Media and the refugees: Understanding the reasons as to why East African Media is not doing enough to cover refugees’ stories
By Peter Okello, Nairobi – Kenya
August 12, 2016 (SSB) — Over the years, East Africans media is quick known for bold nature of portraying good images of what revolve around their territories. This could be one among other countless reason that revealed the nature and norms of good reporting. Reporting stories in the sense that depict legal news and information which are in turn distributed to all corners of East African countries equally and without prejudice or whatsoever.
“We do not question the government … we only follow up government claims.” Said Mohammed
REFUGEES STORIES DO NOT SELL
The role of any professional journalist is to inform, educate and entertain. Apart from this world perceived role, I simply do not know if there is anything else. As the world develops, crises increase every day. Of recent, countries like Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, South Sudan, Burundi, and Congo among other countries respectively have been undergoing rapid conflict and political injustices. These countries had put their innocent civilians on the run of seeking safe haven in neighboring countries.
Some journalist practitioners claimed that stories of refugees are not marketable in the society. These journalists based their arguments on the fact that many reports had confirmed it that though you write on refugee issues, it will not be read or simply local people is not interested in reading it. Many journalists had gained fame and media awards by reporting on human interest stories which could be as well translated as success stories. Refugee stories gained no readership due to the fact that local people simply prefer stories of their localities and which touches them directly. In other word, refugees are few in the country and no refugee’s buys newspapers, magazines or simply reads news stories. Nowadays, reporters’ rights for money and as such, editors ideally would prefer reporters writing stories which are highly marketable. So if you as a reporter write on a story which has no good number readerships, then you will be force by your editor to simply leave that article or it will be killed immediately…
As the issues of refugees force migration increases in Africa and in western countries swell, media had debut their attention to it. Today there are needs to report on immigrant, Asylum seekers and refugee crises which had legally counterfoil the whole of the world media organizations. The need to report on refugees issues is quite evidence and this is not the question of whether you should or should not.
MEDIA VERSUS GOVERNMENT
In Africa, media environments and institutions are completely not free. Media unions, Associations and international media bodies always comes to the table of justice to humbly negotiates the need for free press but more often the case simply seems not to be clear. Their claims and complains always falls on deaf ears. However much you try to jot down your nitpick nothing will be done for it, so better hook to it or just quite.
In South Sudan, Burundi, Congo, Somalia and other African Countries, government still controls the way media operates. The government officials would legally come into the media station and dictates what goes on the newspapers’ headlines and what wouldn’t make it way there. Obviously no one will question their authority. This had happened in South Sudan, Burundi, Congo and Somalia on many countless times. It is often very hard to deal with the government officials as they will always threaten to jail, intimidate or censor the media personnel should they go awry.
In the process of media practitioners doing their legal job of feeding the entire country with factual and accurate information, they are mostly questioned by those in authority. It is more often that professionals in Government broadcasters are held captives in what they do. At KBC (Kenyan broadcasting Cooperation) Mohammed Said, “We do not question the government … we only follow up government claims.” The role of the media is to obviously report what happens in the country especially what the government is doing. The public needs to know exactly what is going in the government. Development, scientific discoveries, launching of new programs, budgeting, debate on the bills and so forth and so on. On other hand government should be inform on what the public want them to do. All these cannot be done if journalists are not permitted to do their legal work in the society.
The question that you obviously ask is … if freedom of press is prohibited, what will happen in the Country? The likely answer is, there will be killings, harassments, decisions by government without consultation or informing the public and in real sense, and the country will be in dilemma. Any country in the world, at this particular time of century which still does not allow freedom of press do not seems to be in agreement with “God the creator”. It is simple… God gave every human being on earth the right to talk, walk, eat, to marry and to be married, to associate and to live freely without any single hindrance. Who are you to dictates God’s supremacy? Government must therefore understand that media had the utmost right to freely practice their profession without any single interference or whatsoever.
MEDIA DEVELOPERS … WHICH WAY TO GO?
Many media experts and journalist practitioners have lost their lives in the event of feeding the public with news, reports or stories that save the humanity. Though journalists had paid heavily, nothing had been done so far to bring the culprits to the book. All of the live lost goes in vain.
It is quite evidence that if nothing is done by international communities in regards to what is happening to the world of journalists on the this marginal planet, then the media itself have to rise on her feet and fight the chauvinism of killings and massacring innocent messengers.
Many media organization in East Africa like article 19 East Africa, Ethical journalist Network, Media Council of Kenya, Kenyan Union of Journalists among other media respectively are immensely doing almost a lot of media practices in alleviating journalists’ problems in and around.
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