Introduction

An extraordinary International Refresher Seminar held at Mombasa, Kenya analysed the theme “Media for Justice, Democracy and Peace” from 3 to 10 November 2008. The event brought together not only journalists and media professionals but also experts from the areas of education, politics, environment, religion, social action, government, international institutions such as the UN, community workers and so on. An impressive presence of the main media houses such as Khartoum Monitor, Kenya Television Network (KTN), Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), Nation Daily in Kenya, Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), Tanzania Broadcasting Commission (TBC), Monitor Daily in Uganda, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Kenya News Agency (KNA), and so on helped explore timely issues with great relevance.

The 44th Refresher Programme was opened on the day Mr Barack Obama was elected as 44th President of the USA. Mr Obama’s father was a Kenyan and his mother was a US citizen from Irish grandparents. In addition, 2008 is the 44th year of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in the USA, which outlawed racial segregation in educational institutions, public places, and employment. The number 44 had an even greater significance when the participants sang the prayer of peace of Francis of Assisi who died at the age of 44.

As Africans celebrated the victory of Barack Obama, they also painfully recalled the fate of the original Americans called as “Red Indians” or “Native Americans”. The participants observed that if Africans were not able to fight for their freedom and dignity through out the centuries -- their fight and struggle are still going on --, they would have been exterminated and the few survivors would have become the “Red Indians” under the “United States of Africa”. Colonisation has completely eliminated the nations in the whole of Americas, Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand and so on, though countries like Bolivia are trying to bring back some of the survivors of the original inhabitants to existence. The election of Mr Obama is also a consequence of oppression of one immigrant group against the other.

Church, government, educational institutions and media enterprises both traditional and new took extraordinary initiatives to make this programme a great success. The event explored the theme with outstanding resource persons, from all walks of life, who challenged some 90 participants to a down-to-earth analysis of events for society’s overall welfare.

Ethical regulation in journalism is necessary

The seminar observed that ethical regulation in journalism is necessary as in all other fields. Such regulations are based on ethics and universal welfare. Newspaper, radio, television and the Internet are public places for public utility and general interest. Therefore ethics for public conduct are necessary as in other public places. If smoking is forbidden in public places in the general interest of individuals’ health, why should morally dirty communications not be outlawed in order to avoid communication pollution and to uphold upright behaviour?

Journalism without ethical regulations can develop into a crisis, like the financial crisis the world has been witnessing in these days. The financial crisis is due because of the concentration of power, wealth and control in the hands of a few. This concentration did not help true information to come out. It is still lacking but the concerned parties continue to promote their own interests through the instruments of journalism. The other catastrophic consequences of ethically deregulated journalism are the massacres in Rwanda, Burundi and Kenya over the last two decades.

The seminar affirmed that airwaves are natural resources like air and water. They should not be abused in the name of media freedom. Therefore it is necessary that media experts themselves respect these natural resources before regulations are brought in which would deny legitimate freedoms.

The media experts recommended every journalist must have the trust of the people. And for this they should support good governance, uphold values of family, give total respect for all, use media for the development of the masses instead of the interest of the few, enable all people to make their own blogs so that they can express their view points and promote alternative media.

One of the top most requisites of ethics in journalism is respecting the work of local journalists while the foreign press is more interested in saying that there are only disaster, gloom and doom in Africa and elsewhere it is much better! In the absence of ethics, journalists have the tendency to make journalism gossip where the accent is given on bad things than on good ones.

Journalism for conflict resolution

When there is a conflict there is miscommunication. Conflicts are part of our lives. The question is how we manage them. In order to understand a conflict, one needs to go deeper beneath and higher to the zenith as decision makers often hold big responsibilities. Conflicts are like fire. It starts slowly and at that time the journalists and media people should use their wisdom, principles, values and ethics and act immediately.

On the other hand, one should not forget that there is no fire without elements for fire, such as firewood. Journalists have the permanent responsibility to identify and resolve repressive systems like apartheid before it reaches the firewood stage. And media women and men can not support violent policies. And they have to find all elements knowing that especially those who keep quiet could be more dangerous.

