A West African researcher, Dr. Caroline Da Costa, says media coalitions in West Africa tend to be ad hoc in nature, limiting their effectiveness in addressing issues journalists face in the region.
Media coalitions are generally aimed at fostering an enabling environment for journalism and freedom of expression.
Dr. Da Costa was commissioned by the Danish-based media development organisation International Media Support to investigate the challenges of media coalitions in a sub-region marked by military upheavals such as coup de tats.
The research spanned francophone and anglophone countries in West Africa, doing 40 research engagements, including interviews and focus group engagements in Ghana, Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Nigeria.
"So in countries such as Senegal, in Burkina Faso, where we have the military government, and even in Senegal, though it's a civilian government, the political environment is quite hostile. So we realised that in these countries, the media coalitions are stronger, and they tend to see themselves as an avenue for safety and security. In the Anglophone countries, on the other hand, like Ghana, Liberia, and then Nigeria, you realise that the media coalitions were sort of not really bonding, or bonded, because the political polarisation was found to be too much. And so the media associations—even journalists who have to form them—saw it as an avenue for politicians to operate, where they manipulate the leadership of the various media organisations."
Dr. Da Costa presented her findings at a workshop on Media Coalitions for Change in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou.
She also found that media coalitions found to be ad hoc in nature, limit their legal identity.
"Because of their ad hoc nature, their activities tend to be reactive, as in, they are formed to solve emerging situations or problems. But because the problems in the West African sub-region tend to be sort of permanent in a way, some journalists advocate for a proactive approach to some of these actions. Especially when you talk about the security and safety of journalists, even the working conditions of journalists, you realise it's very poor in West Africa. Some of them live below even the minimum wage that is stipulated in various countries."
For Dr. Da Costa, the need for unity is of paramount importance.
"I realised that in Senegal and Burkina Faso, the media themselves are very united, so though their governments are hostile to them and quite repressive, they are able to stand and fight for things for themselves, but in the other countries, you realise the media are quite relaxed, and it's rather the civil society organisations like the media foundation for West Africa, like the voice of accountability, that are pushing for the fronts of coalition activities in these countries, so it should be an all-hands-on-deck approach where we will have a united front to fight for some of the actions and the concerns and challenges that we all see and we want to see changed."