Media in Exile

By Elisha Shamba

On January 6, 1941, President Franklin D.Roosevelt proclaimed in his State of the Union that if democracy is to survive and flourish, people everywhere in the world are entitled to four human rights:
• Freedom of speech and expression
• Freedom of worship
• Freedom from want and
• Freedom from fear

Those four freedoms are still a pressing concern and essential to humanity. Organisations and most notably the media world wide play a critical role by committing themselves to the protection of those liberties. By the same token, freedom of expression is a fundamental human right recognised in Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

By contrast, the targeting of journalists is a blatant violation of the fundamental right of freedom of expression. Ordinary citizens are deprived of their right to full and objective information when journalists are silenced through repressive laws and practices.

In some countries, press freedom remains at the mercy of legal systems that have repeatedly shown hostility to the independent journalism. Journalists who seek to promote free speech and information flow are hounded left, right and centre. Alongside the dangers of repressive rule, conflict areas and war zones, they often face death threats, intimidation, arrests, are forced to go into exile whilst some even get killed as a result of their legitimate work in promoting human rights, especially freedom of expression. Most egregious violators of press freedom include Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe, just to name a few.

The important role of media-in-exile

Henry Anatole Granwald once said “Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue. It must speak and speak immediately, while echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.”

Journalists have been publishing in exile for years, becoming valuable sources of information on their closed societies. The media-in-exile strives to keep news flowing about their homeland. Technological advances- for example the internet- allow the media to reach more people in more places, allow people to share their opinions more readily and allow information to flow across the borders.

Good governance

Press freedom and access to information are founding principles for good governance, development and peace. These empower people by giving them information that can help them gain control over their own lives. The flow of communication has to be fostered by a free, pluralistic, independent and professional media and through national policies founded on freedom of expression; quality training and education; and access to information and knowledge.

Zimbabwe

Several harsh press laws are used by the government to muzzle the press. Laws that include the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) are being used with impunity to narrow the operating space for journalists. Journalists face a difficult operating environment in which they are not only expected to be licensed by government appointed Media and Information Commission (MIC) but have to brave political violence and the challenges of a failing economy. Unlicensed journalists face a daily task of avoiding arrest. More so, the unlicensed journalists can not travel outside the city centres to cover rural areas because of fear of security agents and militia who have bases there.

In the past five years, four newspapers including the popular Daily News were banned. A few months ago, 60,000 copies and a truck belonging to The Zimbabwean newspaper printed outside the country were petrol-bombed by unknown assailants. This situation is worsened by imposition of a punitive duty on all foreign publications.

In January 1999, The Standard, an independent weekly newspaper, splashed on its front page a story of an alleged coup of topple President Robert Mugabe. In what was to become one of Zimbabwe’s most infamous torture cases, the army detained the reporter, Ray Choto and his editor, Mark Chavunduka without legal charges for ten days. They were taken to army barracks where they were stripped naked by military intelligence officers and Central Intelligence Organisation agents, beaten with planks and subjected to electric shocks on their genitals. They were taken in leg irons to another location where they were electrocuted and their heads wrapped in plastic bags and submerged in a water tank in mock drownings.

Choto and Chavunduka were so badly injured and traumatised that subsequently they received several months of treatment in London at the Medical Foundation for the Care of victims of torture, a centre established in the memory of people killed and tortured in Nazi Germany.

Chavunduka has since died and Choto has settled in the United States. Nine years later, no official inquiry has been held into the torture of the two journalists.

At least 90 Zimbabwean journalists, including among many of the nation’s most prominent reporters, now live in exile in South Africa, other African nations, the United Kingdom and the United States, making it one of the largest groups of exiled journalists in the world, an analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists recently found.

Some left as a direct result of persecution, others because the government crack down virtually erased opportunities in the independent press. The crack down has taken a devastating toll on Zimbabwe’s independent media. Once home to a robust press corps, Zimbabwe today has no independent daily newspapers, no private radio news coverage and just two prominent independent weeklies. These two face the challenge of surviving a harsh economic environment in which almost all inputs are imported. They therefore struggle to break even.

Gerry Jackson, a Zimbabwean freelance journalist in December 2001 launched Short Wave Radio Africa in London. Today nine people working from a tiny studio on the outskirts of London, provide one of only three sources of independent news to Zimbabwean citizens. (The others include the Voice of the People, with ex-ZBC staff broadcasting from Madagascar and the US-based Voice of America). SW Radio Africa broadcasts programs into Zimbabwe in English and in the Shona and Ndebele languages.