Media must strive everyday to reduce prejudice. Journalists must always help people go beyond differences in order to reach the higher humanity in every person, society and nation. Prejudice and even jokes after prejudice are dehumanizing.  Media is critical in countries where one majority rules. Media people should be able to foresee and they are the best placed to do that and inform about dangers. Repressive systems are created when one group controls everything. When people get tired of the repressive systems, it is like firewood piling up and drying up. It is the media that has to take its responsibility to expose, warn and propose solutions. The first solution is to avoid sparkling elements in the politics and society; they are like the matches that easily produce fire.

In case of fire, the media must pour water by calling the attention of all including the nations of the world. It is the best way to get adequate help and support both from within and outside.

Citizen or people journalism is necessary for true welfare

As the standardization and globalisation, take heavy tolls, many cultures and almost all alphabets across Africa have been extinguished, though Ethiopia and Eritrea managed to save their alphabets. By destroying languages is one of the methods to make people handicapped.  The free flow and the right of expression are curtailed, true journalism became almost impossible and there is little place for “citizen” or “people” journalism. In the pretext of “development”, many Africans, like in other poor parts of the world, were forced to abandon their language and thus themselves! While nations like in Europe spend billions in bringing back their languages and traditions.

Therefore one needs to have the strong foundations such as language, sound conventions, harmony with the nature and people in order to ensure true welfare.  It is like one builds a strong house by choosing the quality of stones to lay its foundation, build its pillars and fortify its walls.

Citizen or people journalism recommends that the communication network must be for everyone, not only for a few as it is the case in these days. In this regard mobile phone can be the most effective tool for communication in today’s world, and it should be used with utmost care without losing the trust of even friends who can consume one’s precious time.

The great tradition of story telling has a great significance across Africa. It is an excellent method of realising citizen or people journalism. And the story telling journalism from Africa must be heard, seen and read in the whole region, continent and the world.

People or mass journalism also converge the whole media: press, radio, television, Internet and so on. This convergence of the media does help true welfare as they all can work together for all the peoples rather than each one promotes their own interest. This also helps develop the critical use of the media.

People journalism can not be realised when people lack basic necessities. Internet is a luxury in Africa. Not only the common people but also professionals like doctors, journalists and others are deprived of basic necessities and they work with meagre resources. Unfortunately, it is an excellent pretext for all charities to dominate and dictate peoples. None of them ask why these basic necessities lack but intentionally avoid these questions. Some of these charities have even written into their statutes that they should never ask those questions as it can hinder their own existence.

Africa on world economy map

The seminar challenged the so-called official statistics brought out by international institutions and governments saying that the situation in Africa is better than some two decades ago. The value of many African currencies were brought down unjustly: When the US dollar was strong, it brought some 30 Kenya Shillings some 17 years ago, now the dollar is weak it can buy some 70 or more Kenya Shillings. In the same way, Zambia Kwacha was below 100 against one us dollar, now is it is more than 5’000. According to reports and statistics published July 2008, Africa has lost its exportation in the last 20 years: It includes 90 percent of milk products; 70 percent of meat products; 40 per cent of cereals.

In the year 1992, Africa and Latin America had a lot more important direct connections including air travel. African and Latin American Airlines connected Africa with Latin America from Senegal, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Angola and South Africa. Wars and conflicts with direct involvement and interest of foreign nations, their business interests, structural adjustment programmes, globalisation, investment by airlines from rich nations in the capital of airlines from Africa and Latin America made these two continents, especially most of their weaker nations more dependent on the few rich. The seminar affirmed that economic aid is not the solution, though it can be a first-aid. People and nations have to be able to be independent and when they are able to stand on their feet, others should not shoot them down.

