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'The Right to Inform and Be Informed' Another Development and the Media

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'The Right to Inform and Be Informed' Another Development and the Media development A journal of international development cooperation published by the Dag Hammarskjöld dialogue Foundation, Uppsala 1989:2 'The Right to Inform and Be Informed' Another Development and the Media Editorial 1 IBFAN: On the Cutting Edge Annelies Allain 5 Democracy and the Media in Southern Africa Patrick van Rensburg 39 The Privately Owned Media in South Africa: Villains or Victims in the Struggle for Democracy? Jo-Anne Collinge 57 The Role of the Independent Alternative Grassroots Media in South Africa: A Personal Perspective Elsabé Wessels 72 'The New Nation' Gabu Tugwana 81 The Role of the Media in the Struggle for Liberation: The Case of 'The Namibian' David Lush 88 Rights and Responsibilities of the Press in the Frontline States Ndimara Tegambwage 99 Recommendations and Suggestions of the Seminar on Democracy and the Media in Southern Africa 109 Ahmadou A. Dicko: A Star in Our Sky Joseph Ki-Zerbo 116 Diary of a Defeat: Concerning the Referendum of 28th September 1958 in Black Africa Ahmadou A. Dicko 133 Document The Bellagio Declaration: Overcoming Hunger in the 1990's 177 Publications Received 185 Editors: The opinions expressed in the journal are those of Sven Hamrell the authors and do not necessarily reflect the Olle Nordberg views of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation. Advisory Editorial Committee: Photo credit: Cecil Sols, page 48. Ahmed Ben Salah c/o IFDA The production of this issue of Development 1260 Nyon, Switzerland Dialogue has been delayed, which is marked by the fact that its actual publication—in February Just Faaland 1991—has been preceded by the publication of the Chr. Michelsen Institute 1990:1-2 issue in the autumn of 1990. It should Fantoft, Norway therefore be emphasized that part of the material printed in this issue is very fresh and updated as Joseph Ki-Zerbo late as in December 1990. This is a short B.P. 5074 'bibliographical history' of the contributions to Dakar, Senegal this issue. Annelies Allain's account of 'IBFAN: On the Marc Nerfin Cutting Edge' was originally written in December 4, place du Marché 1989 but thoroughly revised and updated in 1260 Nyon, Switzerland December 1990. Some of the articles arising from the Chobe Göran Ohlin Seminar on 'Democracy and the Media in United Nations Southern Africa' held in December 1989—i.e. the New York, USA contributions by Jo-Anne Collinge, Elsabé Wessels, Gabu Tugwana and Ndimara Juan Somavia Tegambwage—were only slightly revised by the Callao 3461, El Golfe authors after the Seminar and delivered for Santiago, Chile typesetting in the early months of 1990. Patrick van Rensburg's and David Lush's seminar Editorial Office: contributions were, on the other hand, revised as The Dag Hammarskjöld Centre late as in November 1990. Övre Slottsgatan 2 Joseph Ki-Zerbo's appreciation of Ahmadou S-753 10 Uppsala, Sweden Dicko and his 'Diary of a Defeat' was not finalized Telex: 76234 DHCENT S until the latter part of 1990. Fax +46-18-122072 Printers: ISSN 0345-2328 Motala Grafiska AB Motala, Sweden Subscribers are kindly requested to inform the Dag Hammarskjöld Centre of any changes of address or subscription cancellations. Editorial Another Development and the Media The 1975 Dag Hammarskjöld Report, What Now: Another Development, which formulated the basic principles guiding the work of the Dag Ham- marskjöld Foundation, emphasized strongly the role of information and communication in every aspect of development, local, national, regional and global. No real effort to tackle the overwhelming problems of the mod- ern world could succeed if it neglected the rights of citizens 'to inform and be informed about the facts of development, its inherent conflicts and the changes it will bring about'. Conscientization of the citizens 'to ensure their full participation in the decision-making processes' was, the Report argued, a prerequisite for the achievement of 'a need-oriented, self-reliant, endo- genous and ecologically sound' global society, which in turn had to be based on deep-going 'structural transformations'. Hence, it was a natural conse- quence that the first major seminar sponsored by the Foundation (in Mexico 1976) after the release of the Hammarskjöld Report concerned the need for a new international information and communications order express- ing the demands of the people for the democratization of communications as a truly worldwide social phenomenon. No longer should governmental and commercial power structures be in a position to monopolize public opinion to its own ends thereby perpetuating preconceived ideas, ignorance and alienation. Working in close cooperation with its sister organizations in the Third World—in the areas of rural development and food production, education, health, science and technology, international monetary policy and popular participation—the Foundation has consistently perceived itself as part of what is now increasingly becoming recognized as 'the third system', i.e. the