The Lion. the Hunter and New Media

by Nonso Christian Ugbode

This is a fairly well known African proverb: "until the lion has his own historians the tale of the hunt will always belong to the hunter." The main point being he who survives the hunt tells the tale of it, controls its meaning, gets to define its virtues - be it dead heads mounted on sticks, or the beauty of grilling in the outdoors. Transpose this proverb with some newer, more general, actors and it becomes a bit more interesting I think. Let's say "the people," "democracy," "media" and "power." So maybe "until all the people have their own media the value of democracy will always belong to those with power." The point becomes a bit more salient. Until every person truly understands and participates in shaping the conversation of democracy - its agenda, temperament, meaning, results - the word might as well refer simply to an unnecessary war with too many casualties, or an over-hyped leader who holds on to power too long.

Stepping off the soap box a bit, this is simply a post about the value of truly public media, media from every perspective, a media that in its very essence gives everyone a vested interest in the story of a free world and its meaning. I believe this is one of the many objectives that keep many media arts and rights organizations alive, even now as investment dwindles across the board. The development of new, smaller format, cheaper audio and video production tools, and the current jostling of experimentation happening in the public media sphere just might bring about a media democracy that changes the very nature of information and its value. (Yes, an optimist, albeit coming in great cynical disguise).

Recently in collaboration with Pen Plus Bytes, an ICT journalism project out of Accra, myself representing the New Media Institute, I was privileged to participate in an ICT journalism training program in Blantyre, Malawi where the country is preparing for a democratic general election come May 19th. The project (found at Africanelections.org) is a new media journalism training initiative designed to bring transparency and a new dimension to global understanding of what happens on the ground during African elections. After Barack Obama's seemingly magical rise all eyes are on democracy, what it means, and how it manifests itself. It is an important question for us all. At this moment more so than at any other in the last eight years where democracy came with a condescending fist, it is clearer what the average voice contributes to shaping the human understanding of this very fragile enterprise.

As part of the training we discussed streamlining video production for online distribution, and found a very receptive crowd of Malawian journalists. Perhaps the engagement was due to the very cool pocket cameras we were demonstrating with, or maybe it was because we were saying something they hadn't heard before, "everybody is a story teller, and everybody's story matters." A friend recently complained that her issue with the news was that those with the stories to tell where often not the ones with the microphone, they were simply in the background, or looking on desperately while bleeding heart narration played over their faces, or stood in front of them with white safari pants or khaki shorts.

With that all too familiar news scene in mind the value of discussing the nature of new media production, and the accessibility of the tools involved in furthering this new kind of storytelling, should be on the minds of all those now scrambling to define this new technological space be it for those in mainstream media, those struggling to maintain a relevance for public television, or those trying to save the newspapers. From CNN's iReport, to the many other mainstream outlets tripping over themselves to design yet another "we-use-Twitter" graphic, or find us on facebook blah, blah, blah. It's all very cute, but that's not the point of all this. It can't be.

The model of many-to-many information distribution was not created just to be co-opted again by a few. That's why they call it many-to-many. In the loud twitter of public opinion someone is bound to shift the conversation on torture to the question of right versus wrong, just so we don't all get fooled into spending the entire discussion on the technical definition of torture, or whether or not it "works." Or even worse, whether Nancy Pelosi found out about water-boarding on a Tuesday or a Friday. Maybe then we'd all be able to stomach pictures depicting the results of our actions, or lack thereof, no matter how gruesome. Because sometimes democracy is ugly.

So my point? Well, socialism of course, free socialist mobile cameras for everyone (and maybe a brief discussion about zooming and the use of close ups).

source : http://www.blackpublicmedia.org/BLACKstream/?p=51

New Media: Redefining Journalism

By Fredrick Mugira

Peace Namara is a Uganda female journalist. She has spent eight years working with different media houses in the country. Currently she reports from the western part of the country for one of the leading dailies in Uganda.
Namara is able to file here stories to her news room which is situated about 320 kilometers from her work place with the use of Information Communication Technologies. She does this through with the use of her phone which she uses to take pictures and sends them to her editor. She sometimes writes her stories on phone and sends them to her editor. Other times she sends her stories via email.
Five years ago, Namara was reporting for a radio station –Greater African Radio. She used to write her stories on a piece of paper and deliver the story by hand to her editor.
She says that with in the eight years she has been in journalism, she has truly witnessed ICT revolutionalising journalism. She acknowledges that with new media, journalism is changing at a high speed.

