Was ist das? (What’s that?) No DW TV in Germany?...That was my initial expression in Deutsch when I heard that it is almost impossible to receive the transmission of Deutsche Welle Television (DW TV) the German external broadcaster in Germany. I was shocked to the bone.
No wonder after searching and pressing the remote control from one channel to the other at the TV Room in the Elsa Brandstrom Haus in Blankenese, Hamburg, where we were housed I couldn’t find DW TV which is very popular in Ghana.
Forgive me for exposing my total naivety after all that was among the purpose of this year’s International Institute of Journalists (IIJ) and Inwent Summer Academy Course in Germany from June to July 2008.
That is to teach young journalists the system, freedom and responsibilities in the media and improve their skills in reporting.
Curiosity they say killed the cat but I was not killed in my research when I realised that you cannot receive DW TV in Germany without searchlight disc, I was rather very surprised.
After being told the shocking news that I need a searchlight disc before I can receive the German external broadcaster in Germany, I tried to find out from the Germans preferably those within the ages of 18 – 40 and of course those who could speak a bit of English, whether they have watched or heard of DW TV before?
Approximately I talked to about 53 individuals including students, journalists, and other social workers and surprisingly only fifteen (15) knew about it. (13 got to know about it when they were outside Germany and two (2) read about it in Germany)
I also got to know that out of the 53 personalities I spoke to only 21 have traveled outside Germany. (your guess is as good as mine)
During the one month course 24 journalists from 18 countries in the world (Europe, Asia and Africa) were thought how the system, freedom and responsibilities in the media works and it was during one of these lectures that I got to know that DW TV is an international broadcaster being used to promote most valuable foreign policies.
International broadcasting happens to be the elegant term for a complex combination of state-sponsored news, information and entertainment directed at a population outside the sponsoring state’s boundaries.
As if the Seminar Moderator Friederike Boge, knew what was going through my mind during the lecture in the sense that we were divided into four groups and fortunately unfortunately my group was given a topic on “Public Diplomacy and the Transformation of International Broadcasting” and I was chosen by the group to do the presentation.
I could tell by the applause from my fellow colleagues after my presentation that our group did an excellent job and perhaps the best presentation. (Rebecca Kwei my Ghanaian colleague from Graphic Communication Group can bear me out)
In addition I also got to know that international broadcasters have a range of styles and its capabilities are among the power purposefully to alter the mix of voices in target societies to affect the composition of their markets for loyalties, to destabilize, to help mold opinions among their publics and otherwise to assert soft power for the purpose of achieving the national ends of transmitting state.
This was not the only new thing I got to know during the course since it was an interesting and more educative programme.
Apart from the significant content of the programme I had the opportunity to know the basic fundamentals of how the media operate in the 18 countries that were represented by exciting and brilliant journalists.
It is my wish that my fellow young journalists in Ghana will get the opportunity to attend some of these courses by IIJ and Inwent.
To IIJ and Inwent I say kudos and continue to empower journalists through your wonderful and educative programmes.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Journalism in Africa Still Gloomy - Report
Journalism in Africa Still Gloomy - Report
Roughly three months to Ghana’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections, media reports have suggested that practicing journalism in Africa is dangerous and gloomy, which call for caution in order that the situation is not worsened.
Citing attacks on the media in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea and other African countries, the ‘Annual State Of The Media Report’ published by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and titled ‘Media Alert West Africa 2006 – 2007,’ noted that for two decades (since the late 1980s) the upsurge of political liberalisation and media pluralism in West Africa, has brought journalists and their media repression and attacks on their
freedoms.
It said despite constitutional reforms making provision for press freedom, government impunity and reluctance to reform repressive anachronistic legislation set the conditions for sustained suffocation of freedom of expression in most of the fifteen countries of ECOWAS including
Mauritania.
Among the emerging and disturbing cases of repression the report mentioned are the arbitrary acts of regulatory bodies that increasingly show their lack of independence from governmental control and influence.
The publication further stated that in every country, while petty police and security personnel incessantly abuse journalists, there is a growing tendency of intolerance of civilian citizens toward journalists at the least publication of unfavourable material.
It further said a new and dangerous element adding to the woes of media freedom is the growing trade in hard illicit drugs and the threat of this danger is already reportedly baring its fangs.
For instance in Ghana it pointed out that sympathisers of suspected drug smugglers physically attack journalists in the open and the threat of new backward legislation, such as a new bill on defamation in Ghana looms high.
Moreover in Guinea Bissau it reported that security forces and politicians make sure the media don’t dare cover anything they observe about the drug trade that is engulfing the tinny coastal country.
Making reference to the Ghana Government’s relationship with the media, the annual state of the media report indicated that the change over of political administration made some private journalists enjoy privileged relationships with government for information, documents and resources, unlike in the past where this was exclusively the reserve of state media journalists.
According to the publication this raised concerns from some quarters, with people accusing some journalists of ‘sleeping’ with the government.
It disclosed that a privately owned paper The Insight, published a letter containing a list of people including two editors that were given internet facilities to manage government
information.
It continued that even though the newspaper published the letter, both the government and the two editors denied the accusation.
With respect to Liberia, the report indicates that Government – Media Relations remained
lukewarm in spite of the surface impression that all was well.
MFWA’s Report stated that in that country, physical attacks on journalists re-surfaced in 2006, provoking a strong reaction from the Press Union of Liberia.
