The straight connection between the military and the media used to be that you first went to the state broadcaster to announce your coup d’etat. That was it - and the other media took the cue.

The age of multi-party democracy has done away with this kind of straightforward relationship. In most African countries the government still determines what happens at the state - or now euphemistically called - “public” broadcaster. Nowadays the control is exerted in more subtle ways than by military means. But recently we can detect a more sinister development: The Return of the Military Man to the media sector through the back door.[more]

If you have been long enough in your field, you must have had the experience: There is a difficult area you have worked in for years with varying degrees of success. It’s complicated but important. Let’s say the field is media councils and the establishment of self-regulatory mechanisms against the continuous threat by governments to impose “media commissions” to control the press. Then a competitor enters your field, often one with a “U” as the first letter of its acronym. This competitor has all the good intentions of this world – and bags of money. Then UXXX or UYYYYY does a “needs analysis” which only too often means to ask stakeholders and local NGOs for their needs and to conveniently forget the analysis.[more]

You might know the problem. Your organisation wants to offer a workshop for parliamentarians. But then the representatives of the people prove to be rather elusive. And when you finally seem to get them to attend your particular workshop on media or other matters, they also prove expensive. “Per diem” is the word. It sounds Latin and holy, but it is Zimbabwean or Zambian and means – “we want to get additional money on top of our salaries to serve ourselves in the name of the people”.[more]