The New Media include the latest form of digital mass communication developed by society, which are slowly over competing radio, television, and newspapers. Such are textual blogs, photoblogs, videoblogs, wikis, podcasts and moblog.
But exactly what are these?

A wiki is a website that allows its visitors to add remove as well as edit the site's contents. It is a simple-user-editable data storage. It was developed in 1995 by one Ward Cunningham to manage increasing number of pages in discussion groups and user groups. Technically, wiki also refers to software that facilitates the function of wiki website using a browser interface.

Blogs are personal online journals which are displayed with the most recent entry on top and are social by nature while technically, blog means a web page to which its owner regularly adds new entries, which tend to be short. Most of the weblogs are primarily textual. However there are others which focus on photographs. Such blogs are termed as photoblogs. Other blogs use video as the primary content. They are termed as Vlog or Videoblog.

Podcasting involves distribution of audio or video files such as radio programmes or music videos over the internet. The essence of podcasting is to create content either audio or video for people to listen when they want, where they want and how they want. Podcast can mean both the content and the method of delivery.
Mablog entails publishing from a mobile device onto Internet. Contents are posted to the Internet from a mobile device such as a cellular phone or a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

Giving Journalism a new face

With the new media, journalism is changing immensely. It is no longer the sermon like type but rather interactive and the audience is now part and parcel of the information gathering and dissemination.

Blogging, podcasting and mablogging among others have made internet users (netizens) to no longer passively consume media but actively participate in them. However the quality of information disseminated is still questionable. There are no gatekeepers (Editors) in the new media who verify the truth with in what someone has written unlike in the traditional media and in the world of endless information, credibility is an essential ingredient for information seeks.

Similarly wikis and other new media may not always be fact-based insightful, or correct." This draws attention to the fact the people may not trust such ideas. In so doing, they corroborate such ideas with those in the traditional media.

Irrespective of the truth within the posted information, what is most important is that with the diffusion of new media, the audience and the average users of the Internet have been empowered to receive more information than before. Details of issues concerning environment, politics, culture, religion, education to mention but a few are all found in the new media (take an example of Global Voices Online blog). Significant proportion of everyday life including work, leisure, personal interaction takes place in the new media.

New media are aiding netizens to express themselves freely, a right that had been partly denied to them by the traditional media. The world is now experiencing global conversations that offer "extraordinary potential for the expression of citizen rights and for communication of human values" Castells (2001:164). Citizens with access to Internet in undemocratic states where freedom of speech is limited can now boast of expressing themselves unlimitedly through the new media as they "voice their concerns and share hopes" Castells (2001:164). In doing so, new media enhances democracy. However this may not happen to the people "without or with only limited access to the internet as well as for those unable to use it effectively." (Castells 2001:247)

New media are aiding the formation of what Castells (2000, 2001) has termed as "virtual communities" which are primary based on the online communication such as that taking place on some blogs and wikis. Such communities, as Castells (2000:388) has argued bring like-minded people together as they "share interests and values" and "discuss issues of common interest" as Rao (2005: 277) also remarks. Such none physical communities "epitomize the practice of global free speech in an era dominated by media conglomerates and censoring governments' bureaucracies."(Castells 2001:54-55) Through this way, democracy is furthered. On the other side this "new form of socialability" as Castells (2000: 384) notes have led to "de-humanization of social relations" as it make people escape real life.

Problems of 'edit wars' a situation where everyone with access to such information wants to be its editor, vandalism and spam leave information in new media at risk unlike in traditional media where the information is assured of protection.

