Government and the Media

In The Republic of Rwanda a staggering 85-90% of advertising revenue comes from the public sector. Whereas in Kenya, it’s estimated that 30% of newspaper revenue comes from government advertising. In 2013, the government spent 40 million Kenya Shillengs in two weeks just to publish congratulatory messages for the new President Uhuru Kenyatta. It’s difficult not to characterize the withdrawal of state advertising from commercial media as punitive. Without this revenue stream newspapers are likely to fold. Worse still, efforts to withdraw government advertising from commercial media can be interpreted as a worrying way to undermine the freedom of expression. Starving news media of revenue is a means of indirect state control. This has been the case in countries such as Serbia, Hungary, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland.To help us unpack and discuss this further we are joined on the line by:* Dr George Ogola Senior Lecturer: Journalism University of Lancashire (UK)* Prof Franz Kruger Director: Wits Radio Academy University of Witwatersrand * Thandi Smith Head of Policy Unit Media Monitoring Africa