The Station suffered a major setback in 2005 when the Zimbabwean government succeeded in jamming its shortwave broadcasts. Jackson tried to overcome the obstacle by broadcasting on multiple frequencies, but this costly arrangement proved unsustainable and the station now sends programming online and via medium wave. A British company VT Communications also now transmits content on the station’s behalf. The station also sends headlines via text message to about 25,000 Zimbabweans within the country; what news SW Radio Africa receives, apart form international sources is from its listeners. They have a mobile phone in Zimbabwe. People leave their contact details and SW Radio Africa calls them back. In effect, Zimbabweans have become their own informed correspondence.

Other media-in-exile covering issues about Zimbabwe include ZimOnline launched in Johannesburg in 2004, New Zimbabwe.com featuring tabloid-style news and commentary online and produced out of Wales; The Zimbabwean launched in 2005 by Wilf Mbanga which has a weekly circulation of about 80,000 in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Zimbabwe; the Zimbabwe Times; ZW News.com and Zimbabwemetro.com

The Association of Zimbabwean Journalists in UK (AZJ-UK) launched in 2005 to bring together exiled journalists and other media practitioners living outside the country.

After the March 29 elections in which MDC convincingly won, the party through its newly elected Senator David Coltart promised to free up the Zimbabwean media when it takes power. He was speaking at a Bulawayo News conference in May where he revealed that the MDC will enact policies that enable both the public and private media to become critical and analytical institutions of the government of the day and opposition political parties. He said the MDC government will amend the existing harsh media laws in order to create press freedom and encourage more players in the industry which is currently dominated by government. With the ongoing power-sharing talks, one hopes that these polices can be embraced and enacted by the government of national unity once a ‘deal is sealed.’

Somalia

Somalia has been plagued with violence since the collapse of its central government in 1991. The overall situation has deteriorated considerably since Ethiopian military forces entered the country in 2006 to oust a nascent Islamist movement that Ethiopia’s government saw as a threat to its security. Since then, Somalia has become mired in brutal and indiscriminate warfare between increasingly powerful insurgent groups and Somali’s Transitional Federal government (TFG), which is backed by Ethiopian military forces.

The armed conflict has crippled institutions, from hospitals to schools, which had previously found ways of functioning despite Somalia’s chronic violence and lack of an effective central government. Not least among these has been Somalia’s independent media. Somalia has long been home to a range of thriving independent newspaper and radio stations, many of which continue to report courageously on events across the country. As a result, journalists have been targeted by all sides of the conflicts.

TGF militias have carried out raids on media outlets and arbitrarily detained journalists who have reported on their numerous failures and abuses. Members of insurgent groups are widely believed to have repeatedly threatened independent journalists with assassination, apparently to coerce them into changing their coverage of events.

Nine Somali journalists have been killed since the beginning of 2007, and at least five of those were assassinated. As many as 100 others have fled the country, often in the face of repeated death threats or actual attacks upon their homes or offices. While the Somali press has continued to play a vital role in gathering and reporting information about the outgoing conflicts, the loss of so many dedicated professionals has taken a heavy toll.

Perhaps the most significant Somali media outlet that is available to all Somalis throughout the world is online publications. Many of them are based in UK. Even some media services that are based outside UK have their web editions managed the UK and the rest of Europe.

The Somali Community Media Centre brings Somali media professionals and academics together and is developing a media research-based strategy that engages the community. The centre runs a media service that reflects the interest of the Somali community in the UK and promotes their role, strengths and contributions.

In print media, at least five publications are circulated in UK, three tabloid-sized newspapers (Kasmo, Jamhuuriya and the Somali Voice) and two magazines- Hiraal and Somali Eye.

The most popular Somali online publications are:

Hiraan.com, Canada-based, with more than 35,000 visitors everyday.
Dayniile.com, Sweden-based with more than 32,000 daily visitors.
Midnimo.com, UK-based with up to 20,000 visitors everyday.
Awdalnews.com, US –based with almost 20,000 visitors.

Afghanistan

The growth of private television stations has been a significant feature of the post-Taleban Afghan media scene. There are five large private TV networks and more than 40 radio stations. They command large audience and some of them rival the state broadcaster.

An Australia-Afghan media group, Moby Capital Partners, operates some of the leading private broadcaster including Tolo TV and Arman FM. Much of the TV output consists of imported Indian music shows and serials, and programmes modelled on Western formats. The channels are very popular in urban centres, especially among the under 30s.

However, media law prohibit material that is deemed to run counter to Islamic law and some private stations have drawn the ire of conservative religious elements. Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders says media regulatory bodies are “under the government’s thumb”.

Relays of foreign radio stations or stations funded from overseas are on the air in Kabul, including the BBC, Radio France Internationale, Deutsche Welle and US-funded broadcasts from Radio Free Afghanistan, which uses the name Azadi Radio, and the Voice of America, which brands its Dari and Pashto broadcasts as Radio Ashna (“Friend”)

BBC World Service is also available on FM and medium wave (AM) in other parts of Afghanistan. Internet access is scarce and computer literacy and ownership rates are minuscule.