While all this makes rational sense- it is imperative to note that the new media offer services more or less similar to those offered by traditional media. Such services include of course news and feature sites among others. This surely brings in competition between the two branches of media.

However, the traditional media seem to be failing the competition and in so doing, it is slow taking on the new media's characteristic of interactiveness to include contributions from the audience. Television, radio and print media houses have gone ahead to own websites where they have news, blogs, emails chartrooms music and photos' sites and podcasts of their programmes such as BBC and VOA .

Mobile and satellite telephones, wikis, to mention but a few have made it possible for traditional media houses to get stories from either news reporters or any other person stationed from anywhere. An online wiki for example is capable of being a pool for news stories from reporters and any other members of the community. From this pool, the editor is able to edit these stories before forwarding them to page designers or casters in case of electronic media.

Indeed, this draws attention to the fact that the new media have capacity to change traditional media to be more interactive. With the accurate use of an offline wiki for example, newsrooms can ably coordinate materials, communicate easily with all members of the staff and easily send materials for publication or broadcasting. The question that remains now is, are we likely to see a sweeping change in traditional media following the diffusion of the new media? Yes in the developed countries and no in the undeveloped countries. The most prominent reason for failure by traditional media house to fully incorporate new media tools to advance their daily operations in developing countries is financial constraints engulfed by digital divide (Castells, 2000, 2001; Rao 2005; Singhal et al 2005 and Singhal et al 2001)

In most rural set-up, in developing countries, there is no infrastructure to support this venture. Several scholars (Castells: 2001, Gupta: 2004, Rao: 2005, Singhal et al: 2001) have argued convincingly that computers are expensive for developing countries and their people. There is a high level of computer illiteracy in these countries, which has not spared journalists, therefore even if there were ICT facilities, few journalists might use them. This therefore is leading to a digital divide with in journalism itself whereby journalism in developed countries becomes interactive while that in undeveloped countries remain uninterractive.

What then should happen?

To end this governments in these countries have to help subsidize ICT access so that their local people access them with ease. India has partially done this successfully when it started in 1999 a "US$ 25 million fund" to aid software start-ups (Sighal et al 2001:176). One of the benefits of this fund is that it increased local people's access to ICT. As Sighal et al (2001) elaborates, ICT has helped India develop. This could be copied by other governments and be used to benefit them.

In conclusion, we are witnessing liberation of human knowledge following the diffusion of new media and their easy collection and sharing of information. Subsequently, this is aiding "transformation of information into knowledge and knowledge into action." Castells (2001:259). And for the issues of reliability and trustworthiness of the information disseminated by the new media, observation of journalistic values and ethics could enhance it is credibility.
Sources

Allen, R. (2005) Blogging Becomes Big Business and Community Journalism. Accessed on 27 August 2006 from http://alum.mit.edu/ne/whatmatters/200512/index.html
Castells, M. (2000) The Rise of the Network Society. Volume 1, Oxford: Backwell publishers.

Castells, M. (2001) The internet galaxy: reflections on the internet, business, and society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Eby, G. (2005) Wiki: A collaboration platform that could ease intranet woes. Accessed on 26th August 2006 from http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/pm/guruspeak/archives/wiki-a-collaboration-platform-that-could-ease-intranet-woes-4436

Granqvist, M ()2005) assessing ICT in development: a critical perspective. In O. Hemer and T. Tufte (ed.) Media and Global Change Rethinking Communication for Development. (P.285-296) Buenos Aires: Nordicom

The Economist April 20th 2006. Survey: new media. Accessed on 6th September 2006 from http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6794156
Tokin, E. (2005) Making the case for Wiki. Accessed on 1st September from http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue42/tonkin

Rao, M. (2005) The Information Society's Visions and Realities in Developing Countries. In O. Hemer and T. Tufte (ed.) Media and Global Change Rethinking Communication for Development. (P.271-284) Buenos Aires: Nordicom.
Gupta, S (2006) ICTs for the Poorest of the Rural poor-Now and How? Malmo University

Singhal, et al (2001) India's Communication Revolution: From Bullock Carts to Cyber Marts. London; New Delhi: Sage.

