Plans for a pan-African media observatory from the European Union and the African Union may be well-meaning, but they could threaten press freedom in the region warn the Global Forum for Media Development and the Africa Forum for Media Development today.

The GFMD says the European Union and the African Union should rethink a proposal for a continental body to oversee media across Africa, which is one proposal in a wide-ranging media policy strategy under consideration by African and European leaders.

“In its current form, the observatory could harm media freedom”, said GFMD Steering Committee member Jeanette Minnie from South Africa. “What is proposed is a pan-African statutory press council with government involvement. There is no legal ground for this initiative and it is unclear what media laws at national level it will refer to. This is a major worry given the legal restrictions already imposed on media in many countries. This proposal could be misused to limit media freedom, rather than to strengthen it.”

The observatory plan was one conclusion of an EU and AU meeting on Media and Development in Africa held in Ouagadougou last September.

The GFMD and AFMD have submitted a detailed response to the proposal criticising the authors for not taking account of existing African texts defining principles of media freedom such as 1991 Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press or the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa adopted in 2002 by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights.

“Most media organisations in Africa believe that the continent is well served by these existing instruments and principles”, said GFMD Steering Committee member Gabriel Baglo from Senegal. “The priority for the EU and AU must be to put into effect existing declarations by strengthening the African Court of Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights as well as enhancing the role of the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information.”

The GFMD and AFMD support the creation of a pan-African media research and information facility, also mentioned in the EU-AU policy strategy document. This could be useful to African media and African media researchers by providing data on media laws, highlighting short-comings in regulations, monitoring the economic situation of media including the advertising market, and providing lists of journalism schools and journalism training opportunities.

“We welcome the attention the EU and AU are giving to media in Africa”, said GFMD Director Bettina Peters. “We have given them some ideas for media development that we hope they will take up. Above all, they need to recognise the importance of media independence and freedom of information and give serious thought to the need for more support to existing media development initiatives.”

But it is the lack of clarity of the observatory’s role that has caused the GFMD and AFMD most concern.

“The current proposal is for a powerful body that would act as a de facto press council, would mediate disputes, and would, among other things, act as a central buying office for African media companies,” said GFMD Director Bettina Peters.

“It is too many conflicting roles which just cannot work in a politically-driven structure,” she said. “Substantial strategic work has already been carried out to develop African-wide strategies for media development. The EU and AU should recognise these initiatives and aim to support them.”

The GFMD was invited to submit its views and coordinated its response with the International Federation of Journalists, the African Media Initiative, Article 19 and the International Freedom of Expression eXchange.