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Norwegian professor advises govt against statutory media regulation

Norwegian professor advises govt against statutory media regulation
By Chibaula Silwamba
Wed 13 Oct. 2010, 14:30 CAT

Norwegian professor advises govt against statutory media regulation By Chibaula Silwamba THE Zambian government’s delay to enact the freedom of information law and manoeuvres to regulate the media through statutes shows that leaders have something to hide, Norwegian media professor Helge Ronning has observed.

In an interview in Lusaka, Ronning, who is professor at University of Oslo’s department of Media and Communication, said only a government that had something to hide was afraid of the media.

“In most countries that are democratic, they have a free access to information bill which is important because it gives not only the press but the citizens the right to access information, which pertains to their lives and their future,” Prof Ronning said.

“When it comes to the government dragging their feet in order to pass this FoI law, this obviously has to do with the leader having something to hide and do not want to let that come to the open. Governments that do not have anything to hide are not afraid of the media.”

Prof Ronning urged the Zambian government to speed up the enactment of the freedom of information law.

“It’s very important. It’s a safety valve for democratic governance. The issue of Freedom of Information is an issue that does not only exist in Africa. It exists in many parts of the world,” he said.

“Obviously in all parts of access to freedom there have to be some limit. There are certain issues which are limited because of the safety of the country, because of public safety and you know there is terrorism etcetera, but most of the information that are within government should be opened to access for the citizens to be able to control those who rule them.”

Prof Ronning advised the Zambian government not to implement statutory regulation of the media. He said regulating the media through statutes would be going against democratic principles.

“Regulation of the media should be left to the media when it comes to ethical issues,” he said.

Prof Ronning expressed sadness at the South African and other African governments' plans to enact laws that were against press freedom and freedom of expression.

“I think this is very dangerous development because it means that the most important critical voice for those in power is going to be silenced. Maybe not so much true that they journalists will be brought to trial, but it is going to instill a sense of fear that will lead to self censorship,” said Prof Ronning.

“If the government says, ‘we blame you the media for the bad things you write’, we can also put it the other way that, ‘we the media blame you the government for not giving us the opportunity to see what you are doing. You are the one to blame, it’s not us the media’.”

Labels: CENSORSHIP, HELGE RONNING, MEDIA, REGULATION

posted by MrK @ 3:52 PM