Singhal, et al (2005) Bridging digital divides: Lessons learned from the IT initiatives of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. In O. Hemer and T. Tufte (ed.) Media and Global Change Rethinking Communication for Development. (P.427-433) Buenos Aires: Nordicom

source :  http://mugira.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/new-media-redefining-journalism/

Release Journalists Detained During Malawi Presidential Election- Committee to Protect Journalists

Authorities in Malawi should immediately release three journalists arrested today in a police raid on an opposition radio station, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. The country is holding general elections between today and Thursday.

The 4 a.m. raid targeted Joy Radio, a station owned by former president and opposition leader Bakili Muluzi, in the commercial city of Blantyre. According to the Media Institute of Southern Africa, journalists from the station were picked up in relation to the rebroadcast of a 2008 political program contradicting government claims that the country's food supply was secure.

During the raid, police took into custody presenters Aubrey Nazombe and Mary Chande Mhone, and technician Abdul Razak Telela, on accusations of broadcasting campaign material, according to Joy Radio lawyer Ralph Kasambara. The three are being held at Blantyre police station, but have not been formally charged, he said. Meanwhile, police have forbidden the station from airing news coverage, according to the Media Institute. National Police spokesman Willie Mwaluka did not return CPJ's calls for comment.

"We condemn the silencing of Joy Radio and effective ban on its election coverage imposed by police," said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. "The three employees should be released immediately and the station allowed to resume news broadcasting."

Joy Radio has been the target of harassment for its political coverage in recent years, according to CPJ research. The station has been involved in a protracted court battle with the government-controlled Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority over its broadcast license. It has also been the target of intimidation and censorship.

President Bingu Wa Mutharika, widely credited with improving the poor, landlocked nation's food security and leading one of the world's fast-growing economies, is seeking a second five-year term, according to international news reports.

 

To follow elections in malawi go to www.africanelections.org/malawi

Blogging the Future summit

On Saturday, May 16, 9 am Eastern Time (4 pm Cairo Time), Dancing Ink Productions will produce a live broadcast from the American University in Cairo's Virtual Newsroom. This broadcast will take place as part of the "Blogging the Future" summit at the American University in Cairo, Egypt from May 15-17, 2009.

The broadcast will be hosted by Lawrence Pintak, director of the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism, Training and Research at the American University in Cairo. It will be streamed live from the virtual world of Second Life to a global Internet audience. The event will feature two senior executives from the US Center for Disease Control (CDC), Glenn Nowak, Director of the Division of Media Relations, Office of Enterprise Communication; and Jay M. Bernhardt, Director of the National Center for Health Marketing. Nowak and Bernhardt will brief some of the world's most active and prominent bloggers and digital journalists with a distinguished selection of their Arab colleagues. The international community blog, Global Voices, the leading participatory media news room for voices from the developing world with over 150 volunteer authors and translators, will also participate in the event.

Journalists from around the world are invited to take part in this event by registering for the live stream at the Dancing Ink Productions website ( http://dancinginkproductions.com/live-events/register-for-live-events/ ). Participants will be able to view the entire event taking place in Second Life without needing to be in the virtual world, and those in attendance on the website will be able to communicate in live, real-time chat with event participants in Second Life. Questions can be posed in the "chatbridge" and event moderators will pose the most compelling queries to the CDC, Global Voices or the AUC Virtual Newsroom.

The Inaugural Broadcast of the American University in Cairo took place on January 12, 2009 and featured then-US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy James K. Glassman in conversation with a group of Egyptian bloggers. This was part of a larger USAID-funded project to help Egyptian bloggers better understand the U.S. political process. The effort is coordinated by the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research at The American University in Cairo, which sent eight bloggers to the U.S. to cover the elections. The AUC Virtual Newsroom was created as a venue where Arab journalists can meet virtually with experts and officials around the world.

