Golden Pen of Freedom an honour and a condolence

This article originally appeared in the May 06 edition of the Cape Town Globalist

Picture this prison scene involving a recently convicted detainee: A cell is packed with at least 150 prisoners. Thrust into the midst of the mob, a middle-aged man picks himself up off the floor. He has been physically tortured by prison guards and is faced with the mental torment of being kept from his wife and family.

Now consider that this man is a journalist and has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for questioning the government’s motives in conducting secret meetings with political opponents – for expressing an opinion and reporting the facts.

Similar incidents, in which journalists are arrested and charged with breaking laws that stifle the media, are becoming increasingly common throughout Africa. More and more, the notion of freedom of speech is rapidly becoming just that: a notion.

Pius Njawe, a Cameroonian journalist of 30 years, is no stranger to this kind of treatment at the hands of the authorities. He has been arrested no fewer than 126 times, and in an article published on the eve of World Press Freedom Day (3 May), he emphasised that “every time a journalist is silenced, society loses one of its watchdogs.”

In 1993, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) awarded Njawe the Golden Pen of Freedom in recognition of his commitment to providing the Cameroonian people with access to information. Despite the honour linked to such an award, the very nature of the prize is itself a terrible acknowledgment of the atrocities committed against journalists every year by authorities desperate to retain their autonomy. In fact, this year’s award, presented to Akbar Ganji, an Iranian investigative journalist, bears the caption: “We are sorry to present yet another winner.”

Fortunately, no South African journalist has been awarded the Golden Pen prize. Indeed, many believe the present state of the country’s media to be an example to the rest of the African continent. The South African democratic Constitution now ensures the freedom of the media and a diverse range of opinion.

Considering the apartheid-era’s severe oppression of the South African media, there is certainly much to celebrate about the country’s current media regime. Prof. Guy Berger, head of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University and a media critic, still considers South Africa to be something of a ‘mixed bag’ when compared to several other African countries. He cites Senegal, Mozambique and Ghana as being slightly ahead of the country in some ways.

On the other hand, in countries like Zimbabwe, Cameroon and Kenya, statutory regulations alarmingly reminiscent of those enforced by the apartheid government are crippling the independent media. Although, following the World Press Freedom Day, many of these governments have felt renewed pressure to halt their practice of gagging and banning information. Most noticeably, Harare saw at least 50 journalists protest the draconian regime that has led to the closure of publications such as the Daily News, The Tribune and Weekly Time. Marching to each of the former premises of these publications, including the bombed offices of the Daily News, the journalists demonstrated against President Mugabe’s absolute control of the country’s media.

The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) also took advantage of World Press Freedom Day to launch its ‘Media Freedom Is Your Freedom’ campaign, which strives to guard against consumer complacency, by promoting such messages as ‘What you can’t see, can hurt you’ and, ‘The media are your eyes and ears on the world. Insist on media freedom because it’s your freedom.’

Furthermore, the organisation pledged its commitment to, “press for the amendment of laws which continue to impact on the free flow of information,” as it emphasised its concern over two instances of pre-publication banning over the last year.

In addition, SANEF honoured the 500 journalists and publishers worldwide that have been killed or arrested in the past year. Considering the ongoing conflict in places such as Iraq in the Middle East, Sudan in Africa, and Nepal in Asia, journalists might expect to encounter difficult situations and violence, sometimes fatal, while carrying out their investigations. While it may seem that journalists should anticipate obstacles, these surely shouldn’t include having to embark on a two month hunger strike, whilst smuggling out information, to expose the torturing of political prisoners in an Iranian prison, which is what Akbar Ganji did during his six-year jail term.

For journalists to accomplish their task of bringing knowledge and absolute freedom from totalitarian rule to Africa and the world, it is essential that the people they serve protect them. Njawe is concerned that fear of the authorities is forcing journalists to “write what they are paid to write instead of giving real information and the truth.” He calls it ‘gumbo journalism’. One can hardly blame journalists for this if they aren’t given the protection they so desperately need. After all, it’s not every man that remains undeterred after 126 arrests.

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Duncan Scott is a second year student, doing a general B.A.

This article was first published in Vol I, Issue I of The Cape Town Globalist, May 2006.