Yesterday, I was one of TopFM two guests for the HardTalk show hosted by Habib Mosaheb. The other guest was Yvan Martial, a well-known experienced journalist in Mauritius. The programme’s theme was ‘Is freedom of the press threatened in Mauritius?’.
Both Ivan and myself agreed that freedom of the press is not threatened in our island. In fact, our country is ranked 34th out of 167 countries in the 2005 Press Freedom Index of Reporters Sans Frontieres (we were ranked 46th in 2004) and we are 4th on the African continent. See www.rsf.org
As I pointed out in the show, politicians (specially when they are governing the country) tend to complain a lot about the alleged lack of responsibility of the local press. Their irritation at the press is for me a good sign, a sign that we are living in a true democracy. If they were in love with the press, then I would truly be worried!
However, this does not mean that we have a perfect press in Mauritius. There are different kinds of newspapers on the market (some serious, some not) as there are different breeds of journalists (some professional, some not). Of course, ultimately it’s the readers who decide on the fate of their papers by choosing to buy or not the titles that are on offer. To my mind, the most popular papers in Mauritius enjoy a high level of credibility with the population. Sometimes, they do betray this credibility by publishing incomplete or distorted accounts of local events but on the whole, they are doing a fine job. This does not mean that they should rest on their laurels. In a world of increased openness, they too should accept being subjected to questioning just like the public figures on whom they report.
Though there has not yet been any consensus on the institution of a local Press Council or Press Complaints Commission despite Kenneth Morgan’s recommendations in 1999, it is high time that the local journalism world starts ensuring quality assurance within its own ranks instead of having government-imposed laws and regulations (like the proposed Media Commision Bill). The creation of posts of Ombudspersons (or ‘mediateurs’ in French) could be a first step…
Being a mauritian i will say that the newspapers in mauritius forms a cartel.Yeah it’s first degree. Analyse how lexpress for e.g treat the “dossier” of lesage(mcb scandal). Very lightly ! why he has some capital in lexpress. Well mauritians know it.LeMauricien enjoy a good audience particularly the editorial of Ahnee.Very interesting guy 🙂
It is a bit of an exageration to say that there is a cartel. The two papers you mentioned, L’express and Le Mauricien are downright competitors (as are many others).
It is however true to say that there are some vested interests. As you rightly pointed out, MCB is financially linked to La Sentinelle (the company which owns L’express), which explains its light treatment of the MBC/NPF affair.
Also there is an increased tendency towards concentration and formation of big groups in order to benefit from economies of scale…
As for Le Mauricien, it is currently leader on the dailies as it seeks to cover a wider spectrum of factual items and it tries to keep a neat separation between factual reporting and opinion-writing (specially with Ahnee’s editorials).
The strategy of L’express is different as it tries to seduce people with more feature-writing, light pieces and a multiplication of special dossiers with a more business-oriented mindset.
Plus, on top of that you have to look at the grassroots journalists themselves, their strengths and limitations (e.g. being easily intimidated by politicians and other high profile people, lack of research skills, etc.)
A complex but interesting issue…
Thanks for commenting back. I admit that i have been a little pushy about the “cartels”. But you summerized what i thought in my head.
True also there is different niche and different journalistic approach. Not being a journalist, not knowing the etiquette , difficult for me to pronounce. I speak as a reader. When you see the back ground of the “grosse cylindrés” journalists in mauritius. You see that they are mostly from political background. Do you think if they say the truth ( politiquement correct). They will be forced to change careers.
Let’s put passion in this issue. Mauritian politicians want to “muselé” the local press. Yet we know they won’t do it. BAI which hold the ledefi plus group has a lot of economies of scale to gain. (rightly said again by you).
You said lack of skills from journalists. I can add that they are from the MMM generation. Today these people control the newspaper now. The MMM in the years 68. Most journalists are from these schools. “Revendication”.
Today it’s very sad as we know this country is in deep trouble, cause the journalists didn’t do the job. They played the games along with the big capitalism and the politicians. Games of selling newspaper without telling the truth to the population before of what will happen to the country. This was foreseen.
