Africa-Press – Togo. The media play a fundamental role in the process of democratization and the establishment of the rule of law. However, in most French-speaking African countries, there is a facade democracy marked by the locking of the institutions, longevity in power, massive violation of human rights, corruption, illicit enrichment, etc. In addition, in recent years, there have been military regimes resulting from putsch. Under these conditions, the media, even if they exist, are not authorized to make heard dissenting voices, alternative approaches.
If in normal times, the media of French-speaking African countries are confronted with these misfortunes, the situation becomes more complicated when it comes to investigative journalism. All authoritarian regimes abhor investigative journalists who seek to go beyond what has been said or shown. Thus, there stands before these journalists, a myriad of obstacles: retention of information and administrative red tape, judicial harassment, intimidation, threats and murders, attempted corruption, financial asphyxiation, family pressure and cultural constraints.
The governance through terror and harassment discourages a significant number of media professionals in French-speaking African countries from pursuing investigative journalism. This is particularly true for women, who are already less inclined to choose journalism as a career.
We will then try to talk about, in a global way, the issue of freedom of the press in these countries before dwelling with the obstacles to investigative journalism, their consequences and some possible solutions.
Togo, Chad, Cameroon, Gabon, the Republic of Congo or Congo-Brazzaville and Djibouti are French-speaking African countries where there is a travesty of democracy marked by massive violations of human rights, rigged elections, longevity in power, dynastic succession to power, institutional lockdown, corruption, etc. Added to this list, the countries where democratic regimes have been swept away by military putsch in recent years are Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.
All these countries, in line with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), have enshrined freedom of the press in their constitutions. “Freedom of the press is recognized and guaranteed by the state. It is protected by law. Everyone has the freedom to express and disseminate by word, writing or any other means, their opinions or the information they hold, within the limits defined by law. The press may not be subject to prior authorization, bail, censorship or other impediments. The ban on the diffusion of any publication can only be pronounced by virtue of a court decision”, provides article 26 of the Togolese Constitution. In the preamble to its constitution, the Cameroonian people « affirm their attachment to the fundamental freedoms enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Charter, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and all the international conventions relating thereto and duly ratified”. And among these fundamental rights, there is freedom of communication, freedom of expression, freedom of the press. In Djibouti, freedom of the press is enacted in the first two paragraphs of article 15 of the constitution: “Everyone has the right to express and freely diffuse their opinions by word, pen and image. These rights find their limit in the prescriptions of the laws and in respect for the honor of others”.
These constitutional clauses and international and regional instruments relating to freedom of the press and communication to which these countries are parties, are often supplemented by press and communication codes which govern free expression in the context of information and communication activities as well as the exercise of said activities, and which lay down the rules for the establishment of press companies. In addition, these countries were inspired by the French Superior Audiovisual Council (CSA), which since 2022 has become the Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (ARCOM) after its merger with the High Authority for the Dissemination of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (HADOPI) and have set up media regulatory institutions that are supposed to be independent of “administrative authorities, all political powers, all associations and all pressure groups”1.
At the same time, media professionals themselves have organized themselves by adopting charters or codes of ethics. They have also set up courts of peers whose main mission is to guarantee the respect of the rules of ethics and deontology in the media.
From the legislative, regulatory and institutional point of view, the conditions are gathered in these different countries for the enjoyment of freedom of the press, which remains one of the fundamental principles of democratic systems. But in reality, the situation is quite different. Sham democracy induces sham freedom of the press. Leaders who cling to power and who do not hesitate to reduce opponents to the bare minimum, regularly persecute journalists, forcing them to censor themselves. The scale which is a symbol of justice, turns into the sword of Damocles suspended above the journalists.
The regulatory institutions responsible for guaranteeing and ensuring the freedom and protection of the press and whose independence is proclaimed, also become repressive arms of those in power. For example, on June 20, 2019, the High Authority for Communication (HAC) of Gabon sanctioned the newspaper Fraternité with a one-month publication ban for an article published on June 13, entitled: “Who is running Gabon? «. This caused Reporters Without Borders (RSF) to react, calling for the reform of the HAC, “the executioner of the Gabonese media”2.
