Dear Dr. Osman Gbla,
The Chairman,
African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM),
Siaka Stevens
Freetown
Dear Sir,
Media Strategy: APRM lessons from the pioneers
Having an effective media strategy is an essential part of both building trust and encouraging public debate. However, the media will not necessarily dedicate time and space to the substantive issues of governance. Frequently, the media focuses heavily on the events and transactions of the APRM: the arrival of the Country Support Mission, inauguration of the National Governing Council or disputes over managing the process. These event driven stories can raise awareness, but do not necessarily build trust or foster conversation about underlying governance problems. To do that, more specific strategies are needed.
Build relationships and trust with editors. The decision about what to cover and how much reporting time should be focused on the APRM will be largely made by editors rather than reporters. If editors do not understand the APRM or do not believe that the process will be truly open, they may be unduly skeptical.The best way to convince editors that the process will be different, and thus worth covering, is to be open and candid with them. Regular briefings, a dedicated spokesperson and open meetings all help.
Provide media management training for National Governing Council. The media will be interested in the process and will want to ask manyquestions. Basic training for the National Governing Council can makemembers much more effective and avoid some common mistakes thatcan create distrust or antagonistic stories.
Broadcast validation conferences. Television and radio can be used to spread the word on the APRM and signal government commitment to the Programme of Action. Staging a live broadcast of launch conferences, expert workshops, parliamentary hearings and/or validation conferences could help with this. This would require funds for the TV crews and live links.
Assign research institutes to prepare interim reports reflecting public views. Governments are usually reluctant to allow journalists access toreports before they are complete, for fear that preliminary drafts willbe taken out of context or misused. But the value of the APRM is inencouraging discussion of the various approaches to solving problems.There need not be one right answer and various participants will place different emphasis on different strategies to solve problems. To generate more coverage, research institutes should be encouraged to produce interim reports that are released to the media on key issues of interest to the public. These reports should be short – less than 1,000 words – and written in accessible language. They should reflect the various comments and competing strains of thought on the issue. They need not decide which is the right approach but reflect that citizens voiced concern about the quality of education or lack of transparency in tendering, for example. Putting such issues into the public domain also can have the effect of galvanising government departments to explain their policies and performance, and make suggestions about what could be improved.
Serialise reports in newspapers. Several countries so far have struggled to gather written input from society. The perceived openness of the process affects the level of political commitment and follow-through that it enjoys. One way to generate media stories would be to create shortened versions of the expert desk-research papers, which could outline some of the key policy issues for which input is sought. These shortened papers could include the main issues and recommendations gathered so far. They could be introduced with a short introduction by the National Governing Council inviting the public to comment.
Discuss media freedoms. Media freedoms are central to accountability, fighting corruption and ensuring that elections are fair. One way to get the media to engage with the APRM is to invite them to make submissions on media freedoms and the related issues of licensing of journalists, defamation laws, freedom of information laws, and criminal libel.
Sincerely Yours,
Tanu Jalloh
About Tanu: Mr. Jalloh is a University trained Mass Communicator and specialises in Good Governance, Corporate Communications and Public Relations. He is currently the Director of Investment and Personnel at FreeMedia Group; the Business Editor of Politico Newspaper and a passionate reporter on the APRM as far back as when he was editor with Concord Times Newspaper. He was one of twelve ace reporters meritoriously selected from across English speaking Africa to be trained at the Kofi Annan Institute of Technology in December, 2007 on how to report the continent in general and APRM in particular.
