Swaziland’s Prime Minister has praised the Swazi media for the support they have given him and his government over the past five years.
Themba Dlamini was speaking at the final Swaziland’s editor’s forum breakfast meeting before the forthcoming elections.
Dlamini said past meetings had given people the opportunity to understand government policies and programmes.
He said there was value in the ‘constant interaction’ between government and media that these monthly meetings represented.
I am not surprised that the Prime Minister is pleased with the media’s behaviour because, put simply, they haven’t really given him a hard time at all.
The forum is billed as an opportunity for the media to question the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues on matters of interest to the nation, but in his speech the PM was very open about the fact that he would only answer the questions that he wanted to.
I personally don’t see that as being much of an open dialogue. A real interaction would only take place when the Prime Minister and senior politicians were forced to answer questions they did NOT want to answer.
The breakfast meetings take place every month and usually get extensive coverage in the media. This month for example the Swazi Observer (4 July 2008) devoted one page and the Times of Swaziland, two pages to the meeting. Usually the reports are summaries of what the PM said. There is no attempt to get alterative voices in the stories.
This is entirely typical of the Swazi media and must be why the Prime Minister thinks the meetings are so valuable: he gets to put his own point of view across.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland chapter in its report His Master’s Voice: Political Reporting in Swaziland 2007 showed how this happens in practice.
The report, written by Mary Ellen Rogers, gives an example of a report in the Times of Swaziland (15 November 2007). The story headlined PM Doubts Ngozo was shot at 35cm radius was about the PM’s defence of the police service against allegations that officers fatally shot an unarmed suspect at close range.
The only source in the story was the Prime Minister himself.
Rogers comments,
‘The report just provided a summary of the PM’s statements. As such, the information was extremely limited. There was no context to explain the shooting and critically no information about what was contained in the post-mortem report that the PM so readily discredits.
‘There was no information to counter or verify the PM’s claims. The PM speaks of investigations that are complete, but we are not told any detail about the investigations such as who conducted them and under what circumstances.
‘There is confusing reference to a previous coroner but no information on when the current coroner will hear this case and what the likely consequences would be for the officers involved.’
Personally, I can see why the PM is pleased with the Swazi media. The media have such a lack of curiosity that the PM can get away with anything.
To emphasise the point look at my post yesterday (5 July 2008) about the PM praising the state of the Swazi economy.
To see the full text of the Prime Minister’s speech to the Editors’ Forum, click here
See also
P.M. PRAISES SWAZI MEDIA
Showing posts with label political reporting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label political reporting. Show all posts
Sunday, 6 July 2008
P.M. PRAISES SWAZILAND MEDIA
On Thursday 4 July 2008 the Prime Minister of Swaziland Themba Dlamini gave a speech to the Swaziland Editors’ Forum breakfast meeting. In it he outlined his views on the way the media operated in the kingdom.
For comments on his speech click here
The Swazi News (5 July 2008) reprinted the speech. It is reproduced below.
May I begin by expressing my profound gratitude to the Editors Forum for the partnership built over time between the media and my Cabinet colleagues, through the monthly meetings to deliberate on issues of national importance and interest in the last four and half years.
These breakfast meetings have helped different stakeholders understand government programmes, policies, challenges and bills that government is enacting.
In other words they have opened doors for the public to follow government business.
I am particularly pleased that we all saw value in establishing constant interaction between government and the media, because we all appreciated the role of the media and the expectations of the public from this interface.
There is no doubt that in the 21st century information has become the most powerful tool. Through information you can fight diseases, ignorance and promote development amongst other things. Since time in immemorial, the media has been the eyes and ears of the people, irrespective of their status in society. The role of the media is to inform, educate and entertain members of society It is the mouthpiece of the voiceless, down trodden and abused.
In certain quarters the media is called the watchdog for the people and not 'blood hound' because it follows issues from all sectors of our society Indeed that is why it is called the fourth estate, because it has a distinctive role to play.
The media reports on economic, political, social and personal issues. More than before, the media has an immense task of reporting on the operations of the judiciary legislature, executive and the civil society to mention but a few.
It has always been argued that through the media politicians are able to account to the electorate because it follows very closely those that are in high/political positions in society. It keeps them on their toes.
May I also thank the media for the relationship they have built with the government press secretary. The existence of the office has brought hand some dividends and strengthened our open door policy I am sure you will agree with me that you have access to government information and my Cabinet colleagues have also been co-operating with you.
I wish to thank the media and congratulate all journalists for their tireless efforts in disseminating information to the people. You have been true partners in educating and informing the nation about government programmes, policies and projects. You have been able to inform society about the many challenges His Majesty's government is facing.
You have played a magnificent role in educating people about the effects of HIV/AIDS, the challenges of poverty and the abuse of children and women. You have condemned the abuse of the voiceless and the under privileged. You have ben able to bring to the public domain men and women who abuse children.
The role played by the media in creating awareness on corruption is highly commendable. The media has been able to expose corruption both in the private and public sectors. Sometimes fingers have also been pointed to the newsrooms that corruption is also breeding there.
However, I think this has all been done in the spirit of accountability and transparency.
Due to the transparency of government, the media has been able to alert government on potential risks that the country might find itself facing. You have followed closely the progress of government projects and sometimes you have been useful whistle blowers. As a result a lot of corruption has been exposed through your dedicated work.
May I, however, say that transparency and freedom of expression and information have some limits in every society. This comes with responsibility, maturity and above all up holding national interest as a top priority I am particularly referring to national interest because the media can either build or destroy the image of the country. Readers form perceptions based on what is reported by the media. Therefore Editors, as gate keepers of our newsrooms, need to have love, sensitivity and patriotism to protect the country in which they belong.
