Access to information
Countering the critics of African journalism
Mon, 02/08/2010 - 20:25 — Guy Berger
Kwame Karikari and Amadou Ba pool their wisdom
Champions for freedom of information in Africa often have to respond to claims that the media would abuse such a dispensation. Governments resist granting rights to information, citing “irresponsible” journalism that incites public violence. So the media is presented as being the roadblock to reform.
At a conference in Accra, convened by the Carter Centre, media leaders Karikari and Ba gave their counter-arguments:
Open(ing) Africa: Carter conference generates information about “Freedom of Information”:
Mon, 02/08/2010 - 20:13 — Guy Berger
Edetaen Ojo - info campaigner
In Nigeria, neither the constitution nor the law gives people a right to information. It could make you cry, but there’s also a whacky side to it.
Activists seeking change have spent a decade’s worth of struggle in a topsy-turvy political landscape that would be comical were it not also tragic. But after all their work, Nigerian officialdom remains opaque, and there is no short-term prospect of relief.
