Media conference looks at ways of improving communication

Media activists attending an international conference in Mozambique this week have agreed on a set of strategies to bolster press freedom in southern Africa. "Traditionally, the link between civil society and the government in the region isn't very strong - we need to improve the channel of communication between the two, because it is the government, who, at the end of the day, is making the decisions," John Mukela, executive director of NSJ Media Trust, an independent media training institute, told IRIN. Delegates at the five-day conference in the capital, Maputo, said journalists should play an integral role - free from government interference - in setting up independent media regulatory bodies. Aludin Osman of Capital Radio Malawi observed that private media in southern Africa were unable "to engage governments in a sustained and mutually profitable business relationship". Some participants encouraged local media to make greater use of indigenous languages, while concerns were also raised about the lack of airtime available to women. In 2003 a report produced by Gender Links, a gender advocacy NGO, and the Media Institute of Southern Africa showed that although women comprised 19.4 percent of parliamentarians in the region, only eight percent of the politicians whose views were sought were women. Although the conference focused on challenges facing media workers, there were also recommendations made for improving information sharing with rural communities, one of which was to use information communication technologies (ICT). Polly Gaster of Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo acknowledged that while the long-term benefits of ICTs were indisputable, the challenges facing the introduction of technology-driven programmes in poor communities ranged from high costs to technical maintenance. Gaster illustrated her point by noting that it was even difficult to translate words like 'technology' into Shanagana, one of the local languages. However, Mukela said, "Despite the challenges, ICT centres are absolutely crucial, to give communication access to people living in poor rural areas and inner-city suburbs."