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Influence Of Radio Ownership On Professional
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Thus, the first and main threat to free-flow of information is still
largely from wielders of political power, efforts at economic
liberalization notwithstanding (Konings, 2006). Control by big business
or financial magnates is perhaps a future danger, as overt political
interference has made it too risky for the business world to contemplate
any meaningful partnership with or investment in the press, the
critical private press in particular. During the monolithic era, the
sole political pace-setter was the government. Today, there is the added
danger of power elites other than the governing, manipulating the press
in similar ways if not worse.
Often, the journalists I have
interviewed tend to think, quite mistakenly, that the only real threat
to their freedom and independence comes from proprietors. This is quite
understandable, given that the government is directly responsible for
repressive laws and their day to day application, and given that the
radio owners have consistently worked to keep the press divided through
sponsoring the creation of private papers or thwarting attempts to
create strong unions of media practitioners (Guiffo, 2003; Nyamnjoh,
2006; Nyamnjoh et al., 2006). This notwithstanding, it is important for
journalists to bear in mind that threats to their independence could
also come from big business, such as experienced from government. They
ought also to note that an equally dangerous threat could arise from
unwittingly playing into the hands of the power elite in the opposition,
as even they would agree has happened during democratic process. Among
the internal constraints to a free press (constraints induced, of
course, by governments and radio owners monolithic inclinations and
severe laws over the years), is the inadequacy of professionalism and
unity among journalists.
The splits, squabbles and instability we
have witnessed among radio proprietors and journalists over the past
eight years of democratic struggle, mean that the press has been
preoccupied more with internal wrangles of its own, than with a
conscious, concerted effort as an institution, to pool their resources
together and fight for better laws and for persecuted journalists, as
well as better inform their readership or viewership Bleifuss, 2005. If
journalists are more united and better organized, they could resolve
most of the problems that currently plague them and their profession,
even if such professional independence.
Lack of job security is
equally a constraint. Radio owners have capitalized on the helplessness
of the job-seekers, who have not been guaranteed regular salaries. No
firm arrangements are reached; as the owners are often more interested
in whatever commercial gain they can muster than in professional
excellence. This has inevitably led to prostitution by journalists or to
what one may term a hand-to-mouth journalism, if not a journalism of
misery Burton, 2004. In 1994 and 1995 when I ran a series of training
and refresher programmes for journalists under the auspices of the
Friedrich-Ebert Foundation in Cameroon, it was not uncommon for
journalists to show more interest in the perdiem that the foundation
paid them for attending, than in the training itself. Journalists find
themselves being forced to make unreliable promises to publish stories
or slip in an advert here or there; promises which have led to untold
problems for them. Any bit of money can lure a journalist to write
anything, including blackmail. Even with the official media, a
journalist thinks that if he writes this or that flattering article
about this or that highly placed person in the ruling party or in the
administration, he could be recognised and promoted. The main reason is
that journalists do not receive good salaries and therefore have to
aspire to extra-professional appointments which can fetch them a little
more. The lack of job security has thus negatively affected
professionalism as journalists seek to make ends meet through
unprofessional practices, usually referred to derogatorily as 'le
journalisme de Gombo' ('Soya Journalism' or 'bread and butter
journalism') (cf. Tueno Tagne, 2006). Such gombo-isation of the
profession has, together with other factors, done much to devalue the
journalist and his product in public esteem (FFE, 2003, 2006).
The
next type of constraint pertains to financial difficulties that have
compounded the problems of news-gathering and news-production, and made
papers even less credible as they stretch and strain to make possible
every single edition. The high death or hibernation toll among radios
Boh, (2007, p.193-230), is clear proof of these difficulties. If
currently there is little advertising in the press, and if industry and
commerce behave as though advertising were doing journalist a favour,
this is due largely to the very unprofessional approach to journalism of
which the press is guilty, but also to the fear on the part of
businessmen, of drastic government sanctions on anyone caught keen on
investing in the private press. Increased professionalism would most
likely lead to high circulation and more advertising, and consequently,
more revenue for the publishers to invest in new technology. It could
also act as an incentive to big business to invest in the media.
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