This should be done without compromising professionalism and independence
It is against this background that I appeal to the media to be guided by their ethics when reporting. You need to report truthfully, without any bias and also abide by what is called equal opportunity in order to balance your stories. The media should be guided by the principles of fair, responsible and truthful reporting. The press must avoid the principle of “the survival of the fittest”.
The media should avoid a tabloid style of reporting. It must report facts and facts only in order to gain credibility. Despite all this I believe that the media should report out fear or favour. We should all be equal before the editors. As the media reports, it should abide by the laws of the land and the constitution is our guiding document We need to put people first and the over riding factor is national interest.
We discourage the abuse of freedom of expression. I once read an advert and also watched the same advert on television, it said, "we have freedom of expression but then after expression there is no freedom
In other countries people claim to have freedom of expression but in practice there is no freedom of expression. If you do, either you disappear or you are behind bars. Opinion columns in our media should be guided by media ethics, it should not promote hate. It should build up individuals, not to chastise or rebuke personalities recklessly. The media should focus on issues and not personalise issues.
Again the choice of words and language is key but without losing the meaning of what you want to say.
I am glad that in Swaziland people have constitutional rights to express themselves freely I am also happy that there is no one that has been reprimanded because of expressing himself or herself through the media or any other medium.
I wish to emphasise once again that freedom comes with responsibility.
May I also congratulate all our media houses for their commitment in promoting and reporting on the development of the constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland.
The media covered the civic education very well and this was highly appreciated toy His Majesty's government. You have played a very important role in disseminating the information about the voter registration process and as a result the turnout is indeed very impressive. As we go for nominations at our different chiefdoms, which win be followed by primary and secondary elections. I have no doubt that you shall cover the processes professionally. You shall be oar gate way to the international community.
As you are aware, His Majesty the King has dissolved Parliament and this is a sure sign that the life of the 8th Parliament of the kingdom of Swaziland is coming to an end. It is therefore proper that we make this our last breakfast meeting. I therefore wish to make a few observations.
First, I appeal to both the public and the private sectors to empower our women. Women are an integral part of our development and we should promote them to leadership positions and I am disheartened that there is an unequal representation of women in leadership and decision making positions in all sectors including the media.
Secondly, I have observed that communication builds bridges, sometimes across difficult terrain. You will recall that the initial breakfast meetings were very difficult and tense even though I had given you the rules of engagement.
I think you will remember rule number one, which says, “I am not under any obligation to answer all your questions and I reserve the right to refuse to answer any question” This has been the rule of thumb for our breakfast meetings and I am happy that we have kept it alive throughout our sessions; and our interaction has matured over time.
I am also aware that there are some instances where tempers flared and participants lost their cool and our customary respect for each other. However, we have let those instances pass and looked forward with determination and pride because our goal was to engage in discussions for the benefit of our stakeholders. I am one person who does not hold grudges. It is normal in life to disagree on issues. Indeed the world would be a dull place if everyone agreed on everything, every time.
I would like to appeal to the owners of the media in the country to build capacity in all sectors. We need to develop specialists in our journalists. We should have specialists in Social, Legal, Economic and Political issues amongst other areas.
I am also concerned about the investigative reporting capacity in our newsrooms. It is through investigative reporting that we get to know about issues of national concern.
What is critical is the truth, because the report should come up as a balanced story so that it is credible. I therefore challenge our media houses to develop this capacity
As we prepare for our double celebrations marking the country's 40th Independence Anniversary and His Majesty's 40th Birthday, I appeal to the media to promote these celebrations faithfully. We need investigative reporters to look back where we come from and where we are now in areas such as education, health, economic development and agriculture. The list is endless. This is a challenge I am giving to all our newsrooms.
Finally, I wish to thank the Editors Forum once again for the wonderful opportunity afforded me, and my Cabinet colleagues to work together for a better Swaziland.
I believe as we started this journey of a thousand miles in November, 2003 and our success is attributable to team work with Cabinet, Parliament, judiciary and co-operation with civil servants.
I also acknowledge the role played by other sectors like the private sector, labour, civil society, the church to mention but few.
Special thanks go to our sponsors Holcim Cement. All these breakfast meetings would not have been a success without your support. May I request the Holcim Cement representative who has always been with us to pass our sincere gratitude to her principals at headquarters. May the Lord multiply your profits and resources and I wish you the best in your future endeavours.
My special appreciation also goes to all those who have always made these breakfast meetings a great success, particularly my Cabinet colleagues. My gratitude also goes to the media houses who have always supported these sessions without fail. Last but not least the excellent staff in my office who have always supported all my endeavours. I wish to advise the journalists to guard against abuse by influential and powerful personalities. We expect journalists to have firm principles because their work makes them vulnerable to manipulation.
As I conclude, I wish to leave journalist with these wise words "when money talks, wisdom walks away and the truth becomes silent". I sincerely hope that you will continue to work well with His Majesty's government. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours. We have run our race and I am pleased with our achievements.
May God bless you all, I thank you!
See also
SWAZI P.M. IS CLOSE TO MEDIA
For comments on his speech click here
The Swazi News (5 July 2008) reprinted the speech. It is reproduced below.
May I begin by expressing my profound gratitude to the Editors Forum for the partnership built over time between the media and my Cabinet colleagues, through the monthly meetings to deliberate on issues of national importance and interest in the last four and half years.
These breakfast meetings have helped different stakeholders understand government programmes, policies, challenges and bills that government is enacting.
In other words they have opened doors for the public to follow government business.
