Nigeria’s proscriptive broadcast policy means that Africa’s most populous country has only one community radio station. By contrast, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has 192.
These are some of the facts in what is probably the most comprehensive study done to date of the African media. It’s the report of the Africa Media Development Initiative (Amdi), released by its principals, the BBC World Service Trust, in Kenya this week.
Here’s another statistical titbit from the report. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of South Africa’s internet users grew by 113%. In Zimbabwe, the growth rate has soared to 1 900%. (Possibly the escalation is a side effect of the Mugabe regime’s media repression — driving Zimbabweans to seek independent information online).
In the field of medical care, analysts often examine the number of doctors to serve a given population; for a nation’s media health, Amdi counts media professionals per head.
The figures: South Africa has a ratio of one journalist for every 1 300 citizens. No guesses about which nearby state has a score of 1 per 34 400. (Yes, it’s Zimbabwe, again — a country where media bannings have battered jobs in journalism.)
Ethiopia, known for having the biggest army in Africa, has the astonishing status of only one journalist for every 99 400 people. Go figure that contrast.
The Amdi report covers the media landscape in 17 countries; compares their media law and regulatory environments, technology, professionalisation and local content issues; and assesses media growth over the past five years.
Eventually the data will date, but for quite some time the study will be of major interest to journalists and independent producers, as well as to educators and donors. Other beneficiaries of the resource will be media entrepreneurs and planners, plus advertisers, health communicators and the likes.
Media development
But the study also has another value, relating to its genesis. The project arose out of the Blair Commission for Africa, which commendably recognised the role of media in democracy and development. On this basis, the commission recommended that an ”African media-development facility” be set up.
To create something significant — perhaps akin to the Global Fund for Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis, to serve the field of African media — you need serious intelligence. You need to know the trends, what has driven any growth, and what kinds of interventions will add impetus going ahead.
Hence the Amdi project, which uncontrovertibly demonstrates, in an evidence-based way, that the right kind of media environment makes the major difference. Conversely, as the report notes, ”the key barrier to media development is the control that states exert”.
Growth in African media is in the private and community sectors — in places where the authorities have conceded the legal and regulatory space for this. But continent-wide, there still exist many government blockages in this respect, while the directly state-owned media sector is generally sterile or stagnant.
Amdi finds that creating an enabling environment for growth is aided by supporting ”advocacy” activities that result in reform of restrictive laws and licensing regimes.
Besides this lynchpin area, it says, the availability of capital is also important. For instance, the research shows a gap between the minimum-size packages available from international lenders, and the scale of most African media enterprises, which prevents them from absorbing and repaying mega-sums.
Intermediary facilities such as South Africa’s Media Development and Diversity Agency, and the Southern African Media Development Fund in Botswana, could bridge the divide, the report proposes.
Also critical for developing Africa’s media sector is boosting audience-research services, according to Amdi. Currently, a major constraint is the lack of data on media consumption, which could be used to convince companies that advertising will indeed help them reach targeted markets.
Sector growth
Growing the media industry by focusing on these kinds of interventions would lead to an expanded sector, says the report — such growth being a precondition for covering the African story comprehensively.
The research found that among media stakeholders, there is support for a continent-wide approach to taking African media development to new heights.
While there is caution about a new organisation coming into being, there is also enthusiasm for an African-based multi-stakeholder ”facility” that would be dedicated to finding more funding for defined media-development activities.
The proposed shape of this agency, and who might be persuaded to resource it, is on the agenda for discussions to be held in April.
This is a complex entity in creation, and its birth is not guaranteed. However, if it comes together, and if it is both informed and given credibility by the Amdi study, a big bang may be in store for Africa’s media.
On the net
Full report at www.bbcworldservicetrust.org/amdi