The banning of SMS messaging in Mozambique is but one of several signs that both SMS and the Internet are changing the way media creates a national conversation in African countries. Governments can police SMS and the Internet by closing it down but this is a “nuclear” option that cannot be kept in place (except in Ethiopia) for any length of time. Mobile companies are not used to thinking of themselves as media operators and are vulnerable to having their businesses squeezed by Government if they prove unco-operative. Russell Southwood looks at this emerging brave new world. During the food price riots in Mozambique, both mobile phone operators in Mozambique, M-Cel and Vodacom, bowed to pressure and suspended their text messaging services but then said that they had not done so, according to Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (AIM). As from 6 September people who used pre-paid M-Cel and Vodacom cards found it was impossible to send text messages. Since the Maputo riots of 1-2 September had been mobilized via text messages, it was immediately suspected that the government had ordered the companies to halt the text message service. [read more]

The digital transition is not simply a technical changeover but an opportunity to provide better broadcasting for Africa’s citizens. The best of the continent’s telecoms policy-makers and regulators have been innovative in how they have tackled the issues they have faced. But in an area like broadcasting that is closer to the “powers that be” and potentially more threatening, there has been little sign of much needed innovation. Russell Southwood thinks the time has come to re-examine how public broadcasting works (or perhaps more accurately, doesn’t work) in Africa. Public broadcasting in Africa had a poor start in life. The colonial administrations who set up radio stations often exerted a strong control over their media so for newly-independent Governments, the former colonialists were in a poor position to be giving lectures about public purposes: the views expressed on the colonial radio stations reflected those of the administration and sometimes settlers in the country in question.

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Journalists worldwide face grave dangers when they expose societal ills and injustice. Currently, there are 454 journalists in exile and 26 have been killed already this year. The United Nations and other organizations are taking action to protect the rights of journalists whose lives are threatened as their mighty pens battle mighty swords.The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is a New York-based non-profit organization founded in 1982 to promote international press freedom and journalist’s rights. Robert Mahoney, Deputy Director of CPJ, told MediaGlobal , “Most journalists are targeted. They aren’t caught in a cross fire. They’re killed intentionally. It’s a form of censorship which is exercised by powerful people, whether officials or criminal gangs, to silence journalists.” Ensuring the safety of journalists is essential in countries of the global south. Reports by press personnel on the ground are important to democracy and instrumental in rooting out corruption. With their news coverage, attention is drawn to critical areas of societal infrastructure, including economic development and environmental issues that may be overlooked by privately funded media or other governmental organizations.

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