I am particularly pleased that we all saw value in establishing constant interaction between government and the media, because we all appreciated the role of the media and the expectations of the public from this interface.
There is no doubt that in the 21st century information has become the most powerful tool. Through information you can fight diseases, ignorance and promote development amongst other things. Since time in immemorial, the media has been the eyes and ears of the people, irrespective of their status in society. The role of the media is to inform, educate and entertain members of society It is the mouthpiece of the voiceless, down trodden and abused.
In certain quarters the media is called the watchdog for the people and not 'blood hound' because it follows issues from all sectors of our society Indeed that is why it is called the fourth estate, because it has a distinctive role to play.
The media reports on economic, political, social and personal issues. More than before, the media has an immense task of reporting on the operations of the judiciary legislature, executive and the civil society to mention but a few.
It has always been argued that through the media politicians are able to account to the electorate because it follows very closely those that are in high/political positions in society. It keeps them on their toes.
May I also thank the media for the relationship they have built with the government press secretary. The existence of the office has brought hand some dividends and strengthened our open door policy I am sure you will agree with me that you have access to government information and my Cabinet colleagues have also been co-operating with you.
I wish to thank the media and congratulate all journalists for their tireless efforts in disseminating information to the people. You have been true partners in educating and informing the nation about government programmes, policies and projects. You have been able to inform society about the many challenges His Majesty's government is facing.
You have played a magnificent role in educating people about the effects of HIV/AIDS, the challenges of poverty and the abuse of children and women. You have condemned the abuse of the voiceless and the under privileged. You have ben able to bring to the public domain men and women who abuse children.
The role played by the media in creating awareness on corruption is highly commendable. The media has been able to expose corruption both in the private and public sectors. Sometimes fingers have also been pointed to the newsrooms that corruption is also breeding there.
However, I think this has all been done in the spirit of accountability and transparency.
Due to the transparency of government, the media has been able to alert government on potential risks that the country might find itself facing. You have followed closely the progress of government projects and sometimes you have been useful whistle blowers. As a result a lot of corruption has been exposed through your dedicated work.
May I, however, say that transparency and freedom of expression and information have some limits in every society. This comes with responsibility, maturity and above all up holding national interest as a top priority I am particularly referring to national interest because the media can either build or destroy the image of the country. Readers form perceptions based on what is reported by the media. Therefore Editors, as gate keepers of our newsrooms, need to have love, sensitivity and patriotism to protect the country in which they belong.
This should be done without compromising professionalism and independence
It is against this background that I appeal to the media to be guided by their ethics when reporting. You need to report truthfully, without any bias and also abide by what is called equal opportunity in order to balance your stories. The media should be guided by the principles of fair, responsible and truthful reporting. The press must avoid the principle of “the survival of the fittest”.
The media should avoid a tabloid style of reporting. It must report facts and facts only in order to gain credibility. Despite all this I believe that the media should report out fear or favour. We should all be equal before the editors. As the media reports, it should abide by the laws of the land and the constitution is our guiding document We need to put people first and the over riding factor is national interest.
We discourage the abuse of freedom of expression. I once read an advert and also watched the same advert on television, it said, "we have freedom of expression but then after expression there is no freedom
In other countries people claim to have freedom of expression but in practice there is no freedom of expression. If you do, either you disappear or you are behind bars. Opinion columns in our media should be guided by media ethics, it should not promote hate. It should build up individuals, not to chastise or rebuke personalities recklessly. The media should focus on issues and not personalise issues.
Again the choice of words and language is key but without losing the meaning of what you want to say.
I am glad that in Swaziland people have constitutional rights to express themselves freely I am also happy that there is no one that has been reprimanded because of expressing himself or herself through the media or any other medium.
I wish to emphasise once again that freedom comes with responsibility.
May I also congratulate all our media houses for their commitment in promoting and reporting on the development of the constitution of the Kingdom of Swaziland.
The media covered the civic education very well and this was highly appreciated toy His Majesty's government. You have played a very important role in disseminating the information about the voter registration process and as a result the turnout is indeed very impressive. As we go for nominations at our different chiefdoms, which win be followed by primary and secondary elections. I have no doubt that you shall cover the processes professionally. You shall be oar gate way to the international community.
As you are aware, His Majesty the King has dissolved Parliament and this is a sure sign that the life of the 8th Parliament of the kingdom of Swaziland is coming to an end. It is therefore proper that we make this our last breakfast meeting. I therefore wish to make a few observations.
First, I appeal to both the public and the private sectors to empower our women. Women are an integral part of our development and we should promote them to leadership positions and I am disheartened that there is an unequal representation of women in leadership and decision making positions in all sectors including the media.
Secondly, I have observed that communication builds bridges, sometimes across difficult terrain. You will recall that the initial breakfast meetings were very difficult and tense even though I had given you the rules of engagement.
I think you will remember rule number one, which says, “I am not under any obligation to answer all your questions and I reserve the right to refuse to answer any question” This has been the rule of thumb for our breakfast meetings and I am happy that we have kept it alive throughout our sessions; and our interaction has matured over time.
I am also aware that there are some instances where tempers flared and participants lost their cool and our customary respect for each other. However, we have let those instances pass and looked forward with determination and pride because our goal was to engage in discussions for the benefit of our stakeholders. I am one person who does not hold grudges. It is normal in life to disagree on issues. Indeed the world would be a dull place if everyone agreed on everything, every time.
I would like to appeal to the owners of the media in the country to build capacity in all sectors. We need to develop specialists in our journalists. We should have specialists in Social, Legal, Economic and Political issues amongst other areas.
