EAC's publicist examines media involvement in integration processRwanda recently hosted the Fifth East Africa Media Summit that brought together over 200 media experts in the region to deliberate on the opportunities and challenges faced by journalists while covering the East African story. The New Times caught up with the senior public relations officer, Owora Othieno, for an insight on EAC's prospects, its relationship with journalists, among other issues. Below are excerpts. TNT: Why is EAC so keen on involving the media in its activities? TNT: What are the challenges EAC wants to address by calling on media to report the EA story? TNT: In your opinion, what areas of integration have journalists in East Africa ignored or given little priority? TNT: How is the media going to partner with EAC without compromising its (media') independence? TNT: I mean, isn't it supposed to be a "scratch my back, I scratch yours" relationship? Journalists at the summit agreed to look at East Africa more critically; is the secretariat ready to fight for their rights once they are persecuted in any of the five patner states? But then in one of the resolutions of the Kigali Media Summit, journalists have agreed to establish the Media Apex/or Regulatory body, something they may call the East African Media Council. The secretariat may support the initial work involved in establishing that kind of apex body. I am sure that once we have such a body in place, together with the partner states, we can come up with a uniform legal framework on freedom of expression and right to information and standards for the media in East Africa. All we need is a framework and common reference point for standards of professional practice in the region; promote high journalistic standards by assisting in minimizing poor performance and undue infractions, so as to enhance public trust and confidence in the media. TNT: How do you think the ordinary EA citizen is going to benefit? TNT: How fast is the secretariat in availing information whenever required by journalists? TNT: Are there plans to issue out EAC media identity cards to journalists from the region? TNT: At the moment, how easy is it for media services to move freely from one partner state to another? TNT: There are many closed sessions pertaining to important issues of the EAC. How is the Secretariat ready to satisfy the curiosity of journalists who think that these in-camera sessions deny them valuable information? TNT: How many media strengthening projects does EAC have and when did they start? We have added photographers in this programme because we believe photography can play a critical role in the visual visibility of the EAC integration. We held a master class training for them in late July this year in Arusha (Tanzania). Furthermore, we have a popular programme known as media reportage missions where we facilitate journalists to cover EAC projects and programmes or key policy organ meetings throughout the region. It could be on infrastructure, ports, Lake Victoria or environment depending on the availability of funds. The aim is to make the journalists appreciate what the community has achieved and report from informed positions. We have a robust web portal specifically tailored to suit the needs of journalists in that once you go to our page, you get all the necessary information one would need to tell the EAC story. Our website is an entry point to all resources from the EAC that are available online and provides links to fully-fledged standalone websites created for the community's various sectors, organs and key offices at the secretariat. Additionally, the EAC web portal points to a variety of online applications that include the EAC Library's Reports database, EAC's email application and a database containing EAC Council decisions, etc. You can also interact with us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. We have sensitisation workshops being held occasionally in the partner states specifically for journalists, we have a database for EAC press releases which are issued instantly to enable journalists beat their deadlines and of course a key initiative that is worth mentioning is providing the media with easy access to the EAC Executive Policy Organs. The secretary general or any of the other head of the EAC Organ and Institution are always handy to respond to media interviews. Lastly, the annual media summit which we have just held in Kigali, Rwanda. TNT: What must a journalist or media house do to be part of these projects? TNT: The EAC journalists awards were dominated by Kenyans, why is that so, or, could there have been a gap in the communication about the awards? TNT: When and where will the next media summit and journalists awards be held? TNT: In your view, did the East Afrian media summit achieve its objectives? Source: allAfrica |