In Cameroon, the National Communication Council (CNC), the institution in charge of regulating the media, imposed, on June 02, 2023, a series of sanctions on the media as well as on journalists for « proliferation of hate speech and seditious”. The heaviest sanction concerned the private radio station Voice Radio, which received a permanent ban on its activities3.
“Since the beginning of the year, the Togolese private press, especially newspapers, have paid dearly for their desire for freedom of information by searching through files whose content has drawn the wrath of the High Audiovisual Authority and the communication (HAAC), the Central Research and Criminal Investigation Service (SCRIC) of the National Gendarmerie as well as of Justice« , was indignant, on April 09, 2021, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in a statement entitled “The Togolese press between the clutches of the gendarmerie, the HAAC and the justice system”4.
Hindrances to the free exercise of the profession also exist in countries which have recently experienced military putsch. These men in military uniform who capture power and who announce that they are there to « restore » democracy, do not tolerate dissonant voices. All the media that do not follow the path they have set out are subject to threats and harassment. From Mali to Burkina Faso via Guinea, the situation remains the same. On June 2, 2022, the High Authority for Communication (HAC) of Mali suspended Joliba TV News for “libelous remarks” against the ruling junta5. In Guinea, on May 23, 2023, private radios turned off their transmitters, televisions only broadcast an image with the inscription “press in danger” in order to protest against the restriction of certain platforms on the Internet6. On March 22, the President of Burkina Faso, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, called human rights defenders and journalists “terrorists who communicate for terrorist fighters”7.
Notwithstanding the existence of texts enshrining freedom of the press in these countries, the media are therefore closely watched, persecuted, financially asphyxiated, harassed on the legal level with mock trials at the end of which journalists are sent to prison or sentenced to heavy fines. In this already deleterious context, investigative journalism is viewed with suspicion.
II- Obstacles to investigative journalism
Investigative journalism, which seeks to increase the transparency of politicians and other public figures and institutions and which brings them to account, is struggling to take off in the French-speaking countries mentioned above. Investigative journalists face several obstacles: retention of information and administrative red tape, judicial harassment, intimidation, threats and assassination, attempted corruption, financial asphyxiation, family pressure and cultural constraints.
II.1- Retention of information and administrative red tape
Access to information is very important for investigative journalists. This allows him to do his job well and produce professional work that is beyond reproach. But journalistic practice is still confronted with the difficult access to information in these countries.
Indeed, there are several texts in Africa that enshrine the right to information apart from article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and national constitutions. These include: Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Article 19 of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, Article 9 of the Convention on Union on Preventing and Combating Corruption, Articles 10 and 11 of the African Youth Charter, Article 6 of the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Public Service and Administration and the Article 3 of the African Charter on Statistics. In 2017, 21 countries in Africa passed access to information laws. These are: Angola, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda and Zimbabwe8. As can be seen, among the six countries where longevity in power is the norm, only Togo has adopted a law on freedom of access to public information and documentation.
But in reality, the ratification of these international instruments and the adoption of this law by some French-speaking African countries only aim to say that democracy is on the move and to be better placed in the international reports. In Togo, for example, access to information in the public administration is not easy. Presidency of the republic, ministries, institution of the republic, state companies, etc. reluctant to respond to correspondence from the media despite several reminders. And if they decide to do so, they will refer the media to other people who, several months later, will say that they are still waiting for instructions from their superior. “I am bound by the obligation of reserve; I can’t tell you anything without the authorization of my superiors”, they often say to journalists in the administrations. And when it is not the obligation of reserve, the civil servants advance the argument of professional secret.
All these maneuvers have only one goal: withhold information and discourage these “stoppers from going around in circles”. Thus, the journalist, not having received the information that could help him in the development of his investigation, ends up giving up or producing articles full of conditionals and riddles.
Administrative red tape is the most shared thing in many African countries. The slowness in responding to correspondence, the delay in issuing administrative documents, the concentration of decision-making powers, the lack of work materials, demotivation, etc., are to be found in the administrations. It may happen that a journalist’s letter disappears from the circuit and that he is asked to submit another. Sometimes, access to the administration is forbidden to the journalist despite the present of the press card. “We have received instructions not to leave you. You will be called as soon as the response to your letter is ready. Don’t come to bother us anymore”, can afford to say security guards.
