RUTANA January 17th (ABP) – The preparatory retreat of the Estates General of Communication and Media (EGCM) which has been held since Thursday in the headquarters of Rutana province (south-east of Burundi) was closed on Friday by the formulation of a series of recommendations, a check on the site by ABP has revealed.
During that retreat which brought together media professionals, the first presentation focused on the history of the reform of the law governing the press in Burundi presented by the consultant Gérard Ntahe. There, the participants insisted on certain recommendations which remain relevant, including the improvement of the living and working conditions of journalists to prevent them from falling into the trap of buying conscience and not respecting journalistic ethics.
To that end, they mentioned the need for training and capacity building sessions to remedy the professional misconduct often committed by journalists, such as the publication of shocking images and videos as well as the dissemination of music whose content is contrary to Burundian mores.
In turn, the vice-president of the National media Council presented the major faults committed by the media between 2011-2021. Overall, he said that many professional misconducts were committed by national and foreign media broadcasting on Burundian national territory from 2011 to 2021. He also returned to the particularity of the year 2015 which saw insurrectionary demonstrations against the candidacy of the late President Pierre Nkurunziza in the presidential elections which led to the failed coup of May 13, 2015.
For the vice-president of the CNC, the slippages committed during that year were very numerous. He pointed out that some media have worked in synergy by even indulging in live media coverage of the illegal protests, which has constituted negative solidarity. To deal with the situation, he said, the CNC planned and executed raids on the media to bring those who had failed in order to regroup.
Mr. Kaganda insisted on recalling that not all the media under sanctions remained in that situation, while specifying that some media have been reopened and exchanges continue for others.
The CNC vice-chairman asked everyone to work professionally and responsibly in order to avoid as much as possible the slippages that were committed during the period from 2011 to 2021.
In terms of recommendations, the participants in the preparatory retreat for the Estates General on Communication asked the Burundian government to ensure that the conditions required for the exploitation of a medium are met and to ensure the transparent management of the latter, to fix the salary scale of the journalist to allow him not to be tempted by the purchase of conscience and to avoid militancy. It is also necessary to multiply training and capacity building sessions for journalists, especially since the media are born from day to day and to set up regional branches of the CNC.
They also proposed to the Burundian government to determine the legal status of the media and journalists to deal with the emergence of media and journalists practicing without being legally recognized and to set up a body in charge of the approval of music and films produced in Burundi with a view to respecting Burundian mores from the point of view of their content.
The media and media professionals have, for their part, undertaken to carry out self-censorship before the publication of information, to exercise their profession in a professional manner by avoiding the publication of information which undermines professional ethics and customs and mores of Burundians. They also pledged to honor the image of the country, to denounce anyone who calls themselves a journalist and to take into account the gender dimension in programs and publications.