This event will begin punctually, so it is advised that participants register ahead of time (registration is extremely simple--just a username) to avoid missing the beginning. Press inquiries can be directed to (info@dancinginkproductions.com) or 914.420.0258.

 

http://www1.aucegypt.edu/academic/cej/news/detaileditem.cfm?newsid=371

VOICE OF AMERICA : African Elections Project Launched in Malawi

The International Institute for Journalism, based in Ghana, has launched the first ever elections project for Malawi. The president of the institute, Kwami Ahiabenu, says it's designed to promote the use of Information and Communication Technology tools (ICTs) in generating election information.  "For any elections, people … want to know how they can participate effectively in the democratic process. We believe that [by] using … ICTs, we can actually help the flow of information, and [provide] knowledgeable elections both on-line and off-line," he says.

Ahiabenu says the project will train senior editors, journalists and reporters and develop and distribute an election guide for the media. It will also provide election coverage using SMS (Short Message Service) text messaging and an Online Portal (www.africanelections.org/malawi).

He says mobile phone users in Malawi will be able to access election news updates and certified results through a short code service number (2009) provided by local mobile phone network provider Telekoms Network Malawi (TNM). Observers can also subscribe to e-mail newsfeeds. 

The coordinator of the project in Malawi, Victor Kaonga, says it will open Malawi's electoral process to the outside world. "I think generally the world is now looking at how Malawi will perform at this election. The project will contribute towards sharing of information and … to the generation of information here in Malawi. I guess the world will be monitoring whatever is happening and will [help improve democracy in the country and] also the democracy of the Internet." he says.

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa is funding the project, which has also been launched in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Guinea.

The executive director of Media Council of Malawi, Baldwin Chamwaka, welcomed the development, saying Malawi should be proud to be the first country in Southern Africa where the African Elections Project has been launched this year. 

 

http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-05-14-voa29.cfm

African Elections Project Malawi - provides a platform for citizens' voices

With 7 days to go for Malawi Elections 2009, African Elections Project Team of reporters are traveling throughout the length and breath of Malawi and providing a unique platform for citizens' voices on elections issues.

Follow their reports at www.twitter.com/malawivotes2009 or www.africanelections.org/malawi

Do you have any elections news to share with us?

Send a mail to Malawi@africanelections.org

Text or call: 00265995264874 or +265999338902


NORTH

1. Nkhata Bay
2. Mzuzu
3. Ekwendeni
4. Rumphi
5. Chiweta
6. Karonga

Central

7. Mwanza
8. Balaka
9. Ntuleu
10. Dedza
11. Lilongwe
12. Kasungu
13. Dowa
14. Ntchisi
15. Salima
16. Nkhota- Kota

South

17. Nsanje
18. Chikwawa
19. Mulanje
20. Thyolo
21. Chiradzulu

East

22. Zomba
23. Machinga
24. Mangochi
25. Balaka

ends

http://www.africanelections.org/malawi/news/page.php?news=3192

African Elections Project launched in Malawi

Press Release, for immediate release

Blantyre, Malawi, May 6 2009

African Elections Project launched in Malawi

Across Africa, elections are now becoming the de facto means of selecting political leaders; however, there is a dearth of elections information and knowledge online. As a means of contributing to resolve this problem, the African Elections Project was conceived to provide coverage of elections using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) across the continent.

After a successful take-off in Ghana, Cote d’ lvoire and Guinea, the African Elections Project (AEP) launched its Malawi phase of the project in Blantyre on 6th May 2009.The Malawi project has the following key components : Training for senior editors, journalists and reporters; development and dissemination of an election guide for the media, an SMS/Mobile application in election coverage and monitoring; information and knowledge Online Portal (www.africanelections.org/malawi) and Knowledge products for the media and Media Content Monitoring. Through this project, mobile phone users in Malawi will be able to access election news updates and certified results through a short code service number (2009) provided by Telekoms Network Malawi (TNM) whilst email users will be able to subscribe to newsfeeds directly from the website.