II.2- Judicial harassment
Journalists, especially investigative journalists, remain subject to real judicial harassment. In these countries where there is one strong man and weak institutions, cases concerning journalists and opponents of the regime are quickly judged. People don’t waste time. While alleged perpetrators of embezzlement of public funds take it easy, journalists are worried and sentenced to heavy prison sentences and fines.
We can mention the case of the Togolese investigative journalist and editor of the bi-weekly L’Alternative, Ferdinand Ayité. After being fined 4 million ($8,000) for revealing a case of embezzlement in the Togolese oil sector, imprisoned in December 2021, along with Joël Egah, director of the weekly Fraternité – this one died a few weeks after their provisional release -, following a complaint filed by two ministers for “contempt of authority” and “spreading false remarks” after an animated program on YouTube, he was forced into exile at the beginning of March 2023, as was the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Joël Kouwonou. Although the journalists Ayité and Egah have, at the request of the ministers, presented a public apology, they have reactivated the case. In an expedited trial on March 17, 2023, Ayité and his editor-in-chief, Joël Kouwonou, were sentenced in absentia to “3 years in prison and a fine of 3 million FCFA ($6,000) each”. An international arrest warrant has also been issued against them. The newspaper has since ceased publication. « The heavy sentence of the two journalists, who in 2021 had made comments critical of two ministers, deals a terrible blow to freedom of expression already at its lowest, » regretted Fabien Offner, Researcher at Amnesty International’s office for l West and Central Africa9.
There is also the Congolese journalist, Raymond Malonga, press cartoonist and publication director of Sel-Piment, who was arrested on February 02, 2021 while he was hospitalized for a malaria crisis in a clinic located near his home in Brazzaville. He was being sued for alleged acts of defamation.
In Djibouti, Maydaneh Abdallah Okieh, journalist for the news site La Voix de Djibouti, was the victim of judicial harassment between 2013 and 2015. Accused of « insulting a police officer » and « defamation of the police » for posting photos of the repression of peaceful demonstrations on Facebook, he spent five months in prison from May 15 to October 19, 2013, despite having been initially sentenced to 45 days in detention. He was also ordered to pay a fine of 2,084,000 Djibouti francs ($11,740) in damages for the benefit of a police lieutenant-colonel. Not having been able to pay this fine, he was arrested on May 18, 2015 by the police in Djibouti-ville for refusal of judicial execution, then released by the prosecution on May 20, 201510.
Always in Togo, complaints against investigative newspapers and critics of the authorities are piling up in the courts even if, upstream, they have made the necessary cross-checks. During this year 2023, the private daily Liberté appears in court in four different cases while the information site Togo24.business.site was sentenced, on June 07, 2023, to 253 million CFA francs ($506,000) in damages and a fine of 1 million (2,000 dollars) for revealing a case of falsification of tickets sold to tourists visiting tourist sites in the town of Kpalimé, located 120 km northwest of Lomé.
II.3- Intimidation, threats and murders
Hostility towards investigative journalists is a reality in French-speaking countries. These intimidation maneuvers are directly exercised either by the media regulatory institutions, which brandish the cleaver of sanctions, or by the defense and security forces. Journalists are abducted by men in civilian clothes or kept after a summons before subjecting them to lengthy hearings. The goal is to terrorize them so that they stop snooping around in matters affecting those in power.
In Djibouti, on June 05, 2020, police arrested in the southern town of Ali Sabieh, Massim Nour Abar, a journalist with the Paris-based radio station and news website, as he prepared to cover demonstrations in the city11. The same day, Osman Yonis Bogoreh, another journalist working at La Voix de Djibouti, went into hiding when the police arrived at the demonstration he was covering in the capital. On June 7, police arrested Mohamed Ibrahim Waiss, another La Voix de Djibouti journalist and correspondent for Reporters Without Borders (RSF) while he was covering the protests. Djiboutian authorities released Abar on June 8 and Waiss on June 10, both without charge. As for Bogoreh, he was obliged to hide for several days.
Intimidation and threats can also come from the immediate entourage of rulers or their activists. As is currently the case in Mali and Burkina Faso. On the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2023, Reporters Without Borders and 29 media outlets and organisations12 published an open letter calling for an end to attacks on press freedom in Mali and Burkina Faso.