I am also concerned about the investigative reporting capacity in our newsrooms. It is through investigative reporting that we get to know about issues of national concern.
What is critical is the truth, because the report should come up as a balanced story so that it is credible. I therefore challenge our media houses to develop this capacity
As we prepare for our double celebrations marking the country's 40th Independence Anniversary and His Majesty's 40th Birthday, I appeal to the media to promote these celebrations faithfully. We need investigative reporters to look back where we come from and where we are now in areas such as education, health, economic development and agriculture. The list is endless. This is a challenge I am giving to all our newsrooms.
Finally, I wish to thank the Editors Forum once again for the wonderful opportunity afforded me, and my Cabinet colleagues to work together for a better Swaziland.
I believe as we started this journey of a thousand miles in November, 2003 and our success is attributable to team work with Cabinet, Parliament, judiciary and co-operation with civil servants.
I also acknowledge the role played by other sectors like the private sector, labour, civil society, the church to mention but few.
Special thanks go to our sponsors Holcim Cement. All these breakfast meetings would not have been a success without your support. May I request the Holcim Cement representative who has always been with us to pass our sincere gratitude to her principals at headquarters. May the Lord multiply your profits and resources and I wish you the best in your future endeavours.
My special appreciation also goes to all those who have always made these breakfast meetings a great success, particularly my Cabinet colleagues. My gratitude also goes to the media houses who have always supported these sessions without fail. Last but not least the excellent staff in my office who have always supported all my endeavours. I wish to advise the journalists to guard against abuse by influential and powerful personalities. We expect journalists to have firm principles because their work makes them vulnerable to manipulation.
As I conclude, I wish to leave journalist with these wise words "when money talks, wisdom walks away and the truth becomes silent". I sincerely hope that you will continue to work well with His Majesty's government. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours. We have run our race and I am pleased with our achievements.
May God bless you all, I thank you!
See also
SWAZI P.M. IS CLOSE TO MEDIA
Thursday, 26 June 2008
SWAZI GVT DOMINATES NEWS
There is an old saying among the more cynical media watchers that there is no need to censor or impose state controls on journalists, because journalists will keep in line without coercion.
I was reminded of this when I was looking through a research report on political reporting in Swaziland.
I have written about His Master’s Voice, Political Reporting in Swaziland 2007 previously. The report published in June 2008 by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) – Swaziland chapter, is a fascinating expose of the weaknesses of political reporting in particular and journalism more generally in Swaziland.
The research reveals that journalists in Swaziland are not doing their jobs. One of the roles of the journalist is to give people clear information about what is going on around them. Another role is to hold those in power to account.
Swazi journalists fall down on both of these roles.
The research, written by Mary Ellen Rogers, shows that political reporting in the Swazi media is overwhelmingly dominated by the voices and views of government.
Groups with opposing views, NGOs and ordinary people hardly get a chance to have their voices heard.
According to research, government sources accounted for 57 per cent of all sources in political coverage. Government here refers to cabinet, ministry staff, MPs, senators, spokespeople and such like.
But when you take a broader definition of ‘government’ to include King Mswati III, the justice system, traditional authorities and parastatals, the dominance of government voices in political stories increases to 75 per cent.
The second biggest single group of sources after government is civil society, but this sector only accounts for 13 percent of all sources in political coverage. Civil society refers to sources such as educators, workers, ordinary citizens, business people and religious leaders.
The research reveals that ‘a typical political story is a story with one source and that source is from government’. Government spoke most often about development. The issues that government spoke about least were poverty, crime and social welfare.
Development was also a favoured topic for the king. When the king was heard in political coverage he was almost exclusively speaking about development issues. On occasion, he was captured speaking on interstate relations, economics and corruption. Just two stories captured the king speaking about HIV AIDS.
Swazi journalists also let down the people by failing to hold those in power to account. There is no questioning of those in authority and very little contextualising of events.
The research stated,
‘Reporters tended to take events at face value. That is, they rarely asked questions of relevant sources and scrutinized the underlying issues. This resulted in very superficial reporting that covered who, what, when, where but repeatedly ignored the how and the why of the event.
‘It was rare to find evidence of the reporter directly questioning sources. Typically, a political story would just summarise the source’s public statements.
‘Few stories displayed an effort by the journalist to pursue the source with follow-up questions or take questions to other relevant sources.’
The report says that this failure by journalists ‘was particularly the case for television and radio’. Personally, I think this is unsurprising since most broadcasting in Swaziland is state-controlled and that which isn’t (Channel Swazi and Voice of the Church) is indistinguishable from the others in that they vehemently support the status quo in Swaziland.
His Master’s Voice goes on to identify that few stories were properly contextualized.
‘It was clear from many stories that the reporter’s aim was to report the simple facts of an event. There was rarely an effort to go beyond these basic details to explain the backdrop against which the event occurred, conduct research, interview diverse sources, find connections to other relevant stories, events, or mention recurring patterns.
‘As such, political stories were mostly reported as isolated incidents, with no attempt to explain the significance of the event within the broader social context, examine the impacts and mention solutions.’
The standard of political journalism in Swaziland is clearly very poor. I think there are a number of reasons for this and mostly, these are cultural. Swaziland is not a questioning society; people seem content on believing what they are told, without understanding there is more than one way to look at an issue. You only have to look at the way people believe the words of bogus pastors in the kingdom to see this in action.
The education system in Swaziland doesn’t encourage research. Pupils learn facts and then reproduce them in their essays. Journalists do much the same thing in their reports.
These cultural deficiencies can be seen in all walks of life in Swaziland, so perhaps we shouldn’t single out journalists for special mention in this regard.
