Call for resources for media development in Africa

The African Media Development Initiative (AMDI) released its report yesterday, Monday, 15 January 2007. The research was undertaken to better understand the state of the media sector in sub-Saharan Africa in order to learn how to most effectively strengthen it, and was born out of the 2005 Commission for Africa, which identified the critical role of the media in aiding good governance and helping to advance economic and social development.

Detailed snapshot

Conducted across 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the AMDI survey provides a detailed snapshot of the media landscape and was directed and conducted by Ahmadu Bello University (Nigeria), BBC World Service Trust, Rhodes University (South Africa) and a network of researchers from seventeen African countries. It was funded by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Irish Aid, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The research concludes that there has been a massive proliferation of media during the last five years, especially radio and print media, but that in spite of this growth, the sector faces many challenges.

Professional, technical, ethical and management standards remain low. Insufficient training institutions, low salaries, inadequate funding and widespread control exerted by governments over the media are cited as the key barriers to media development.

Speaking at the launch yesterday in Nairobi, Stephen King, director of the BBC World Service Trust, said: "In addition to the key challenges facing the sector, the international system community has largely overlooked the importance of the media in development. Media development support needs to be a consistent priority. Aid flows need to be higher and committed for longer, and innovative strategies need to be employed to make sure the media sector is sustainable."

Widespread consensus

The study reveals a widespread consensus with respect to the media's enormous potential to contribute significantly to development and governance in Africa. Media stakeholders are also agreed about the need for increased funding, more predictable and independent regulation of the sector, and improved co-ordination of resources and training by media development organisations. These measures are desperately needed to help professionalise the industry, increase its financial sustainability and improve the status of journalism in Africa.

AMDI Advisory Group member Dr Wilfred Kiboro (former CE of the Nation Media Group, Kenya) said: "Fostering a stronger media in Africa is an indispensable part of tackling poverty and enabling Africa to attain its development goals. This study provides a unique template showing how donors, investors, media and media development organisations can collaborate in supporting and strengthening Africa's media sector."

King added, "The AMDI study provides an invaluable set of insights on the media landscape in sub-Saharan Africa. It tells us that the sector is weak, but there are grounds for optimism. With this information, a consortium of partners can now begin in earnest to translate into reality the Commission for Africa's stated desire for a Pan-African media development facility that will compliment national initiatives and provide funding and expertise in support of media development in Africa."

Commenting from Tunis, Eric Chinje, the head of communications at the African Development Bank, said: "The research conducted by the AMDI provides an important set of insights that can assist us to strengthen the delivery of resources in support of media development. The African Development Bank looks forward to convening a Stakeholder's Forum in April to look at ways in which to advance the recommendations contained within the AMDI report."

Key findings

• The media sector in the 17 countries is undergoing significant growth and transformation, fuelled by democratic reform, globalisation, economic growth and the availability of new technologies.
  
• Radio is the dominant mass media channel while television is less widely available, especially in rural areas. Newspapers remain focused on urban areas while the uptake of mobile phones has been spectacular, far exceeding uptake of the Internet. In 10 of the countries surveyed, less than 2% of the national population is estimated to use the Internet.
  
• Combined, South Africa and Nigeria comprise two-thirds of the Internet population within the surveyed countries.
  
• The media is serving growing populations of young people, rural and non-literate groups.
  
• Community media, including non-profit small-scale private enterprises, are playing a key role in advancing development objectives and giving local communities a voice.
  
• State-owned broadcasting media have the widest reach but shortage of resources and trained staff can result in poor-quality programming, pro-government bias and an over-concentration on urban issues.
  
• Private media are growing in importance and while these can inject an element of independence, some private radio media are seen as too profit driven and too compliant with business interests to serve a wide audience.
  
• The role of the media in supporting development objectives - particularly improved governance - is undervalued by the international community.
  
• Media capacity building programmes are ad hoc and vary in quality, with unsustainable and short-term projects, unnecessary competition amongst donor agencies and consequent wasted investment.
  
• Implementation of legislation to protect media independence varies greatly amongst the countries surveyed and in many cases, the executive branch of government still exerts undue influence. Only in South Africa, and to a certain extent in Ghana also, are the broadcasting regulators who issue licenses and supervise compliance, independent of the government
  
• Technical standards and levels of staff professionalism are consistently low, owing to a combination of insufficient or poor-quality training institutions, resources being strained by rapid expansion, the low salaries and status of journalists and a skills exodus, with staff poached to better-paid jobs in the development sector. Across the countries surveyed, journalist salaries often under-performed against salaries in other professions. Print journalists tend to receive lower salaries than those working in TV or radio.
  
• The state of equipment, facilities and technical support within the media sector in sub-Saharan African countries is generally poor .
  
• New funding arrangements need to be put in place to ensure the financial sustainability of community, public and private media.
  
• There is a need to develop a local production skills base, creating a body of content focused on social and development issues. Community media in particular has a key role to play in giving a voice to rural and/or marginalised communities.

The AMDI Summary Report and copies of the individual country reports from Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe, are available at www.bbcworldservicetrust.org/amdi.