In Mali, pressure and intimidation towards journalists and opinion leaders are increasing. On February 20, 2023, the Maison de la Presse in Bamako was ransacked. On March 13, radio columnist Mohamed Youssouf Bathily, better known as Ras Bath, was charged and imprisoned for denouncing the “murder” of former Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga. On March 15, Rokia Doumbia, known as “Rose vie chère”, was arrested in turn for having communicated on the rise in prices and the “failure” of the transition. On April 6, journalist Aliou Touré was abducted by armed men wearing balaclavas and was only found free four days later. The international press is far from being spared.
The situation of journalists in Burkina Faso has become so critical that even the institution responsible for regulation is upset. In a press release published on March 29, 2023, the Superior Council of Communication (CSC) « notes with regret the recurrence of threats made against press organs and media actors«. The CSC asks the authorities of Burkina to “take the appropriate measures to ensure the safety of the media and journalists in the exercise of their profession”. For his part, Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, says he is “deeply disturbed” by the media situation in Burkina Faso.
In this deleterious climate, the murder of journalists cannot be ruled out. The most recent case that continues to move people is the assassination, on January 17, 2023, in cruel and degrading conditions, of Cameroonian investigative journalist, Arsène Salomon Mbani Zogo, alias Martinez Zogo. Also in Cameroon, on the night of May 7, 2023, Anye Nde Nsoh, journalist at Dream FM and regional manager of the English-language newspaper The Advocate, was assassinated in Bamenda, in the North West, one of the two regions Anglophones of the country in the grip of a deadly conflict since 2016. Long before, the Reverend-Father Jean-Jacques Ola Bébé, priest of the Orthodox Church of Cameroon, journalist, radio host, was assassinated on the night of February 2, 2023 in Emombo neighborhood in Yaoundé, not far from his house. The three murders that plunged most journalists in Cameroon and even French-speaking Africa into fear.
II.4- Attempted corruption
In the quest for information, the journalist is confronted with attempts at corruption. People who do not want their name to appear in the media, do everything to shorten the investigation. They offer the journalist large sums of money as well as disguised advertising contracts in exchange for his silence. Sometimes the offer is so enticing that the badly paid journalist is tempted to accept. If the journalist does not seem interested in this bargain, it is his manager who intervenes and negotiates with the sources of information.
The journalists who occupy a place of choice in the eradication of this perversion that is corruption, become its actors. Many are comfortable with the phenomenon as explained here: “To hear, in the African media context, of journalists who receive a “gratification” from their sources does not arouse great astonishment. Internationally, this phenomenon is called « Brown envelope journalism«. And the very wide variety of terms coined to name this practice is a sign of its widespread existence on the continent. English-speaking African countries euphemistically call it bonus journalism, oiling hands and cocktail journalism”. (Lodamo and Skjerdal, 2011, p.77).
In several French-speaking African countries, this practice takes the name of “okra”. In Togo, the « final statement » is the gratuity that journalists take from event organizers for travel expenses, the « bitos » (business) which consists of setting up a business from scratch to get money, the “closed window”, that is to say that all the articles have been sold before the publication of the newspaper.
According to Cameroon’s African Media Barometer (BMA), corruption in the media was « worsening despite progress in other areas, such as access to training and awareness of professional standards » (FES, 2021, P.27).
There is also a category of journalists who have made corruption a hobby. If they have information on a wealthy person, for example, they first make a short article with a backfiring title. These types of articles often end with: “We will come back to this with more details in the next issue”, “Case to follow with crisp elements”, “Good to follow”, etc. Then, the case is closed and people will hear no more about it. The person concerned has put his hand in his pocket and there is no more follow-up to the first article.
These same journalists frequently use blackmail to extort money from citizens. They call and tell them that they have information about them and to prevent the case from being publicized, they are ordered to pay such a sum of money. In Togo, a few years ago, a journalist blackmailed a businessman. Exasperated by the incessant phone calls and thinly veiled threats, he decided to receive him in his office. The reporter put on his best coat and rushed to the place. After exchanging greetings, the journalist saw two policemen emerge from an office. Caught red-handed, the journalist was faced with two options: go to prison for blackmail and fraud or take a few spankings to be released. He took the hits so that the case did not get out of the office.