However, we do expect higher standards from people who call themselves ‘journalists’, since they are supposed to be representing the needs of ordinary people, especially, but not exclusively, when questioning those in power.
His Master’s Voice offers a couple of recommendations on how to improve the standard of political reporting in Swaziland. It says that working journalists and editors should be trained in areas such as conducting research, fact checking, interviewing sources, balancing stories and adding context and analysis to stories. There should also be educational programmes for the media on political issues and matters of governance.
Personally, I think there is an over emphasis on ‘training’ here. It seems like a ‘quick fix’ and doesn’t really tackle to deep-seated problems that are ingrained in Swazi culture.
To change culture takes generations – not a couple of week-long training workshops.
I have the full His Master’s Voice report as a PDF file. If you want a copy, email me here swazimedia@yahoo.com
See also
REPORTING AND THE SINGLE SOURCE
I was reminded of this when I was looking through a research report on political reporting in Swaziland.
I have written about His Master’s Voice, Political Reporting in Swaziland 2007 previously. The report published in June 2008 by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) – Swaziland chapter, is a fascinating expose of the weaknesses of political reporting in particular and journalism more generally in Swaziland.
The research reveals that journalists in Swaziland are not doing their jobs. One of the roles of the journalist is to give people clear information about what is going on around them. Another role is to hold those in power to account.
Swazi journalists fall down on both of these roles.
The research, written by Mary Ellen Rogers, shows that political reporting in the Swazi media is overwhelmingly dominated by the voices and views of government.
Groups with opposing views, NGOs and ordinary people hardly get a chance to have their voices heard.
According to research, government sources accounted for 57 per cent of all sources in political coverage. Government here refers to cabinet, ministry staff, MPs, senators, spokespeople and such like.
But when you take a broader definition of ‘government’ to include King Mswati III, the justice system, traditional authorities and parastatals, the dominance of government voices in political stories increases to 75 per cent.
The second biggest single group of sources after government is civil society, but this sector only accounts for 13 percent of all sources in political coverage. Civil society refers to sources such as educators, workers, ordinary citizens, business people and religious leaders.
The research reveals that ‘a typical political story is a story with one source and that source is from government’. Government spoke most often about development. The issues that government spoke about least were poverty, crime and social welfare.
Development was also a favoured topic for the king. When the king was heard in political coverage he was almost exclusively speaking about development issues. On occasion, he was captured speaking on interstate relations, economics and corruption. Just two stories captured the king speaking about HIV AIDS.
Swazi journalists also let down the people by failing to hold those in power to account. There is no questioning of those in authority and very little contextualising of events.
The research stated,
‘Reporters tended to take events at face value. That is, they rarely asked questions of relevant sources and scrutinized the underlying issues. This resulted in very superficial reporting that covered who, what, when, where but repeatedly ignored the how and the why of the event.
‘It was rare to find evidence of the reporter directly questioning sources. Typically, a political story would just summarise the source’s public statements.
‘Few stories displayed an effort by the journalist to pursue the source with follow-up questions or take questions to other relevant sources.’
The report says that this failure by journalists ‘was particularly the case for television and radio’. Personally, I think this is unsurprising since most broadcasting in Swaziland is state-controlled and that which isn’t (Channel Swazi and Voice of the Church) is indistinguishable from the others in that they vehemently support the status quo in Swaziland.
His Master’s Voice goes on to identify that few stories were properly contextualized.
‘It was clear from many stories that the reporter’s aim was to report the simple facts of an event. There was rarely an effort to go beyond these basic details to explain the backdrop against which the event occurred, conduct research, interview diverse sources, find connections to other relevant stories, events, or mention recurring patterns.
‘As such, political stories were mostly reported as isolated incidents, with no attempt to explain the significance of the event within the broader social context, examine the impacts and mention solutions.’
The standard of political journalism in Swaziland is clearly very poor. I think there are a number of reasons for this and mostly, these are cultural. Swaziland is not a questioning society; people seem content on believing what they are told, without understanding there is more than one way to look at an issue. You only have to look at the way people believe the words of bogus pastors in the kingdom to see this in action.
The education system in Swaziland doesn’t encourage research. Pupils learn facts and then reproduce them in their essays. Journalists do much the same thing in their reports.
These cultural deficiencies can be seen in all walks of life in Swaziland, so perhaps we shouldn’t single out journalists for special mention in this regard.
However, we do expect higher standards from people who call themselves ‘journalists’, since they are supposed to be representing the needs of ordinary people, especially, but not exclusively, when questioning those in power.
His Master’s Voice offers a couple of recommendations on how to improve the standard of political reporting in Swaziland. It says that working journalists and editors should be trained in areas such as conducting research, fact checking, interviewing sources, balancing stories and adding context and analysis to stories. There should also be educational programmes for the media on political issues and matters of governance.
Personally, I think there is an over emphasis on ‘training’ here. It seems like a ‘quick fix’ and doesn’t really tackle to deep-seated problems that are ingrained in Swazi culture.
To change culture takes generations – not a couple of week-long training workshops.
I have the full His Master’s Voice report as a PDF file. If you want a copy, email me here swazimedia@yahoo.com
See also
REPORTING AND THE SINGLE SOURCE
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
SWAZI POLITICAL DEBATE ‘NARROW’
The media in Swaziland narrow the opportunities for political debate, according to research recently published.
The narrow range of topics covered by newspapers, television and radio, is in some ways simply a reflection of the priorities that Swaziland’s government has.
The research called His Master’s Voice: Political Reporting in Swaziland 2007, published by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland chapter, examined media output over five weeks in 2007.