At the launch of this project in Blantyre, the Executive Director of Media Council of Malawi (MCM), Mr. Baldwin Chiyamwaka said “this project is a welcome development since it provides country specific relevant elections information contributed by journalists and ordinary citizens. Also, it integrates SMS as broadcast, monitoring and citizen journalism tool, as mobile phones have become increasingly preferred means of communication in Africa due to their convenience and relatively low cost of deployment”. He added that Malawi should be proud to be the first country in Southern Africa where the African Elections Project has been launched this year.

Also present at the launch were key partners including Malawi Electoral Support Network (MESN), National Media Institute for Southern African (NAMISA) and National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC).

In a message, Ms. Thandi Mbvundula, the ICT Programme Manager for the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) said “We are excited to be part of this project and to support its launch within the Southern African region, primarily because of its contributory role in deepening democracy and supporting the creation of open societies through capacity building for the media, while at the same time providing a unique online elections information and knowledge platform that will eventually provide transparent access to the electoral processes across the African continent”.

The African Elections Project-Malawi is coordinated by the International Institute for ICT Journalism (www.penplusbytes.org) working hand in hand with key partners with funding from the Open Society Initiative for Southern African (OSISA -www.osisa.org)



Signed

Victor Kaonga
Project Coordinator (Malawi)
www.africanelections.org/malawi

Free but no freedom for Uganda’s journalists

Uganda marks World Press Freedom today with at least a dozen journalists facing prosecution over stories that the State deems are either seditious or defamatory.And with each passing day, the environment is becoming more dangerous and difficult for journalists to operate in. Lately, the formation of a Cabinet sub-committee to recommend a way of reining-in the media and the proposed Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Bill (loosely known as the phone tapping bill) are some of the schemes the government is seeking to use to clamp down on the media.

And yet, journalists are still grappling with draconian laws that threaten freedom of the press and expression such as the colonial laws of libel and sedition that continue to exist in the Penal Code Act.Several journalists have also been arrested, detained and charged, while media houses have been shut down in the past for publishing or broadcasting information that the state deems prejudicial to national security.

But even though Article 29 of the 1995 Constitution guarantees free speech and expression, which has been translated in the robust liberalisation of the airwaves that allowed for the media industry in Uganda to grow with hundreds of FM stations now broadcasting in English and diverse local languages, experts say the media is not free as it looks on paper. The head of the Mass Communication Department at Makerere University, Dr George Lugalambi, said that while the laws look reasonably good on paper for the media, it's different in practice.

"Journalists can't take anything for granted and should always be mindful of the consequences of their reporting,'' he noted. He said that while journalists have been able to include more investigative stories in their day to day reporting, a lot more still needs to be done.Mr Joachim Buwembo, a veteran journalist, who himself is facing charges of sedition in court believes colonial laws on sedition and libel have no place in today's democracy because they only work to intimidate and scare journalists from reporting independently.

"These laws are just a foreign colonial force. This government has been claiming to be patriotic, they should also be patriotic enough to remove these colonial laws,'' Mr Buwembo said.According to Mr Livingstone Sewanyana, the executive director of the Foundation Human Rights Initiative, one of the key organisations that have been advocating for a free and responsible press, the legal environment remains restrictive.

He points to laws such as the Anti-terrorism Act 2002, The Press and Journalists' Statute and the now proposed phone tapping bill that would legalise phone tapping by security agencies.The phone tapping bill, Mr Sewanyana says, does not only run counter to the right to privacy law, it will also make it difficult for journalists to keep sources of sensitive information confidential, and thus make it even more difficult for the public to volunteer critical information to journalists.

"This will create self censorship by journalists and media owners because many fear losing their licenses or being shut down, or even losing business from adverts. With such restrictive laws, the media cannot exercise its independence as it should be doing and this has a chilling effect on independent journalism,'' Mr Sewanyana explained. Mr Sewanyana also observed that having a free press is crucial for the development of democratic governance in a country like Uganda where democracy is still in its infancy, adding that laws that undermine press freedom should be repealed.