Another strategy for these journalists, followers of easy gain, is to surf on the success of investigative newspapers to build bargains behind their backs. They get in touch with a businessman or a minister and let him know that some well-respected newspaper is about to publish an article on him. Frightened, the person gives him money so that he can hinder the publication of the information.
Personally, I experienced a case in 2010. I received an anonymous call and on the other end of the line, it was a minister, his voice trembling, who told me that he learned from a journalist that our newspaper is preparing to publish compromising information about him and that he begs me to suspend all publication until he returns from a mission inside the country to give his version. After having succeeded in having the identity of the « journalist scammer« , I reassured the minister by telling him that we had no information on him to publish. The journalist who was behind this manipulation never thought that the minister was going to call us directly.
These behaviours bring discredit to the entire corporation of journalists and complicate the work of investigative journalists.
II.5- Financial asphyxiation
Advertisements allow the media to generate substantial revenue to support production costs. But in French-speaking countries where everyone is required to look in the same direction, the media that do the investigation are deprived of advertising. State-owned and privately-owned companies only go to media outlets close to the ruling party.
“There are public or semi-public companies that advertise and every time we show up, we are told that our newspaper is not on the list. And when we sought to understand, it turned out that it is because we are too critical. The same is true for some private economic operators, who are afraid to advertise in newspapers that are too critical. Because they risk finding themselves in the sights of the tax authorities or public auditors”13, testifies Ferdinand Ayité, publication director of the Togolese biweekly of investigation.
Financial asphyxiation also involves the tax adjustment of press companies that are already in bad financial shape. This tax crackdown on the media flourished in Cameroon in the early 2000s. Treasury officials sealed off the offices of several media outlets and demanded immediate payment of taxes worth several thousand dollars. (Atenga, 2005, P.33).
On June 9, 2023, the premises of the Burkinabé investigative newspaper L’Évènement reopened after a week of closure by the authorities for tax litigations. The tax services required from the media the payment of a debt of 20 million CFA francs (40,000 dollars). “It is difficult not to make the connection between the work of this investigative newspaper and its manu militari closure by tax services. […] The instrumentalization of the tax authorities and public services in general to silence dissenting voices or to bring to heel those who prevent them from going in circles is a dangerous and counterproductive undertaking which must be abandoned,” said the Society of publishers of the private press (SEP) in a press release relayed by Le Monde14.
The record fines that justice imposes on press organs are only intended to suffocate them. In 2019, Chadian journalists, Martin Inoua Doulguet and Abderamane Boukar Koyon, respectively editors of the private newspapers Salam Info and Le Moustik, were sentenced to pay a fine of 1 million CFA francs ($2,500) each to the State, and 20 million francs ($40,000) in damages15. The two publications ended up disappearing from the Chadian media space.
In Congo-Brazzaville: journalist Raymond Malonga was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of 30,000,000 FCFA ($60,000)16.
II.6- Family pressure and socio-cultural constraints
For many African families, journalism is a high-risk occupation. They remain on the alert, ready to remind one of their journalists to take it easy and not want to say everything. “Close your eyes to some things. It’s not up to you to save the country,” they rehash. If in the exercise of the profession, some problems arise, this pressure becomes so intense that the journalist is tempted to drop everything. Sometimes it is close relatives who earn a few prebends thanks to their acquaintance with those who have taken the countries hostage, who are the promoters of this pressure which is exerted on journalists. They deliberately maintain a climate of fear in the immediate surroundings of investigative journalists. From time to time, they confide to the parents that he has learned that some individuals would propose to attempt the life of their son and that he must be invited to prudence.
In September 2012, I was on a subject of investigation in the mining resources sector. I made all the necessary cross-checks. The last person I met was related to my mother. Me, I didn’t know. Two days after collecting his version, I received a phone call from my mother asking me not to publish the article. “Because by publishing it, you risk creating problems for him. He will end up in jail. He is a member of a family allied to mine,” she told me. I counter by letting her know that she doesn’t have to interfere with the work I do. But she remained uncompromising. The calls are on the rise. The other members of the maternal family get involved. Faced with the pressure, I finally gave up. The article was never published.
