Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of the World Press Freedom Day and locally the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Botswana Chapter hosted a panel discussion to mark the day. The aim of the panel discussion was to bring to light the distinction between citizen journalism and mainstream media in the discussions around human rights.
The topic for discussion was “The role of media in promotion of human rights in the wake of the digital revolution”. The organisers revealed that the debate comes at a time when the country is facing changes in the traditional media space to now more than ever include citizen journalists who are taking the lead in shaping the discourse. The panellists included veteran journalist Pamela Dube, University of Botswana (UB) Senior Lecturer Allen Monoriyarwa as well as social media sensation Tshepo Sethibe trading as Moeladilothoko.
Giving welcome remarks, the chief operations officer at the University of Botswana (COF) Dawid Katzke said, “the sad reality is that breaking news by citizens disregards human rights and underpins media ethics and standard. Those who occupy citizen space are yet to go through the rigor that comes with going to a media school”. For her part, Dube advised that journalists are not journalists just for the sake of being journalists. “As media workers, we are the eye for those that can’t see. To me media rights and human rights are issues that are intertwined,” she said. Dube added: “Citizen journalists are a necessity. We need whistle blowers that are able to share the information without living by the boundaries or constraints of what media practitioners are forced to do. We need them to provoke and lead the debate. Where we fail as mainstream media to provoke and lead necessary debates, it is the citizen media does that. Sometimes they go out of the boundaries of what media professionalism is and there is a risk that sometimes they are going to spread fake news at the expense of the nation.”
To defend their trade, Moeladilothoko who is deemed as the enemy of the trade jokingly started his speech by highlighting the animosity he has been receiving from the industry. He even mentioned that when he walked into a room, one of the journalists remarked, “Oh this is the cartoon, moeladilothoko!” “The digital media has helped elevate our voice especially for us independent journalist. As moeladilothoko we do not affiliate or associate with any media body. This is because we have realised that there are a lot of red tapes that come in the form of media ethics that hinder journalist work,” he said.
According to the controversial social media page director, sometimes journalists hands are tied up not to report certain things because of this media ethics. “In fact I would dare and say some of our human rights are trampled on by this media ethics! Some sectors of the society are unable to voice out their opinions, their freedom to speech is muted because of protocols that favour certain sectors.” On another perspective, Monoriyarwa highlighted that there is need for a media outside the control of corporate and the state.
“The trend in SADC is that most human rights violators are political heads who sometimes control the media. There is normally little coverage from mainstream to report on violations because of their owners. Most violators are political elites who are tied to mainstream media. Citizen journalists give the other perspective, I am not very critical of the trade.” However, as much as he agrees the senior lecturer believes there is need for law and order, “We cannot run away from the dangers. We cannot run away from the fact that when a story goes viral and it is part of fake news and disinformation there is serious danger there.” The jury is still out on whether Botswana is ready for citizen journalism.
(WATCH THE FULL CLIP OF THE PANEL DISCUSSION ON MMEGI FACEBOOK PAGE.)