"A free press should be able to expose more corruption within government, call for accountability of the leadership and ensure that institutions are clearly monitored so that they do what they are supposed to do,'' said Mr Sewanyana.Senior presidential adviser on media issues, John Nagenda, admits that while the relationship between the State and the media has not been a perfect one, but also insisted that there is a high level of press freedom.

"I would say that taking into account all considerations, there is freedom of press in Uganda. There should always be reporting with responsibility and when that does not happen, the law often takes its course," he said.

Mr Nagenda said the problem has been with reporting in the country, which he said was not always done professionally. "The stories are not well researched many times and at times this gets government frustrated,'' he said. But Haruna Kanabi, one of the veteran journalists who spearheaded the formation of an Independent Media Council, disagrees with Mr Nagenda on the extent of press freedom. He says what we have in Uganda today is media tolerance. He says the pillars on which press freedom should be flourishing in Uganda are being undermined by bad laws.

"What we have here is tolerance and when that tolerance runs out that's when you see the powers that be threatening press freedom,'' he said.
He believes journalists have the capacity to act professionally and responsibly, and it's for this reason that an independent media body to enable media professionals to self-regulate themselves was formed."It's an alternative to the media law. We are saying we don't want to regulate media through laws. Through this Independent Media Council, we can see how we can improve on our performance,'' Mr Kanabi said.

The Independent Media Council has a code of ethics which governs the conduct and practice of all media practitioners, owners and media institutions, with the view of maintaining high standards of professional conduct."The intention of the code is to ensure that we are accountable at all times while dispensing our duties," Mr Kanabi added.Meanwhile, the acting Chairman of the Uganda Newspaper Editors and Proprietors Association, James Tumusiime, wonders whether the government really believes in the press freedom that they so tout about as enshrined in the Constitution.

"On the one hand you are free to publish since no one stops you but fear keeps hanging over your head of the trouble that you will cause yourself for publishing certain stories,'' said Mr Tumusiime, who is also the Managing Editor of the Observer newspaper.President Museveni, while consistently emphasising the importance of free speech has at the same time consistently attacked the media for allegedly "misleading and misinforming" the public. And he has repeatedly promised to tame the media, accusing particularly independent media houses like the Monitor Publications Limited of sabotaging the country's development.

The President's unhappiness has always been provoked by stories which expose abuse of office by people close to him or disregard for due process in the conduct of government business. Stories on the military and other security related matters also tend to upset the President resulting in him promising "to deal with" the free media.But Mr Tumusiime explained that media freedom, notwithstanding the discomfort that comes with it, is indispensable in the building of a democratic state, which Uganda is trying to do.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/insights/Free_but_no_freedom_for_Uganda_s_journalists_84194.shtml

African Elections Project Malawi - AEP www.africanelections.org/malawi

 

 

African Elections Project Malawi - AEP www.africanelections.org/malawi

 

Malawi Elections Project Scope The African Elections Project (AEP) is aimed at developing the capacity of the media in ICTs in order for them to use it as a tool for election coverage and the provision of elections information and knowledge for Elections in Africa

 The African Elections Project- Malawi is coordinated by the International Institute for ICT Journalism www.penplusbytes.org working hand in hand with key partners with funding from Open Society Initiative for Southern African www.osisa.org

 

 

Elections Project Scope

The African Elections Project (AEP) is aimed at developing the capacity of the media in ICTs in order for them to use it as a tool for election coverage and the provision of elections information and knowledge for Elections in Africa

The sub levels of this project are:

* Training for senior editors, journalists and reporters
* Development and dissemination of Election Guide for the Media
* SMS/Mobile application in election coverage and monitoring
* Information and Knowledge Online Portal
* Knowledge products for the media
* Media Content Monitoring

online spaces


1. website http://www.africanelections.org/malawi

2 blog http://malawaielections.blogspot.com/

3. relevant links http://delicious.com/malawielections

4. pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/malawielectionspix/

5. our twitter http://twitter.com/malawivotes2009

 

For more information and to get involved send mail to malawi@africanelections.org