One of the obstacles to investigative journalism remains socio-cultural constraints. Those who wield power do not see themselves as servants of the people who are held to account. They have a traditional conception of power. They use the attributes of the republic but behave like kings who decide everything. For their part, the populations consider them as such by regularly recalling this biblical formula: “all authority comes from God”. And it is known that, in traditional African societies, people do not criticize God, people do not criticize the authorities who are God’s choices. Thus, African leaders believe that any criticism of their actions is criticism directed at them and that any dissenting voices should be silenced. Investigative journalists, to exist, must take these elements into account.
III- Consequences of these situations
In the early 2000s, training sessions on investigative journalism were organized for media professionals in French-speaking African countries. The goal is to give them the necessary tools to carry out in-depth investigations on sensitive subjects in all their forms. For example, the World Bank Institute had offered several courses through distance learning. However, investigative journalism is struggling to take off in French-speaking African countries. There is a noticeable delay compared to English-speaking countries. The culture of fear means that few journalists hesitate to take the plunge into investigation. As a result, the prizes up for grabs in investigative journalism competitions in Africa are often scooped up by English-language media.
On April 26, 2023 in Dakar, 10 journalists out of 110 were rewarded, as part of the African Prize for Investigative Journalism (PAJI) 2023 organized by “Media et Democratie” and the Center for Information Science and Technology Studies (CESTI) of Dakar. The winners were selected from a call for applications which mobilized more than a hundred participants who competed in the following four categories: Written press, Web media, Radio and Television17. What is obvious is that of the 10 recipients, there are only four French-speaking journalists (Senegal, Ivory Coast, Benin and Niger). No journalist from the French-speaking African countries that are the subject of this reflection.
On this occasion, the Senegalese journalist, Azil Momar Lo, who received the first prize in the Radio category, regretted that the investigative journalist is less developed in French-speaking than English-speaking Africa: « In our countries, the most powerful and the most important media in any case, are mostly state or public service media which do not have enough flexibility to give journalists time to dig deeper into subjects, to go further. Above all, we must arm ourselves with courage and patience”18.
Moreover, few women embrace the profession of journalist. A finding made at the continental level by the African Union (AU), which made a number of recommendations: ”Ensuring that gender is mainstreamed in all publicly funded media training institutions, and encouraging privately funded media training institutions to follow suit. There is also need to take a fresh look at training curricula by mainstreaming gender in journalism communication and media studies curricula and teaching. Improve enrolment of women in media training institutions in particular for programmes that are usually stereotyped such as sports, politics and economy reporting” (GLAU, P.4).
In most French-speaking African countries, there are organizations of women media professionals who intend to work together to create a more egalitarian environment in the media space. Even if slight progress has been made in relation to the presence of women in newsrooms, they remain confined to second roles such as presenting newspapers, hosting programs on health, beauty, sex, music, etc. Few participate in political debates. The few women who dare to go into the field to report or take a stand on a subject of public interest are often threatened with physical aggression and sexual harassment. To this must be added the pressure of the family and socio-cultural constraints. Even within the press companies that employ them, they are victims of discrimination and sometimes sexual harassment.
In 2021, women journalists who are members of the National Union of Journalists of Cameroon, as part of International Women’s Day, launched a campaign called « Your Voice’s Count » to denounce the problems met by women working in the field of journalism. “We just want fair representation in terms of the distribution of tasks, salary remuneration, better consideration of the gender factor within the newsrooms”, pleaded Annie Paye, coordinator of this campaign19.
Faced with these situations, women working in the media are reluctant to pursue investigative journalism. As proof, the Ivorian journalist, Emeline Pehe Amangoua, who won first prize in the written press category, is the only woman among the ten winners of the African Prize for Investigative Journalism. A fighter in the French-speaking media space who will surely be emulated.
IV- Possible solutions
Francophone African countries face several challenges related to governance, human rights, mineral resources and the environment. The standby and wake-up light must remain constantly on. And this involves investigative journalism, which must overcome obstacles and gradually begin to get into the habit.