African nations must be able to grow their own indigenous food, instead of importing cereals and fertilizers, which are many times overpriced, for example in Tanzania more than ten times. In east Africa, like in other parts of Africa, there are hundreds of vegetables and they used to be very well managed by local expertise and local know how. Instead of imposing foreign vegetables in Kenya in the name of globalisation and standardization, one must promote the local vegetables. Because of standardization, in East Africa alone more than 100 different type of vegetables have been disappeared.

The seminar gave a highly-eye-opening example of the cruel and unjust methods of business by multinationals:
In Bolivia, the first year the flour was free, the following year, one kilogramme of flour cost 20 cents of USA dollar, thus the local market was broken and now the flour cost what the multinationals decide.

Women and Children

Excellent and highly qualified resource persons presented the case of women and children in Africa. The children in all aspects -- cultural, legal and biological – are the future of the world. Their first fundamental right is right of participation, which many modern societies especially with unhealthy religious influences have set aside.

In a double-standard and double-edged world, women sex workers are social misfits while the men who take advantage of them are honoured publicly as gentlemen. Thus women’s development possibilities are curtailed. In spite of that many of them are able to give what they are not given: love, affection and sympathy.

In this hypocrite world, how do you look at the prostitute driven through the streets on her way to prison? How would you report as journalist, if she were your own mother, the mother of your best friend, the mother of humanity? When women are tried after forced prostitution, one should expose the evil, but protecting the person.

The seminar strongly affirmed “the world that does not take care of its children, does not take care of its future”. When adults run away, where do the children go? 

The Tribal Trap

One of the major obstacles not only in Africa but also in other parts of the world in the way of prosperity is tribal lineage. Every decision is based on one’s tribal descent and affiliation. Religions tried to make up for this to a great extent but it did not work as the world witnessed the horrors in Rwanda in 1994.

It was in this way that the victory of the US president elect, Mr Barack Obama, was celebrated in his Luo tribal belts in Western Kenya. And the question was whether Obama could win in Africa, if he were an African citizen. The answer depends on tribal connections and achievements. Many Kenyans see that Mr Obama’s victory came on similar lines, as people of mixed races or with an African connection voted for Obama.

It is the weakness of modern democracies where victory is won not because of the merit but because of ingredients such as race, money and connections. And it is exactly there, journalists and media experts have a great role to play in order to elevate individuals and institutions to the supra level of humanity and universe. The over-affirmation of tribal, racial, religious or political affiliation is a permanent danger against which the humanity has been fighting for centuries.

In countries like Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi, media have to be on permanent vigil as tribal rivalries can destroy the whole region and can spread to other continents along the same racial lines. It can be a victory today but tomorrow it can be a tragedy again. Therefore journalists should shun both tragedy and victory resulting from racial connections or arguments. There can be only success when events are guided by the norms of harmonious existence as well as universal and human values.

Role of Church as parent

The role of the Church in this context was seen as that of a caring parent who cares for babies and children of all tribes, all races and all ethnic groups. Like every good parent, she has the potential to take care of her children and lead them along the right path. Many of the social, political and awareness programmes guided by the Church are realised in this spirit. When children dispute, the parents can find the solution.

And this aspect of parenthood of the Church combined with the qualities of exemplary journalists is the key to guide society, especially in turbulent times. They go beyond ethnic, racial, tribal and religious divisions in order to take individuals and institutions to the level of common humanity. Unfortunately, the Church has not always succeeded when bishops and priests acted along tribal lines. They were not even able to sit face to face as their tribal links dominated their shared humanity. The Archbishop of Mombasa and his team therefore played a significant role in the carrying out of the programme.

Exposures

The participants had some extraordinary opportunities to expose themselves to some award -winning and globally recognised environmental projects and initiatives: mining and rehabilitation of natural habitats of forests and animals; co-existence between animals and humans; production of local vegetables and other edibles to resist imported, low quality and artificial food.

Feedback

Participants expressed their immense satisfaction on the event especially the great wisdom it could share. The participants and resources persons unanimously affirmed that events like this must be organised with greater frequency, as this content-filled and value-oriented seminars are rare and almost non-existing.