It examined which topics were covered in political reporting in the media, identifying the type of political events, issues and debates that were reported, and how often.
The report found ‘that there was little diversity in political reporting. Political reporting was clearly dominated by just four issues: labour/workers rights, the justice system, development and corruption. Other topics such as HIV AIDS and poverty are barely reported on as political issues or in relation to government policies and activities.’
The most common political story was about labour/workers’ rights issues (14 percent of all political stories). Within this topic there were a variety of stories, including workplace disputes involving government, dealings between government and unions, efforts to form a police union, civil servants and teachers demanding better pay and conditions, a nurses’ strike, activities and initiatives of the Department of Employment and court cases on labour issues pitting government against workers. No one particular labour story dominated.
This led the report’s author, Mary Ellen Rogers, to conclude, ‘This diversity of political stories on labour-related issues demonstrates that workers’ rights across the board was the dominant political story.’
Political stories about the justice system were mainly about court rulings on casesinvolving government, in particular the Mzikayise dispute over burial rights of a former chief. Other justice system stories were about constitutional issues, legislation, bills, High Court appointments and the Judicial Services Commission.
The narrow range of topics covered by newspapers, television and radio, is in some ways simply a reflection of the priorities that Swaziland’s government has.
The research called His Master’s Voice: Political Reporting in Swaziland 2007, published by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland chapter, examined media output over five weeks in 2007.
It examined which topics were covered in political reporting in the media, identifying the type of political events, issues and debates that were reported, and how often.
The report found ‘that there was little diversity in political reporting. Political reporting was clearly dominated by just four issues: labour/workers rights, the justice system, development and corruption. Other topics such as HIV AIDS and poverty are barely reported on as political issues or in relation to government policies and activities.’
The most common political story was about labour/workers’ rights issues (14 percent of all political stories). Within this topic there were a variety of stories, including workplace disputes involving government, dealings between government and unions, efforts to form a police union, civil servants and teachers demanding better pay and conditions, a nurses’ strike, activities and initiatives of the Department of Employment and court cases on labour issues pitting government against workers. No one particular labour story dominated.
This led the report’s author, Mary Ellen Rogers, to conclude, ‘This diversity of political stories on labour-related issues demonstrates that workers’ rights across the board was the dominant political story.’
Political stories about the justice system were mainly about court rulings on casesinvolving government, in particular the Mzikayise dispute over burial rights of a former chief. Other justice system stories were about constitutional issues, legislation, bills, High Court appointments and the Judicial Services Commission.
Development stories were about development projects and policies that involve government. The monitoring revealed that development was one of the government's policy areas most commonly reported on.
The stories about corruption included coverage of a drug procurement scandal where three MPs were accused of abusing their office, an E50m (more than 4 million US dollars) corruption case involving key government figures, government fraud and conflict of interest stories, in particular, a story a story about conflict of interest at the parastatal, Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC).
These four topics - labour/workers’ rights, justice system, development and corruption - occupied almost 50 percent of the political coverage during the monitoring period.
On the other hand, government spending, democracy, HIV/AIDS and poverty together accounted for just nine percent of all political stories.
The report also found that political reporting was overwhelmingly dominated by stories ‘of national significance’, that is stories that had a national focus – these accounted for 86 percent of all political stories.
The report noted that the representation of regional political stories was ‘extremely low.’ Hhohho was ‘clearly the favoured region’. Hhohho is home to Swaziland’s capital city Mbabane and is also the region where all the kingdom’s media houses are based.
The report concluded, ‘The media’s concentration in Hhohho limits its potential to report equitably on all regions.
‘Lubombo, Shiselweni and Manzini barely featured in political reporting.’
I have the full report as a PDF file. If you want a copy, email me here swazimedia@yahoo.com
See also
SWAZI POLITICAL REPORTING IS POOR
The stories about corruption included coverage of a drug procurement scandal where three MPs were accused of abusing their office, an E50m (more than 4 million US dollars) corruption case involving key government figures, government fraud and conflict of interest stories, in particular, a story a story about conflict of interest at the parastatal, Swaziland Electricity Company (SEC).
These four topics - labour/workers’ rights, justice system, development and corruption - occupied almost 50 percent of the political coverage during the monitoring period.
On the other hand, government spending, democracy, HIV/AIDS and poverty together accounted for just nine percent of all political stories.
The report also found that political reporting was overwhelmingly dominated by stories ‘of national significance’, that is stories that had a national focus – these accounted for 86 percent of all political stories.
The report noted that the representation of regional political stories was ‘extremely low.’ Hhohho was ‘clearly the favoured region’. Hhohho is home to Swaziland’s capital city Mbabane and is also the region where all the kingdom’s media houses are based.
The report concluded, ‘The media’s concentration in Hhohho limits its potential to report equitably on all regions.
‘Lubombo, Shiselweni and Manzini barely featured in political reporting.’
I have the full report as a PDF file. If you want a copy, email me here swazimedia@yahoo.com
See also
SWAZI POLITICAL REPORTING IS POOR
Saturday, 14 June 2008
SWAZI POLITICAL REPORTING IS POOR
A major report into the quality of political reporting in Swazi media has found many areas in need of improvement.
Among the report’s main findings were:
Political coverage lacked diversity: The media are dominated by four topics, which took up a half of all political coverage. These topics were (i) labour/workers rights, (ii) the justice system, (iii) development and (iv) corruption.
At the same time topics such as government spending, democracy, HIV AIDS and poverty received little attention.
Regional stories were severely lacking: Political reporting gave minimal attention to regional stories and overwhelmingly favoured stories from Hhohho region, which includes the capital city of Mbabane and also the main parliament and Senate.
