generalise and say that African media is doing a good thing. I think there are success stories, I think there are people who could improve and I think there are places where that does not even occur.
Will improving African media lead to greater transparency and democracy?
I think it is already leading to changes … you could argue that there is democracy in Africa, it’s just the way that democracy is played out that is subjective — it varies from one country to another. I do think that the media is playing a role and will continue to play a role … It also depends on the way that role is managed.
In some instances you find that savvy governments come in and try and co-opt the media. If the media is on the ball, they see what is happening and say “no, no, no, this is our space and we’ll stick to it”. But on the whole there seems to be more mutual understanding of where governments and the media sit and the need for … a mutual understanding of the functions of each.
What is the biggest challenge for African journalists?
It depends on where you are. If you are in Eritrea, for instance, it’s really about being a journalist, speaking out openly. Eritrea, Ethiopia, [the challenge is] speaking out openly. If you’re in Western Africa, it might be your salary and ensuring that your values as a journalist are not compromised because you don’t make enough to make ends meet. There is no single challenge, it depends on what context you are operating in.
The BBC broadcasts radio programmes in seven languages spoken on the continent: Hausa, Kiswahili, French, Portuguese, Kinyarwanda, Somali, English