02: Media Independence and standards
INDEPENDENCE OF MEDIA
The independence of media comes under threat for a variety of reasons: control by governments, media capture, lack of essential funding, corruption and bribery of journalists, competition over scarce resources and overdue influence of funders. There is also the temptation of seeking “clicks” at the cost of news values and journalistic integrity, and the intrusion of artificial intelligence in newsrooms.
Independence also cannot be sustained if journalists score own goals by not adhering to professional standards.
THE IDEA
For media to be truly independent, they must not be beholden to any specific interest other than that of their readers, listeners, viewers and users – not to government or individual politicians, not to private sector companies, advertisers or public relations entities.
All media owners need to respect basic standards of journalism even, if they lean in one political direction or the other in what they select as newsworthy and on what facts they base comment and opinion. Public media not only have to stick to journalistic standards, but also have to be politically impartial and their governing boards must not be appointed by the executive.
For their part, journalists worthy of the name should aspire to uphold – and defend – the highest standards of verification and fairness as they seek to find out and make known the “best available version of the truth”.
REGISTRATION OF MEDIA BY GOVERNMENTS
There should be no compulsory registration of media other than that formulated in the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, which says that “any registration system for media shall be for administrative purposes only, and shall not impose excessive fees or other restrictions on the media”.
However, in many African countries, publications (both print and online) need to be registered with the government. The consequences of this requirement vary from country to country, and may include punitive measures for non-compliance. In Ethiopia, for example, the licence of the Addis Standard was suspended in 2021, on the grounds of the paper having undermined national security. The suspension was lifted after massive international protests. In Tanzania three online news outlets were suspended in 2024 for 30 days after publishing cartoons deemed critical of the country’s president.
In Kenya, political blogs, news websites or commentary platforms must register with the Communications Authority as an online content provider. In Tanzania, all online content creators (including online websites) must register and pay fees; unlicensed media websites face fines, takedowns or even arrest of administrators. In South Africa, on the other hand, there is no licence required for news websites. There is a risk that registration can turn into a form of licensing, if it empowers government to refuse permission for an institution to exercise media freedom.
Ways to fight compulsory registration
Punitive state actions of this kind can be taken to the courts to have their legality checked. Another way to go may be a complaint to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. This was done in the case of the Zimbabwean Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) 2002 which provided for compulsory state accreditation of journalists and media services. In 2009 the Commission found that “there are no good grounds for official involvement in the registration of journalists. It creates considerable scope for politically motivated action by the authorities. The regulation of the media should be a matter for self-regulation by journalists themselves through their professional organisations, or associations”.
In 2020, AIPPA was finally repealed. Well, not really. A new Freedom of Information Act stated – right at the very end – that “all statutory instruments” put in place under AIPPA “shall remain in force”. And, a year later, the Media Commission promptly issued a schedule for fees to be paid for accreditation of journalists and media services. There it was again – the old provision, rejected by the Commission, through the back door. The lesson is clear: do not rejoice too soon. Read all new laws carefully right up to the very last word.
LACK OF RESOURCES
Media independence is closely linked to socio-economic factors, often in very direct ways.
In many African countries, government advertising is the biggest source of revenue for media. And state authorities often use that power to reward pro-government coverage and punish critical outlets by withholding their adspend. Some countries have attempted to introduce regulations which oblige state departments to spread their advertising fairly across the board, based on objective criteria and not political preference.
Media often try to lessen their dependence on state funding by attracting more private sector ads, donor funding or – in the case of online media – by introducing digital subscriptions (‘paywalls’). All these sources, however, may come with their own strings attached.
Media outlets that succeed economically in the marketplace tend to rarely cover marginalised or minority groups and instead favour the better-off population who are more likely to be of interest to advertisers and dominant political groups. This bias is one reason why public service and community media, if they operate without dominant profit-making imperatives, are essential parts of the media landscape.
Corruption
In badly resourced media, journalists often work in poor conditions with little or infrequent pay. This can open them up to corruption to supplement their income, accepting ‘brown envelopes’ from powerful people in exchange for positive stories or for the suppression of news.
Media owners may make deals with companies to give them favourable coverage in exchange for advertising. Conversely, companies also approach media houses after critical coverage and offer lucrative advertising to kill any further negative stories.
The development sector may also be guilty of complicity. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) must show their funders that their work is having an impact, and articles in the media are considered proof of such impact. So, NGOs sometimes pay journalists to write stories, and some journalists themselves ask for payment to provide coverage of NGO activities. A solution is to run clearly labelled “advertorial”, with full disclosure that the content concerned is funded directly by an outside party.
Media capture
In a worst-case scenario, big companies or politicians may buy existing media outlets or establish new ones to sway public opinion in their favour and advance their own aims. Media owners whose ideological ambitions and/or business interests are tied to politics might choose to “kiss the ring” of those in power, effectively weaponizing their media assets. These trends, known as media capture, appear to have been on the rise in recent years.
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
Politicians often call for the media to be “responsible”. On closer inspection, this usually implies the expectation that journalists should shy away from controversy, not disturb “the public peace” (as they say) with critical reports and generally show respect to the authorities. In other words: that they should self-censor.
This is not what journalists are meant to do. They do, however, have to be accountable. They should be able to show that they adhere to professional and ethical standards of journalistic investigation and expression. These are standards as set out in voluntary codes of conduct, made public for all to see and to judge journalists’ work against these benchmarks. And these codes should be implemented and enforced through self-regulatory systems like press councils and media ombudspersons that act on complaints brought by the general public. (For more details see the INFO BITE on regulation of print and broadcast media.)
The temptation of “clicks”
With the advent of online media, the work of journalists is often judged by their bosses on the number of “clicks” their stories attract. Journalists may thus be tempted to go for “fast-food” sensational content rather than seeking to provide verified news, a diversity of voices and reasoned perspectives.
Attention-grabbing content is cheap and easy to produce (and share), especially with Artificial Intelligence services. There is a dramatic increase in the speed of the online news cycle, often around the clock and driven by tweets and other social media that shift the news agenda rapidly. Deadlines are tighter and tighter. There is little time in this race to know or verify all the facts, and some media houses thus become complicit in spreading disinformation – even if to the detriment of their reputation. This is the very opposite of what journalists should be providing to society.
Journalists sometimes also “lift” ready-made content from elsewhere, occasionally or increasingly, when pressured to ‘deliver’ by their managements. All these actions compromise media independence and the integrity of journalism.
SUMMING UP
Media professionalism is necessary for democratic governance to flourish. Journalists can only play their “watchdog” role in relation to government and influential individual actors in society if they have:
- the necessary protection,
- professional understanding of their duty to produce verifiable content in the public interest.
- personal backbone and support from colleagues, civil society groups and the public,
When professionalism is seen to be lacking, media will lose their credibility as sources of information. “Captured”, careless and unethical journalism also erodes public support for media freedom and support for journalism, and makes it easy for the state to justify limits on the press. Civil society is a major check-and-balance in protecting media independence and in calling out violations from all quarters.
This INFO BITE is selected from the online course on Media
and Digital Policy in Africa, offered by Stellenbosch University
in association with Namibia Media Trust.
There are free and paid options available for the full course.
Explore more BITES on a number of related topics
