Media must serve the poor-says Professor Fackson Banda

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By Derrick Sinjela

Before I delve in this weeks message, let me allude to the over 500 delegates from across the continent expected to gather, converge at the 11th Highway Africa collaboration, in Grahamstown, from 9 to 12 September, 2007 as confirmed by conference organiser Chris Kabwato.

The 2007 HWA conference will look at issues relating to Internet governance, ICT policy and media for democracy affecting Africa and the globe.

The three-day conference will follow the theme of  “Quality and professionalism in Journalism and the media”, with a focus on new media and technology.

Highway Africa is a partnership between Rhodes University (School of Journalism and Media Studies) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with the support of other partners, including Absa, MTN, Telkom, development agencies and sponsors.

“The conference hopes to contribute to the fundamental transformation of how media uses technology in production and dissemination of news and information.

To this end, the conference is a mixture of presentations, debates and hands-on training workshops  all related to Internet, mobile and satellite technology and the media, said Kabwato at the media briefing held last week at the Market Theatre, in Newtown, Johannesburg.

Phumelele Ntombela-Nzimande, chief people officer at the SABC, said the conference will feature the sixth Highway Africa awards, which was initiated by the public broadcaster in order to recognise  innovative use of new media in Africa?.

According to a release, set out ahead of the African Media Indaba, the awards will be given in three categories, namely individual and non-profit category: recognition will be given to communications which find innovative ways to overcome the limitations of the existing African infrastructure, corporate category: judges will be looking for creative adaptation of global technologies in an African media context; and the broad criteria: the use of new media to benefit press freedom in Africa.

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago is elated that the conference comes at a time when there is a lot of discussion around the Electronic Communications (EC) Act.

Boardrooms are buzzing with business discussions on who to partner with to exploit this new space where content can be delivered on any platform at any time.

Media stakeholders believe the EC Act also opens spaces to engage on how we can make access to ICT for development a reality.? And the conference will be broadcast on various SABC radio and TV stations.

Too much for Highway Africa as I now turn to the subject anchored on Prof Banda’s views on inclusive media.

But like always, let me digress and highlight wealth and poverty in the eyes of Fr Jones Mutemwakwenda, an Anglican priest studying in Britain and has sent me some words on this subject. He has aptly slugged the article as “ Biblical perspective on wealth and poverty to Christians. 

Here is what he wrote to me:-“The biblical perspective on wealth and poverty are important to Christians for various reasons. Let me analyse some of the reasons.

On wealth, a biblical view of wealth is necessary if Christians are to live godly lives. The materialistic culture of our world is seducing Christians into an economic lifestyle that does not glorify God.

Many Christians have adapted to society’s materialistic values. One can see that within the Christian community, some believers have unbiblical views of wealth.

There are Christians who preach a prosperity gospel of wealth for all believers and on the other hand there Christians who condemn all wealth and imply that rich Christian is a contradiction of what the Bible teaches.

Both Old and New Testaments have shown the truly biblical view of wealth. At first glance, one can be made to think that the Bible teaches that wealth is wrong for Christians. I say so because of the way the Bible appears to condemn the wealthy. One can see that both Jesus and the Old Testament prophets preached against materialism.

But I have seen that the relevant biblical passages reveal that a biblical view of wealth is more complex. Wealth itself is not condemned. Wealth is created by God and therefore it is good (Genesis 1).

We read in Genesis that the Patriarchs had great wealth. In Job 42:10 we see God blessing Job with material possessions. Elsewhere in the Old Testament we see wealth as evidence of God’s blessing (Proverbs 22:2; Deuteronomy 8; Ecclesiastic 5:19). We have seen that wealthy people are condemned for the means by which their riches are obtained, not for the riches themselves.

The prophet Amos condemned injustice of obtaining wealth through oppression or fraud (4:11; 5:11). So Amos denounced the unjust means by which wealth is achieved.

Therefore, says Fr Mutemwakwenda, Christians should be concerned about the effect wealth can have on people’s lives.

They should see to it that wealth does not tempt people to forget about God. Christians should make it clear to the people that the Bible does not condemn those are wealthy, but that the Bible warns that if God blesses people with wealth, they must keep their priorities straight and guard against the seductive effects of wealth.

On the emotive issue of poverty, Fr. Mutemwakwenda adds that a biblical view of vulnerability is essential if Christians are to fulfil their responsibilities to the poor.

Christians should fight the causes of poverty. We have seen that in the Old Testament many people were poor because they were oppressed by individuals or governments. Many governments established unjust laws that resulted in the exploitation of individuals. Oppression has continued, many poor people today are oppressed and subjected to live in poverty.

The church as a body of Christ has the potential to offer some unique solutions to poverty. It should not shift its responsibilities toward the poor to the government.

The laws and tithes in the Bible are an indication that both government and the church should be involved in helping the poor. Poverty is as much a psychological and spiritual problem as it is an economic problem, and it is for this reason that I feel the church can be most effective.

The church is better equipped than the government to meet the psychological and spiritual needs of poverty stricken people because it knows God’s laws.

The church should therefore provide some answers. It should help governments to come up with good economic policies. The church should reach out to those in poverty and distribute their own financial resources.

The church should get involved in health care, education, employment, business and food security. The church should get involved in social action and evangelism.

This can lead to spiritual conversion that can help to break the culture of poverty (2 Corinthians 5:17).

And having analysed the biblical perspective on wealth and poverty to Christians, how do Christians living in wealthy nations and those living in poor nations deal with these issues?

A look at wealth and poverty in Europe and Africa respectively will show whether Christians are dealing with these issues or not,” Fr. Jones Mutemwakwenda ends the subject of poverty from a Christian perspective.

Let me turn to how journalistic practitioners perceive vulnerability and add that I am cheered that both Kabwato and Prof Banda are conscious of the need to have a people centred print, radio, and television media. I certainly agree with Kabwato that the media must remain pro-poor for it to remain relevant

Just like Kabwato, Prof Banda in joining the debate says voices of the marginalised communities must be heard.

This is what he told me in an interface at Rhodes University: “We are told that there is such a thing as multimedia, which in other ways is ensuring that all the three categories of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) converge. I refer here to print, radio and television, in such way, ways which will encourage greater participation of the people. As far as I am concerned, whether we talk about digital or analogue journalism, the most important thing is that we want to reach out, and in reaching out, we want to be inclusive. It is imperative that we include in our content, the voices of the poor, the marginalised, people that bare generally marginalised from the mainstream media. And I suppose that the most revolutionary aspect of digital journalism must infact transform itself into an inclusive multimedia. The question we must all pose is, are you facilitating deliberation and dialogue. I am an academician and some academicians’ have spoken about monitorial journalism or if you want dialogical journalism, that which monitors the status quo, subverts or indeed disturbs it. Prof Banda ends with a timely advice to media practitioners and the general public:-“We must enable people to engage in meaningful dialogue, communication with a full range of other actors in the public sphere such as politics, economics and so forth and forth.”

I end this week’s talk with some words from Lolita Brown, a South African Hotelier. Brown thinks that SADC has kept women out of all spheres of human endeavour because of fear of the unknown. Brown says despite having a master degree in Catering and Resort management, it is still difficult for males to accept her as an equal partner in the decision making process.

Anyhow, let me do something else as time to stop doing this has come. .

For Comments send them to sinjela@yahoo.com, derricksinjela@gmail.com,   0977199447 or better still drop a letter or not at the Monitor & Digest, Church House, Cairo Road Lusaka

Till next time chill.