They failed.They have been decieved. Journalist in mauritius are communism who are under the fire of capitalism.
The Matinal will act as a “correcting” factor in this avenue. As they lowered their price. And this is globalisation.
Thanks christina Meetoo.
There might be some truth in the belief that the senior journalists are MMM nostalgics, but this applies to only two media groups in the written press.
When you say “Games of selling newspaper without telling the truth to the population before of what will happen to the country. This was foreseen”, I don’t quite see what you are referring to. Foresee what?
Also, when you say “Journalist in mauritius are communism who are under the fire of capitalism”, I do not agree at all. In fact, I would tend to say that journalists are not savvy enough to question the declarations and doings of the business world and of the politicians.
My point is that the business world (as everywhere else) has consolidated its communication techniques through PR and Marketing and they are doing this very well now. It’s their job to promote their companies’ image and they’re doing it very well and I respect that. But it’s the journalists’ job to report news in such a way that they can enlighten people and uncover unpleasant facts that hinder public interest. This means being able to get around all the spindoctoring.
More importantly, they should be able to do that for political news as well be it for the opposition or the government. And one can see that the communication techniques employed by the business world are increasingly being used by the politicians as well.
Regarding Le Matinal, I think it’s good that this third player entered the market. However, one needs to adopt the same critical stance towards all the media players to be fair. And it is a quite well-known fact that this paper has a pro-Labour approach. Also, it has not yet fully proved its worth. It has improved since its inception but we still need to watch how it evolves over time. It seems to me that the product is geared towards the ‘commercial’ and a lot of trivial info in order to sell the paper to its audience and to sell the audience to advertisers.
But, let’s wait and see…
When you say two media group have MMM nostalgics we see that those two media groups are the ones that are in the forefront of paper selling. We can say that intellectuals are avid to see those writings as they got experience in the political field.
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Games of selling newspaper without telling the truth to the population before of what will happen to the country. This was foreseen
i will say without facts which is my opinion that the groups backing those newspapers are mostly the 2% of the population. I don’t have anything against the 2%, We cannot revert the “time machine”.
The groups behind influence the turn the marxist approach of the journalist. You know this is the invisible hand i am talking about. The journalists are at the mercy of the invisible hand. Journalist rarely talk about the Mauritius “d’en bas”. People living in slum. Journalist rarely talk about the mauritius “d’en haut”. They don’t touch these issues. Those are invisible for jounalist. I come to the “foresee” point. Foresee in terms of what is happening. The invisible people are better off( en haut) and the ones (en bas) are in a worse situation ever. Let’s analyse the budget report from every newspaper… it’s weird.Only positivity. No negativity. I read the finance bill. I see this is purely a razor type budget which has no provision for the social aspect. You see christina, I won’t talk about the mbc=> “Hors catégorie” since the beginning of our conversation. I will say that the press is the insulator of the social dilema presently in mauritius.
We will wait , we won’t see, the same rule dictates since the beginning. Same old rule. Invisibles remain invisibles. Professionals will debate but won’t utter a single word, Unions are “muselé”. Press also i think but voluntarilly.
Episode i like when the ancien “redacteur” of one major newspapers said matinal was praticing dumping. At least now there is awareness. But too bad matinal is Pro labour.
Good Journalists we don’t have.Coming back to point A you said. Impartiality also we don’t have. We knows who owns what. Only anhee is “the last of the mohicans”. Yeah he is an MMM nostalgics too.
To end i’ll say : Journalists are aware of the reality.Yet they prefer to “manigance” it.
Thanks,
Elvis
I want to know whether someone who has been aggrieved in a newspaper do not have a right to reply (already sent and not published since long) in the same newspaper and the legal means at his disposition to seek justice?
Technically, all newspapers give the right of reply though there is no means to know if they reject any. There is no legal obligation for them to publish replies as such. They do have codes of ethics but with no statutory enforcement.
Those who feel aggrieved often have recourse to the laws referring to defamation, publication of false news, etc.