The Daily IIJ

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf  says the lack of manpower development for media practitioners in developing countries has affected the media’s ability to effectively perform its watchdog role.

The media, the Liberian leader observed,  is also poorly equipped to meet the challenges of the new media landscape.  The President was speaking in Stockholm, Sweden, during  a high-level round-table discussion on Media and Development.

Addressing a panel on the ‘New Media for A New World: Democracy & Development, at last week’s European Development Days – 2009, the President noted that the lack of financial capacity for the media has affected its ability to professionally perform its duties.

Given its critical role in national development, the President said, there is a need for Governments to support or explore private sector initiatives to help sustain the development of the media as long as such collaboration does not compromise the watchdog role of the institution, according to an Executive Mansion release.

The Liberian leader also emphasized the need for the availability of the necessary infrastructure to enhance the performance of the media. “The improvement in infrastructure, especially electricity, could certainly play an added  role in contributing to the professional output of media institutions and their personnel,” President Johnson Sirleaf told the panel of media practitioners and political leaders which included Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga; the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Karel De Gucht; and Pancy Tlakula; Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, African Commission for Human and People’s Rights.

Despite the shortcomings of the media, particularly in developing countries, she applauded the role it continues to play in national development in exposing corruption and other societal ills. The Liberian President, however, insisted, that the media also has a social responsibility to promote development and progress being made at all levels of the society.

She welcomed the ‘new media’ age (internet, cell phone, etc), describing the evolution as a great opportunit, especially for developing countries. “There is no substitute when information is brought to your home,” the President, who admitting that  that she does not blog, stressed.  While extolling the advent of the ‘new media,’ the Liberian leader, cautioned parents to monitor their children to ensure that the internet and other new forms of communication are not abused to the detriment of the basics, such as reading and writing.

The Chair of Media and Democracy at Rhodes University in South Africa, Professor Fackson Banda, agreed that training is critical to the growth of the media, but argued that the larger society has had an effect on some of the best trained journalists.  “You give a journalist the best training and throw him/her out in the real world, and you see what happens.”  Professor Banda said journalists are products of societies. If a society does not provide the framework to improve the welfare of its people and set standards, he maintained, the journalist will also be compromised.

Kenyan Prime Minister, Raila Odinga, who is believed to be an active blogger, called for self-regulation of the ‘new media.’ He said the media in Kenya has gone through a transition – from strictly government controlled to liberalization, but stressed the need for the media to exercise self-regulation or risk being regulated by Government.

The Director of Community Radio Salaki, Ms Camille Sawadogo, expressed frustration over the lack of access to decision-makers.  The situation, the panelist said has made access to information more difficult because most African countries still do not have a freedom of information act.  The ‘New Media,’   Madam Sawadogo noted, must be used to create the platform.

The round-table on Media and Development was one of several topics discussed at the just concluded three day European Development Days Forum in Stockholm, Sweden.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was among several leading world leaders, including civil society organizations, the academia, politicians as well as development partners and stakeholders at the event. Organized by the European Commission in cooperation with the Presidency of the European Union, participants dialogued and exchanged views on international development issues worldwide.

The event, which marked the fourth gathering of European Development Days, attracted more than 4, 000 people and 1, 500 organizations including two-hundred speakers from 125 countries engaged in three days of meetings, exchange of views and lively debates.