However touching on the relationship between the Government of Mali and the media, the report revealed that it was on the whole cordial. It confirmed that the government allocates 200m CFA francs approximately US$ 450,000 annually to assist the media.
It said the authorities did not attack the media during 2006 – 2007, nor were the premises of any media outlets invaded by government authorities, adding that there was generally no censorship or seizure of the media.
Roughly three months to Ghana’s Presidential and Parliamentary elections, media reports have suggested that practicing journalism in Africa is dangerous and gloomy, which call for caution in order that the situation is not worsened.
Citing attacks on the media in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote D’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea and other African countries, the ‘Annual State Of The Media Report’ published by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and titled ‘Media Alert West Africa 2006 – 2007,’ noted that for two decades (since the late 1980s) the upsurge of political liberalisation and media pluralism in West Africa, has brought journalists and their media repression and attacks on their
freedoms.
It said despite constitutional reforms making provision for press freedom, government impunity and reluctance to reform repressive anachronistic legislation set the conditions for sustained suffocation of freedom of expression in most of the fifteen countries of ECOWAS including
Mauritania.
Among the emerging and disturbing cases of repression the report mentioned are the arbitrary acts of regulatory bodies that increasingly show their lack of independence from governmental control and influence.
The publication further stated that in every country, while petty police and security personnel incessantly abuse journalists, there is a growing tendency of intolerance of civilian citizens toward journalists at the least publication of unfavourable material.
It further said a new and dangerous element adding to the woes of media freedom is the growing trade in hard illicit drugs and the threat of this danger is already reportedly baring its fangs.
For instance in Ghana it pointed out that sympathisers of suspected drug smugglers physically attack journalists in the open and the threat of new backward legislation, such as a new bill on defamation in Ghana looms high.
Moreover in Guinea Bissau it reported that security forces and politicians make sure the media don’t dare cover anything they observe about the drug trade that is engulfing the tinny coastal country.
Making reference to the Ghana Government’s relationship with the media, the annual state of the media report indicated that the change over of political administration made some private journalists enjoy privileged relationships with government for information, documents and resources, unlike in the past where this was exclusively the reserve of state media journalists.
According to the publication this raised concerns from some quarters, with people accusing some journalists of ‘sleeping’ with the government.
It disclosed that a privately owned paper The Insight, published a letter containing a list of people including two editors that were given internet facilities to manage government
information.
It continued that even though the newspaper published the letter, both the government and the two editors denied the accusation.
With respect to Liberia, the report indicates that Government – Media Relations remained
lukewarm in spite of the surface impression that all was well.
MFWA’s Report stated that in that country, physical attacks on journalists re-surfaced in 2006, provoking a strong reaction from the Press Union of Liberia.
However touching on the relationship between the Government of Mali and the media, the report revealed that it was on the whole cordial. It confirmed that the government allocates 200m CFA francs approximately US$ 450,000 annually to assist the media.
It said the authorities did not attack the media during 2006 – 2007, nor were the premises of any media outlets invaded by government authorities, adding that there was generally no censorship or seizure of the media.
Monday, August 25, 2008
…Now That Was Checkpoint Charlie For Us
For a moment most of our colleagues thought our 4 weeks of attending the iij Summer Academy course was over.
We thought we were at the airport been checked before we board our various flights but that was direct opposite to the situation.
Checkpoint Charlie happens to be the security checkpoint in Berlin for the Americans and the Russians during the war in Germany and the situation we went through was not that different from what West and East Germans went through some years ago.
In reality we were at the entrance of Springer, publishers of Welt.de, one of the largest newspaper in Germany.
As security demands we had to show our passport, pass through the electronic checkpoint, switched off our phones and avail our selves for a thorough body check and compare to the entrance of our various media houses way back home we were completely at lost.
“Gosh are we at the airport?” said Farhad, a colleague from Afghanistan.
In the end we were made to understand that we had to go through that tight security check because of the sensitive stories published by the paper and there have been instances where some of the Editors have been attacked in the building.
As young journalists with sharp memory and very vigilant in relation to what we observed at Springer, our expectation at the German Bundestag security checkpoint was quite very high but that was rather normal.
We were only identified as true participants of the iij Summer Academy and we had a life time opportunity to chart with one of the youngest but brilliant members of the Bundestag.
Mr. Niels Annen, who is a member of the SPD, told us how as a politician he has been dealing with the press without any confrontation.
According to him trust does not always exist between the politician and the media. He said “ even when am talking off record I speak as if am on record because you may never know the true intentions of the press”
Mr. Annen also corrected the distorted fact among our colleagues that Germany has the Freedom of Information Act. He insisted that the Bundestag has not passed any freedom of information act but rather there is freedom for the press whereby the media can have access to the right information to enhance their reportage.
As to why such an important Act for the media has not been passed, Mr. Annen simply made it clear that it could lead to more transparency in the administration of the sitting government.
At the Bundespressekonferenz, we really felt strangers in someone’s country. We sat through the conference as observers, we could not ask any question and worse of all we could not understand the deustch the various spokespersons from the ministries were speaking.
Even though our moderators tried to write the topics and the questions being posed by the journalists in English on pieces of paper for us, we could confirm from the faces of our colleagues that the understanding was simply not there.
Thanks to Angela Wefels, the moderator of the conference, who explained the reasons behind the Bundespressekonferenz and what the spokespersons where talking about just after the conference.
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