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Our media should not access the president through foreign press

Saturday May 27 2017
media

The reliance on foreign media not only betrays the call by our leaders for Africans and Rwandans to tell their own story but also undercuts local media’s capacity to grow its reach and influence. ILLUSTRATION | JOHN NYAGAH | NATION MEDIA GROUP

On May 14, Jeune Afraque, a French weekly magazine published an interview with President Paul Kagame. The discussion touched on a number of issues ranging from the political future of the country to relations with other nations like France and the Vatican.

From the interview, we learn that President Kagame is contemplating retiring after his expected re-election in this year’s general election.

On whether this would be his last term in office, the president responded: “Yes. And it is likely that I will clarify this point when we begin the electoral campaign.” He added: “Rwandans, wanted, through the constitutional referendum of December 2015 that I continue my work, which I accepted. But the time has come to tell them that they must start thinking beyond me.”

This is very interesting considering that it was widely thought that the president’s possible retirement in the near future was settled by the referendum of 2015 that led to amending article 101 on presidential term limits allowing the president not only to stand for re-election in 2017, but for two more terms of five years in 2024; meaning that the president, if interested, could rule until 2034.

Widely shared on social media, the interview was even translated into English and re-published by some mainstream media in the country.

After reading the interview, an acquaintance in civil society told me that he not only found it insightful but unique and wondered why our local media outlets never hold such one-on-one interviews with the president.

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On reflection, I remembered that, indeed, with the exception of Contact FM on two occasions, first in 2010 and then in 2011, there is no other local media outlet that has ever held a one-on-one interview with the president.

Interestingly, even on contact FM, the first interview, conducted a day after the president was re-elected in 2010 was conducted by Andrew Mwenda, a Ugandan journalist and the second interview by Charles Haba, who was at the time a regular panelist on “Crossfire” a talk-show but not a journalist.

So, why don’t our media or journalists hold one-on-one interviews with the president?

There are some who might attribute the problem to the limited editorial imagination and ability of our media while others might cite the relative power and reach of foreign media or perceived inadequate respect for the local media on the part of individuals in charge of the president’s communication.

For instance, a survey published last week by a local journalists’ organisation known as Pax Press shows that 45.8 per cent of news published between September to December 2016 came from meetings and workshops while 32.5 per cent was from press conferences.

This illustrates the limited editorial capacity to initiate storylines other than those suggested by news sources such as conferences and meetings.

And indeed, apart from the president, rarely do media run interviews with others leaders; for example we are now in electoral season but we don’t even know the profiles or beliefs of the presidential aspirants!

Others might say that the reach and influence of local media is limited and therefore foreign media is preferred.

And, indeed, when you ask journalists, there are some who claim that some of the president’s handlers in charge of communication not only hold local journalists in low regard, but also perceive covering and reporting on the presidency as a privilege not a journalistic right.

And as someone who has been in the media industry for years, I know there is a certain inexplicable preference and respect given to foreign journalists over local ones.

However, whatever the reasons, as a country, we look bad for always relying on foreign media to know what our leaders think or believe.

This reliance on foreign media not only betrays the call by our leaders for Africans and Rwandans to tell their own story but also undercuts local media’s capacity to grow its reach and influence.

It is in the interest of both the local media as well as the leadership to change course because no society can grow in influence if its story is always told by others.

Christopher Kayumba, PhD. Senior Lecturer, School of Journalism and Communication, UR; Lead consultant, MGC Consult International Ltd. E-mail: [email protected]; twitter account: @Ckayumba Website:www.mgcconsult.com