Even if authoritarian political regimes are quick to gag the press through the judiciary and media regulatory institutions, journalists must take advantage of the existing texts to do their job objectively. If the work is done with the aim of informing and enriching the democratic debate and not with the intention of harming, we will have fewer worries. As Sci Dev Net advises: “Investigative journalism can create conflicting relationships. The best way to protect yourself is to be above reproach. You have discovered something, of course, but you have to make sure that others believe you”. (Jayaraman, 2013).
Sometimes, crowned by the success of his publications, the investigative journalist plays the star and the lesson giver. The risk of falling into the sensational becomes strong. In addition, the scoop race can be dangerous. Behaviours which must be avoided at all costs.
Another possible solution is the organization of investigative journalists into a network at the national, regional, continental and global levels. We become strong when we are united. Thus, in several French-speaking African countries, journalists are organizing themselves into a network to better exercise their activity. These include, among others, the Consortium of Investigative Journalists of Togo (COJITO), the Collective of Investigative Journalists (CJI) in Cameroon, the Malian Network of Investigative Journalists (RMJI).
In West Africa, for example, the Norbert Zongo West Africa Cell for Investigative Journalism (CENOZO) is doing tremendous work in building the capacity of investigative journalists in the region through training, financial and technical support for investigations in various fields such as corruption, organized crime, governance, human rights violations and the environment. When the Burkinabe investigative newspaper L’Evénement was sealed, CENOZO, together with the Society of Private Press Editors (SEP), performed an act of solidarity that should be welcomed. The two organizations have launched a call “for a voluntary subscription, in order to support this investigative journal. This fundraising is a Republican leap forward, with a view to protecting and guaranteeing the sustainability of the few levers that remain to us, to preserve the rule of law and guarantee democracy, the right to information by saving this essential tool of good governance and accountability in Burkina Faso”20.
In addition, the precariousness in which many African media work is a handicap to the emergence of genuine investigative journalism. Financial difficulties mean that press companies refuse to devote a substantial budget to investigations. For the moment, it is certain journalists who, individually and with the support of some regional or international organizations, are trying to produce investigative articles. This is the cause of several problems in press companies: colleagues who are unhappy because when they hold the daily editorial office, the other travels for investigations; the director who envies his journalist because he thinks that he uses his newspaper to make money; the investigative journalist who, because of the funding money and a few prizes won, pushes the horns, does not care for the injunctions of his boss and ends up creating his own press organ.
It is therefore important to rethink the funding of investigative journalism in Africa and the impact of the prizes that are awarded. The involvement of all parties (Funding organizations, media company manager and journalist) is a sustainable solution.
Conclusion
Investigative journalism has its place in French-speaking African countries where there are many problems such as longevity in power, military coups, violation of human rights, inter-community conflicts, terrorism, corruption flourish, selling off of mining resources, etc. It must appear as a lever of counter-power and awakens consciences.
So whatever obstacles must be overcome by investigative journalists. Laws and international instruments exist and it is enough to know how to use them. The main thing is: do our job well, “tell the truth, nothing but the truth”.
The successes recorded may lead some media professionals, especially women, to break the climate of fear and jump on the investigative journalism bandwagon. But national and international networking and better planning of funding and awards for journalists can help investigative journalism flourish.
Zeus Komi AZIADOUVO, Journalist-Writer, Founder of ’’Groupe de Presse Liberté’’, Former member and President of the Written Press Technical Committee of the High Audiovisual Authority of Communication (HAAC) – Togo. Email: [email protected].
Article written on June 2023.
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Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (2021), Baromètre des médias africains – Une analyse des tendances des BMA pour 28 pays sur 11 ans 2011-2021, ISBN: 978-99916-991-7-2.
Atenga, T. (2005), La presse privée et le pouvoir au Cameroun – Quinze ans de cohabitation houleuse in Dans Politique africaine 2005/1(N° 97), pages 33 à 48, Ed. Karthala, ISBN 9782845866454.
Gender Links for the African Union, Final Draft Media Portrayal of Women and Media Gender Gap in Africa Paper, P.4, https://au.int/sites/default/files/newsevents/workingdocuments/33025-wd-media_portrayal_of_women_and_media_gender_gap_in_africashortpaperfinaldraft_en.pdf.
