WINDHOEK – The media has been urged to avoid using “persuasive language in their work,” that might cause a scare and negatively impact on their audiences.
Professor Jairos Kangira, Head of Department in the Faculty of Humanities, Language and Literature Studies at the University of Namibia says words such as genocide, crime against humanity, massacre, terrorist and sexisms could create inaccurate impressions regarding the real issues. “There is a lot of fussiness with these terms. Who decides the degree to say it’s a massacre? How does the media shape perception and do they find ideals of genocide? The language may be used to create or maintain stereotypes,” noted the Unam academic.
Kangira was one of the guest speakers on Monday at a one-day communications seminar on ethics in development themed ‘The role of the media’ explained how the power of language is used in shaping issues represented in the media. He said the media often use words that capitalise on people’s needs and fears. “Most journalists just write because they joined the profession for money.” He cited a headline – “Rape reigns in Namibia,” and asked: “Does it mean rape is happening in every corner of Namibia?” He went on to say the media should think about what they are going to say and what impact their words are likely to have on those who are going to make use of their products. “When they use language or words in this way, they provide reasons for their audience to agree with them. In other words, media practitioners use persuasive language in their work,” Kangira maintained. Nonetheless, he urged media practitioners to use words wisely and language responsibly to avoid creating fear in people. New Era Publication Corporation (NEPC), Chief Executive Officer, Dr Audrin Mathe, was also a guest speaker on the topic of ethics versus sensationalism. Mathe pointed the latest ranking of Namibia by Reporters without Borders. The organisation has ranked Namibia on top of the African media freedom chart, making it the only African country to be ranked among the top 20 in the world. “But it is not the African countries we should be competing against. We must place ourselves with more bigger democracies in the West such as the United States, the United Kingdom. I say so because the United States for example has recorded more media violations than we have. And they are the model of democracy and the rule of law around the world,” Mathe said. He also highlighted the distinction between media and journalism, saying media is the institutional setting, while journalism is the practice. “If journalists did their jobs differently, would citizens do their jobs differently? The goal is to produce news that citizens need to be educated about issues and current events to make civic decisions, to engage in civic dialogue and action and generally to exercise their responsibilities in a developing and democratic state,” he said. Mathe further encouraged journalists to create news coverage that motivates people to think, and even to act and not simply to entice them into conjecture. He also agreed with Kangira that journalism is a calling and not a job. “Today you have everybody who had not intended to be a journalist working as a journalist.” He also expressed dismay over the fact that social media have taken centre stage, whereby people have a tendency to upload pictures of road carnage victims, especially on the Internet without regard to the sensitivities of those affected, describinbg it as “a sad reality.”
Meanwhile, Elma Dienda the Gender Coordinator at the Namibian Catholic Bishops Conference (NCBC), who made a presentation on the expectations of the church and society from the media said the media is to blame for sidelining events of congregations. “Most media houses are only interested in making a profit. Have you ever seen the media running to cover a speech from one of the pastors? They will ask you to send those pictures or a homemade video which they can broadcast or print when they don’t have enough material to cover stories. It might also be published at the end in small letters,” she charged. She urged worshippers to get out of their comfort zones saying they cannot remain “Sunday Christians only.”
Dienda called on churches to speak openly about injustices so that the media can cover such incidents. The workshop was organised by the Helsinki Deaconess Institute, a Finnish Christian foundation to discuss issues of ethics in development and how the media can participate in the effort.
By Albertina Nakale