Female journalists were underrepresented: Female journalists were responsible for just 12 per cent of political coverage. The state-controlled broadcasting stations State-controlled Swazi TV and SBIS radio had the highest percentage of female journalists reporting on government and political issues. The Swazi News and Times Sunday had no political coverage written by women during the monitoring period.
The report called His Master’s Voice: Political Reporting in Swaziland 2007 was published earlier this month (June 2008) by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland Chapter.
I doubt very much if regular readers of Swaziland’s newspapers or viewers and listeners to the kingdom’s radio and television would find anything unusual in the report’s findings.
That is not to say that the report has little value. Quite the opposite, His Master’s Voice gives evidence to what until now for many people would be not much more than gut reaction.
The report, which was written by Mary Ellen Rogers, surveyed media over a five-week period in 2007.
Among others of its main findings were:
The majority of political reporting was single-sourced: 55 percent of stories only had one source of information or opinion. The Times Sunday had the least numberof single-sourced stories (41 percent), while the Weekend Observer had the most(68 percent). Political reporting was heavily dominated by male voices. Female voices barely featured in political stories, accounting for just 4 percent of all human sources. Swazi TV’s political coverage contained the most female voices (23 percent). Swazi News had just one female source in its political reporting during the monitoring period.
Again, it will come as no surprise to media watchers in Swaziland that government voices dominated political coverage in Swaziland. Political parties are banned in Swaziland and there are no organised ‘opposition’ voices in parliament or the Senate. The only potential for organised alternative views to those of the government come from non-government organisations.
The MISA report found that government sources accounted for 57 percent of all sources, and when government was defined more broadly to include the executive, judiciary and traditional authorities, the dominance of government voices jumped to 75 percent.
When the government spoke, it spoke most frequently about development. Among topics government spoke about least were social welfare and poverty.
The report concluded that a ‘typical’ political story in the Swazi media was ‘a basic event description, reported by a male journalist, containing one male government source, and, if biased, favoured government.
‘Coverage of government and political issues was largely superficial and uncritical and captured a limited range of views and voices.’
There clearly is a lot of work that needs to be done to improve the service the Swazi media give their audiences (readers, viewers, listeners).
The MISA report is packed with detail about the present state of political reporting and contains many recommendations for improvement.
I’ll say more about this report in future blogposts.
I have the full report as a PDF file. If you want a copy, email me at swazimedia@yahoo.com
See also
SWAZI JOURNALISTS TOLD ‘TELL THE TRUTH’
Among the report’s main findings were:
Political coverage lacked diversity: The media are dominated by four topics, which took up a half of all political coverage. These topics were (i) labour/workers rights, (ii) the justice system, (iii) development and (iv) corruption.
At the same time topics such as government spending, democracy, HIV AIDS and poverty received little attention.
Regional stories were severely lacking: Political reporting gave minimal attention to regional stories and overwhelmingly favoured stories from Hhohho region, which includes the capital city of Mbabane and also the main parliament and Senate.
Female journalists were underrepresented: Female journalists were responsible for just 12 per cent of political coverage. The state-controlled broadcasting stations State-controlled Swazi TV and SBIS radio had the highest percentage of female journalists reporting on government and political issues. The Swazi News and Times Sunday had no political coverage written by women during the monitoring period.
The report called His Master’s Voice: Political Reporting in Swaziland 2007 was published earlier this month (June 2008) by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Swaziland Chapter.
I doubt very much if regular readers of Swaziland’s newspapers or viewers and listeners to the kingdom’s radio and television would find anything unusual in the report’s findings.
That is not to say that the report has little value. Quite the opposite, His Master’s Voice gives evidence to what until now for many people would be not much more than gut reaction.
The report, which was written by Mary Ellen Rogers, surveyed media over a five-week period in 2007.
Among others of its main findings were:
The majority of political reporting was single-sourced: 55 percent of stories only had one source of information or opinion. The Times Sunday had the least numberof single-sourced stories (41 percent), while the Weekend Observer had the most(68 percent). Political reporting was heavily dominated by male voices. Female voices barely featured in political stories, accounting for just 4 percent of all human sources. Swazi TV’s political coverage contained the most female voices (23 percent). Swazi News had just one female source in its political reporting during the monitoring period.
Again, it will come as no surprise to media watchers in Swaziland that government voices dominated political coverage in Swaziland. Political parties are banned in Swaziland and there are no organised ‘opposition’ voices in parliament or the Senate. The only potential for organised alternative views to those of the government come from non-government organisations.
The MISA report found that government sources accounted for 57 percent of all sources, and when government was defined more broadly to include the executive, judiciary and traditional authorities, the dominance of government voices jumped to 75 percent.
When the government spoke, it spoke most frequently about development. Among topics government spoke about least were social welfare and poverty.
The report concluded that a ‘typical’ political story in the Swazi media was ‘a basic event description, reported by a male journalist, containing one male government source, and, if biased, favoured government.
‘Coverage of government and political issues was largely superficial and uncritical and captured a limited range of views and voices.’
There clearly is a lot of work that needs to be done to improve the service the Swazi media give their audiences (readers, viewers, listeners).
The MISA report is packed with detail about the present state of political reporting and contains many recommendations for improvement.
I’ll say more about this report in future blogposts.
I have the full report as a PDF file. If you want a copy, email me at swazimedia@yahoo.com
See also
SWAZI JOURNALISTS TOLD ‘TELL THE TRUTH’
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
SWAZI JOURNALISTS TOLD ‘TELL TRUTH’
Journalists in Swaziland should be prepared to go to jail or even to die to ensure they told the Swazi people the truth, according to a leading activist in the kingdom
Journalists who were not prepared to do this should stop being journalists and go into public relations.
