African Journalists Call for Press Freedom

One hundred and six media professionals meeting in Cape Town in April called on the Angolan government to end the repression of dissenting journalistic voices and commit itself to a free flow of news and information. They condemned a recent article in the state-run Jornal de Angola inciting violence against opposition members.

The participants in the four-day event, organized by the International Communications Forum, came from 26 countries including 16 in sub-Saharan Africa. Its theme was 'Changing media for a changing society'.

Several of the journalists present had suffered for their beliefs. Editor Rob Jamieson, from Malawi, had fought off government attempts to silence him in four costly libel cases; Editor Ontsa Mokoane, from Botswana, had waged a three-year struggle for his government to restore cuts in advertising revenue designed to bankrupt his paper; Bedan Mbugwa, Editor of The People, Kenya, had been jailed twice. One broadcaster had had his station closed, his house burnt down and had had to flee his country.

Panel discussions addressed the role of journalism in an open and democratic society, freedom of the press in Africa, mergers and monopolies in media businesses and the status of the broadcasting industry.

The conference was sponsored by Telkom, with grants from the Ford Foundation, The Open Society, Johnnic Publishing and Independent Newspapers.