| INDEPENDENT MEDIA NEED SUPPORT |
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In recent months, Angola has once again been the focus of world attention
due to the on going war between the MPLA government and the UNITA forces.
The situation in the interior has deteriorated rapidly since May 1998,
when UNITA went on the offensive. The political situation is extremely
tense with reports indicating that the 'residual' troops of UNITA are
concentrated in Uige, Lunda Norte, Malanje, Bie and Cuando Cubango. Media
reports show that UNITA is capturing small areas in the Angolan country
side on a daily basis. It is estimated that more than 105,000 newly
displaced people are fleeing either UNITA attacks or the threat of them. In
between these warring factions are the majority of Angolans who have to
live an unenviable existence. Most of these people have been denied the
most basic of needs, with women and children trekking miles looking for
water and food, looking for ways to just survive the day. These are the
people who are also being denied access to information and the right to be
heard.
Polarisation This political situation has also left a polarised media fraternity which is divided by between the government and opponents of the government. The two main journalists unions, the SJA (Sindicato dos Jornalistas) and the UAJ (Uniao dos Jornalistas), have not helped matters either as they are two opposing sides with each accussing the other of belongning to or having links with opposing political sides. Media personnel from the state owned media account for 60% and the remaining 40% come from the independent or other non-aligned media. Despite this, a vibrant, independent media still exists even though it operates under very harsh conditions. A visit to some of the major independent newspapers in Luanda (AGORA, FOLHA 8, COMERCIO) showed the independent media is alive but is fighting hard to survive, be heard and most important to reach every Angolan country wide. However reaching the majority has not been possible due to the political, social and economic status quo within the country which restricts media ownership. This restriction effectively means that there is a limited variety of ideas and information on offer to the Angolan masses. 
An editor of one of the independent papers, Agora, explained that the whole
idea of an independent press was fairly new in Angola. He said the country
broke the one party system only six years ago and before that the country
had endured many years of Portuguese colonial rule. Four years ago there
were no independent newspapers thus to many Angolans this was still a new
concept and was therefore not widely embraced by everyone.
Printing problems Apart from the problem of trying to gain public support all the newspapers visited lamented the limited financial constraints they had to face. The escalating costs of printing was affecting them badly, not withstanding the fact that nearly all the printing presses belonged to the government. One of the editors said that if the government was really committed to the Windhoek Declalration on freedom of the press, it should level the playing field where all the newspapers had equal access to reasonable printing costs. To print one copy of a newspaper cost 50 cents and to print a batch the newspaper ended up paying 2000 USD. Worse still was the trend by some printers to demand cash upfront even before they printed. The newspapers were not even able to recover anything and the consumer ends up paying more which many Angolans cannot afford. A comparison of the costs of different independent newspapers and the government owned newspaper Jornal de Angola which is heavily subsidised will show how hard it is for the independent newspapers which do not get any form of subsidy : Jornal de Angola the government owned newspaper costs Kzr 100,000 and in the other towns outside of Luanda it costs Kzr 110,000. In contrast the following private/independent newspapers AGORA costs Kzr 600,000; Comercio Actualidade costs Kzr 500,000; Folha 8 costs Kzr 500,000 which comes to one US dollar at the current exchange rate.  This one dollar may seem cheap to
many outside of Angola but to the majority of the Angolans who live in
abject poverty (income 20 USD a month!) this is beyond their pocket. Even
those who can afford it often end up choosing between buying bread to eat
instead of reading a newspaper. As one editor said 'you cannot treat
newspapers like bread or rice where you can easily change the prices when
you want to and know that people will still buy them as they need to eat'.
Financial constraints Another problem which affects the growth of independent media is the fact that they are viewed as small projects in terms of capacity and infrastructure. This view affects the confidence of banks and other lending institutions who see these 'projects' as risky business and not worth investing in. This view has adversely affected the independent Angolan media who do not have the support of the mostly government owned lending institutions. Credit facilities are not easeliy available or accessible. Even if some one had money the country's strict foreign exchange rules make it almost impossible to get any foreign currency. An example is with Folha 8 which is an independent newspaper and the group that owns it is in the process of acquiring its own printing press. They have managed to get fifty percent of the equipment but the remaining fifty has been held up because the bank has not sold them the foreign currency they need to bring in the equipment from abroad. This has also resulted in their losing on the money they had invested, because they now have to pay an extra 30,000 USD due to the devaluation of the Angolan Kwanza. There is a genuine fear that the independent media in Angola could disappear because of the lack of a proper economic infrastructure in the country. The independent media are cut off from many support systems in commerce, industry and politics due their being looked upon as anti-government. For instance it is well known that a newspaper depends on the advertising it can get from the business community as well as government and the general public. However most of these newspapers do not get any advertising from the government who view them as opponents and therefore will not support them. There is still a lot of suspicion about the independent media as there is a perception that they are owned by people who are out to topple the ruling party and sow seeds of destruction. It seems there is still a denial on the part of government that people need to hear both sides of the story about the war and what is really happening in the country. Distribution 
Poor distribution systems also adversely affects the independent press.
This has resulted in most of the newspaper activities taking place mainly
in Luanda. The general feeling is that there is no freedom of expression
outside of Luanda. All the independent newspapers visited agreed that
access to the other provinces was difficult. Those that managed to get into
one or two other provinces had to face enormous losses they would
eventually make as by the time the newspaper reached the consumers the
paper cost twice or three times and very few people could buy the papers.
In some provinces they could not sell their papers because some Provincial
Governors just banned the papers from being sold there. Even the government
owned newspaper only managed to have 10% sales outside Luanda with 90%
mainly in Luanda. (25 % of Angola's population lives in Luanda).
Professional skills Another factor affecting the capacity of the independent media is the lack of professionally trained personnel. The newspapers visited all highlighted the problem of attracting and keeping professionally trained journalists. Angola does not have a media training centre and thus most of the journalist working are trained on the job. These journalists are poorly paid with the average salary for those who can afford to pay, pegged at 200 USD per month. Nearly all of them visited were cramped in small offices with reporters sharing computers. Some of the newspapers can not afford to buy new equipment as they have financial problems. This however should not mean that the Angolan independent media should just moan about their situation, they need to orgnanise themselves as well. There is a lot of goodwill out there which they should utilise. For instance instead of viewing each other as rivals, they need to network so as to form networks of business interests. There are media bodies which are in exisitence (even an official media-council, that has virtually been doing nothing over the last 5 years), perhaps they too should first put their houses in order and make themselves known so that journalists can rely on them for support. Indeed the market is small but once all these organisations see each other as allies, the cause of the independent press will be promoted and thus contribute to the democratisation of the country. They may come from the state owned or independent media but at the end of the day they have a duty to perform and that is to provide accurate information to the masses. There is a need to promote the independent media in Angola especially at this critical stage of the country's development. All the journalists and other individuals who were met all agreed that the independent media had a crucial role to play in Angola. An independent press is vital for the country's economic, social and political development. A few months ago the prospects for Angola looked good and there was a lot of optimism but now due to the renewed fighting in the country side most of the projects that had been undertaken to develop the country seem to have been suspended. Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are still concepts that must be fully explained to the people in Angola and the independent media can help with this education and informative role. The potential role which the independent media can and should play will continue to be undermined if there is no support from the region and the world. As one Angolan journalist told me, "tell the region that there is real independent media in Angola which needs support". |
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