These were the views of Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) Executive Director Emmanuel Ndlangamandla, speaking at the launch of a report into how well media in Swaziland reported on political events in the kingdom.
The Weekend Observer (7 June 2008) reported that Ndlangamandla said Swaziland needed very creative journalists who were willing to exercise their professional responsibility. He said even with the limitations facing the media, journalists could still triumph above these so as to fulfil their mandate and duty to the nation.
Ndlangamandla was commenting on a report called His Master’s Voice: Political Reporting in Swaziland 2007, published by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) – Swaziland chapter.
The report found numerous shortcomings in media political reporting, including biased reporting in favour of the government, a lack of diverse views with an almost total lack of women’s voices in some media houses.
The Weekend Observer reported Professor Richard Rooney, of the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) saying there were no journalists, only propagandists, at the government-controlled broadcasting stations, Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS) and Swazi TV.
‘At least those working at SBIS regard themselves as civil servants but those at Swazi TV are a disappointment since they claim to be independent whereas that’s not the case,’ he said.
Rooney noted that the two media were state controlled and this was an impediment towards a democratic Swaziland, urging Swazis to take advantage of changing the status quo in the forthcoming elections.
Stan Motsa, director of SBIS, said the radio station was doing an excellent job with the morning programme, Letishisako.
He said the programme was able to reach people even in furthest lands, bringing both voices on board insofar as articulation of issues was concerned.
Motsa said one had to listen to the Siswati channel to realise he was not just ‘blowing hot air’.
The Weekend Observer quoted Motsa, saying, ‘There’s a distinct difference between the Siswati and English channels. One suspects the team (monitoring) has limitations when it comes to understanding the language (SiSwati) and therefore they confined themselves to the English (channel) and that’s why the publication is in the same language.’
Motsa said the Letishisako programme had the unique ability to reach the people and touch their lives in various ways.
However, MISA Swaziland National Director Comfort Mabuza said not much difference would have been realised listening to the Siswati news bulletin since it is a direct translation of the English one.
The Weekend Observer was brave enough to acknowledge in its own pages criticism of itself. The MISA report revealed that both the Weekend and Swazi Observer violated ethical principles in reporting political matters. Both newspapers were also found guilty of biased coverage.
I have never before come across a media house in Swaziland willing to publicly acknowledge shortcomings. The Weekend Observer coverage of the report was in stark contrast to the Times of Swaziland (5 June 2008) which said MISA had given the Times ‘kudos’ for ‘the best’ political coverage. This is a rather strange reading of the MISA report. The kindest thing you might say is that MISA found the Times’ coverage ‘the least worst’ of a very poor bunch.
The report from MISA on political coverage is an excellent overview of the present shortcomings in Swazi media. I’ll give more details of it at a later date.
Journalists who were not prepared to do this should stop being journalists and go into public relations.
These were the views of Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) Executive Director Emmanuel Ndlangamandla, speaking at the launch of a report into how well media in Swaziland reported on political events in the kingdom.
The Weekend Observer (7 June 2008) reported that Ndlangamandla said Swaziland needed very creative journalists who were willing to exercise their professional responsibility. He said even with the limitations facing the media, journalists could still triumph above these so as to fulfil their mandate and duty to the nation.
Ndlangamandla was commenting on a report called His Master’s Voice: Political Reporting in Swaziland 2007, published by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) – Swaziland chapter.
The report found numerous shortcomings in media political reporting, including biased reporting in favour of the government, a lack of diverse views with an almost total lack of women’s voices in some media houses.
The Weekend Observer reported Professor Richard Rooney, of the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) saying there were no journalists, only propagandists, at the government-controlled broadcasting stations, Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS) and Swazi TV.
‘At least those working at SBIS regard themselves as civil servants but those at Swazi TV are a disappointment since they claim to be independent whereas that’s not the case,’ he said.
Rooney noted that the two media were state controlled and this was an impediment towards a democratic Swaziland, urging Swazis to take advantage of changing the status quo in the forthcoming elections.
Stan Motsa, director of SBIS, said the radio station was doing an excellent job with the morning programme, Letishisako.
He said the programme was able to reach people even in furthest lands, bringing both voices on board insofar as articulation of issues was concerned.
Motsa said one had to listen to the Siswati channel to realise he was not just ‘blowing hot air’.
The Weekend Observer quoted Motsa, saying, ‘There’s a distinct difference between the Siswati and English channels. One suspects the team (monitoring) has limitations when it comes to understanding the language (SiSwati) and therefore they confined themselves to the English (channel) and that’s why the publication is in the same language.’
Motsa said the Letishisako programme had the unique ability to reach the people and touch their lives in various ways.
However, MISA Swaziland National Director Comfort Mabuza said not much difference would have been realised listening to the Siswati news bulletin since it is a direct translation of the English one.
The Weekend Observer was brave enough to acknowledge in its own pages criticism of itself. The MISA report revealed that both the Weekend and Swazi Observer violated ethical principles in reporting political matters. Both newspapers were also found guilty of biased coverage.
I have never before come across a media house in Swaziland willing to publicly acknowledge shortcomings. The Weekend Observer coverage of the report was in stark contrast to the Times of Swaziland (5 June 2008) which said MISA had given the Times ‘kudos’ for ‘the best’ political coverage. This is a rather strange reading of the MISA report. The kindest thing you might say is that MISA found the Times’ coverage ‘the least worst’ of a very poor bunch.
The report from MISA on political coverage is an excellent overview of the present shortcomings in Swazi media. I’ll give more details of it at a later date.
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