people and their organizations, in contrast to the 'first' and 'second' sys- tems, i.e. governments and business. The latter two have over the past dec- ade demonstrated both super potency and impotence. In this ongoing and intensified struggle between 'princes, merchants and citizens', described by Marc Nerfin in an earlier issue of this journal (Development Dialogue 1987:1), health issues have played a significant role highlighting what demo- cratic grass roots initiatives can do to promote the ideas of Another Devel- opment and having them legally recognized. An important breakthrough in international health work was the joint WHO/UNICEF Meeting on Infant and Young Child Feeding, which took place in Geneva in October 1979 and which led to the adoption in 1981 by the World Health Assembly of the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes. What happened at this meeting constituted a major departure from the traditional relationship between the United Nations and the non-governmental organizations in that it recognized the latter as full 2 Editorial partners in the formulation of an international code aimed at regulating how, literally, one of the most basic needs of humanity should be met. In De- velopment Dialogue 1980:1, an important section was devoted to this sub- ject, pointing out the key-role played by third system organizations like IBFAN, INFACT, IOCU and others, in making the world's leading manu- facturers of breastmilk substitutes accountable for the destructive effects of their marketing practices on global child health. A decade has passed since this subject was first placed on the international agenda and it was therefore felt appropriate that one of the leading repre- sentatives of the third system, Annelies Allain of the International Baby Food Action Network (IBFAN), should be asked to share her experience of a decade of work devoted to the task of maintaining and supporting an inter- national network monitoring the implementation of the Code. But it should not be concealed that her carefully written account in many ways makes for sad reading, showing as it does how the second system and its much acclaimed 'market forces' have tried to evade and counteract the effects of the Code by exercising pressure both on national governments and on inter- national organizations like WHO and UNICEF, which have sometimes proved surprisingly weak in responding to the demands of the third system. But the story of IBFAN has, on the other hand, also shown that interna- tional networking can work and that it may in the end gain a legitimate vic- tory by exercising the right of the citizens 'to inform and be informed about the facts of development and its inherent conflicts'. Another example of the crucial importance of information and communica- tion and the role of international networking is the struggle against apart- heid in Southern Africa, which has been an important feature in the interna- tional debate over the past forty years. In this context, third system soli- darity organizations in many countries and a number of governments, among them the Nordic ones, have made a significant contribution to the liberation struggles in the region. An important role in this work has been played by Dr Ernst Michanek, the former Director of the Swedish Interna- tional Development Authority (SIDA) and Chairman of the Board of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, in whose honour the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and the International Foundation for Education with Produc- tion organized a seminar on 'Democracy and the Media in Southern Africa' at the Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana in December 1989. It was in many ways a unique event, bringing together for the first time journalists from the alternative or democratic press in South Africa with colleagues from the Frontline States. The objective of the Seminar, which took as its point of de- parture the ideas advanced by Dr Michanek in his paper on 'Democracy as Another Development and the Media 3 a Force for Development and the Role of Swedish Assistance' (Develop- ment Dialogue 1985:1), was to survey the media situation in Southern Africa and to concretize—on the basis of the experience of the participating jour- nalists—how the right to inform and be informed and the democratization of the media could be safeguarded and supported in the interest of the fu- ture development of the region. We are happy to reproduce in this issue of the journal a number of the many valuable contributions made to the Sem- inar and the Recommendations and Suggestions adopted by the partici- pants. Among the latter, special mention might be made of the importance attached to improving the newsflows and communications between the SADCC countries and South Africa, for instance by expanding the services of the Harare-based news agency Africa Information Afrique, by investigat- ing the modalities of establishing a regional weekly newspaper proposed by the Foundation for Education with Production and by establishing regional media training networks and ultimately a regional media training school.
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