Afghanistan’s media were seriously restricted under Taleban rule.
Radio Afghanistan was renamed Radio Voice of Shariah and reflected the Islamic fundamentalist values of the Taleban. TV was seen as a source of moral corruption and was banned.

Journalist and media workers in Afghanistan have come under increasing threats and attacks by both the state and non-state actors and several journalists have been killed. The government, in particular the NDS and the Ulema Council (council of religious scholars), have attempted to reduce the media’s independence.

University student and journalist Perwiz Kambakhsh was sentenced to death on a charge of blasphemy by a provincial court in Mazar-e Sharif in Balkh province on 22 January 2008, for allegedly downloading material from the internet that examined the role of women in Islam.

Media freedom in Afghanistan could be further restricted by a revised media law that currently awaits President Karzai’s approval. It contains several ambiguous provisions that could be used to restrict freedom of expression far beyond restrictions allowed under international human rights law, including a prohibition on content is “contrary to the principles of Islam.”

Afghanistan News.Net is part of an international network of news sites, dedicated to the major regions, countries and cities of the world. The network has been developed over a number of years, utilising local, national and international resources. This particular portal features all the latest breaking Afghanistan news, collating headlines and stories from a variety of sources, including global TV networks, major newspapers, news wires and their own dedicated journalists.

Eritrea

Eritrea is the only African country to have no privately-owned news media. In 2005 the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described it as one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists.

Another press watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, notes that there is “no freedom of expression.” The government closed the private press in 2001 for “endangering national security” and arrested many journalists after several publications printed the dissenting views of some National Assembly members.

There are no private radio or TV stations. Only a privileged few Eritreans have access to the Internet. The handful of foreign correspondents in the capital, Asmara are subject to the intensive monitoring by authorities. Eritrea is also Africa’s largest prison for journalists – at least 15 journalists have been jailed or otherwise deprived of their liberty. Most are held incommunicado in secret detention centres without charges.

Iraq

Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 there has been a profound transformation in the Iraqi media scene. Instead of a few, tightly –controlled media outlets, Iraqis now have a choice of hundreds of publications and dozens of radio and TV stations.

But political and religious divisions are making themselves evident in the media. Moreover, scores of journalists and other media workers have fallen victim to insurgents and coalition military action. The financial viability of media companies is seriously affected by the security situation.

There are more than 100 newspapers and magazines on offer in Baghdad and other cities and private radio and television stations have mushroomed.

The TV and radio stations set up by the now-defunct US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) are now part of a publicly-funded broadcaster, the Iraqi Public Broadcasting Service.

Private media outlets are often linked to the political, ethnic or religious groups which are jostling for a say in Iraq’s future. But they face a lack of resources, in particular a constant power supply.

Foreign broadcasters targeting Iraq include the BBC, Paris-based Monte Carlo Doualiya radio, and US-backed al-Hurra TV, Radio Sawa and Radio free Iraq. Many of them are available via local relays. The BBC is relayed in Baghdad and Basra.

Satellite TV is watched by around 70% of Iraqi viewers; the pan-Arab news stations AL- Arabiya and Al- Jazeera are popular. Iran’s AL Alam TV, which broadcasts in Arabic, can be received in Baghdad without a dish.

In the northern autonomous Kurdish enclaves, rival factions operate their own media.

Sudan

Sudanese broadcasting is highly restricted. State-run radio and TV reflect government policy. Sudan has a permanent military censor to ensure that the news reflects official views.

There are no privately-owned TV stations apart form a cable service jointly owned by the government and private investors, Satellite dishes are a common sight in affluent areas and pan-Arab stations are popular among viewers.

State-run national radio networks broadcasts news, music and cultural programmes. International broadcasters are also heard, including the BBC which is relayed in FM in Khartoum and other parts of the north, and in Juba in the south. Several opposition and clandestine stations broadcast to Sudan.

The private press enjoys a greater degree of freedom than the state broadcasters and offers a limited forum for opposition views, but the state retains and uses powers to influence what is published.

In the semi-autonomous south, the lack of infrastructure limits media operations. However, broadcasters and newspapers, some with foreign funding are active. The region’s president has said he wants to “create space for the media to enjoy freedom.”

Sudan Radio Service (SRS) is Sudan’s first independent broadcast provider of news and information. SRS works in English, Arabic and 8 Sudanese languages and focuses exclusively on issues and events in Sudan, making it the favourite radio station of many Sudanese around the world. It’s based in Nairobi, Kenya.

www.ifj.org
www.journalism.co.za
www.metro.co.uk
www.cpj.org
http://news.bbc.co.uk
www.amnestyusa.org
www.afrol.com