Jayaraman, K.S. (2013), Journalisme d’investigations: un guide pratique, https://www.scidev.net/afrique-sub-saharienne/practical-guides/journalisme-d-investigations-un-guide-pratique-1/ (Consulted on June 17 at 11:12 a.m.).
References
1Loi organique n°2021-031 du 06 décembre 2021 relative à la Haute autorité de l’audiovisuel et de la communication (HAAC) du Togo.
2https://rsf.org/fr/gabon-rsf-appelle-%C3%A0-la-r%C3%A9forme-de-la-hac-bourreau-des-m%C3%A9dias-gabonais (Consulted on June 12 at 6: 15 p.m).
3https://www.koaci.com/article/2023/06/03/cameroun/politique/cameroun-des-medias-et-journalistes-sanctionnes-par-le-cnc_169776.html (Consulted on June 12 at 6: 38 p.m).
4https://www.mfwa.org/fr/la-presse-togolaise-entre-les-griffes-de-la-gendarmerie-de-la-haac-et-de-la-justice/ (Consulted on June 12 at 6: 47 p.m).
5https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2022/11/05/au-mali-les-atteintes-a-la-liberte-de-la-presse-se-multiplient_6148633_3212.html (Consulted on June 12 at 7: 10 p.m).
6https://www.voaafrique.com/a/7105985.html (Consulted on June 12 at 7: 15 p.m)
7https://www.courrierinternational.com/article/entretien-au-burkina-faso-certains-medias-sont-devenus-des-cibles (Consulted on June 12 at 7: 30 p.m).
8African Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC), Fédération Africaine des Journalistes (FAJ), fesmedia Africa de Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Droit pour l’Information en Afrique-Manuel pour les Journalistes, 2017, P.13, ISBN: 978-99945-77-50-7.
9https://www.amnesty.org/fr/latest/news/2023/03/togo-les-autorites-doivent-annuler-les-condamnations-contre-les-journalistes-ferdinand-ayite-et-isidore-kouwonou/ (Consulted on June 12 at 9: 17 p.m)
10https://ifex.org/fr/un-journaliste-pour-la-premiere-radio-libre-de-djibouti-est-victime-de-harcelement-judiciaire/ (Consulted on June 14 at 7: 15 a.m).
11https://cpj.org/2020/06/un-journaliste-se-cache-deux-autres-sont-detenus-pour-avoir-couvert-des-manifestations-a-djibouti/ (Consulted on June 14 at 7: 40 a.m).
12https://rsf.org/fr/rsf-et-29-m%C3%A9dias-et-organisations-demandent-la-fin-des-atteintes-%C3%A0-la-libert%C3%A9-de-la-presse-au-mali (Consulted on June 14 at 7: 55 a.m).
13https://www.voaafrique.com/a/les-journalistes-des-employ%C3%A9s-pr%C3%A9caires-au-togo/5400813.html (Consulted on June 14 at 10: 11 a.m).
14https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2023/06/05/au-burkina-faso-fermeture-des-locaux-d-un-journal-d-investigation_6176223_3212.html (Consulted on June 14 at 10: 18 a.m).
15https://cpj.org/fr/2019/09/des-journalistes-condamnes-a-des-amendes-lun-dentr/ (Consulted on June 17 at 10: 12 a.m).
16https://www.c2ad-cg.org/publications/actualites/congo-brazzaville-le-journaliste-raymond-malonga-condamne-a-six-mois-de-prison-ferme-et-30-000-000-fcfa-damende/ (Consulted on June 17 at 10: 34 a.m).
17https://naolemedia.com/index.php/2023/05/09/prix-africain-du-journalisme-dinvestigation-paji-2023-les-laureats-desormais-connus/ (Consulted on June 17 at 10: 47 a.m).
18https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20230427-%C3%A0-dakar-la-2e-%C3%A9dition-du-prix-africain-du-journalisme-d-investigation-met-ce-genre-en-lumi%C3%A8re (Consulté le 16 juin 2023 à 20h10).
19https://www.mediaterre.org/education/actu,20210406140711,6.html (Consulted on June 18 at 10: 12 p.m).
20https://lefaso.net/spip.php?article122032 (Consulted on June 18 at 11: 31 p.m).
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