Recently there was a debate on the future of Africa’s fragmented and weak aviation industry which cannot stand on its own feet. One of the solutions put forward was merging in order to compete with airlines from outside the continent who dominate the African skies. They will either have to keep up or close shop. The same goes for the media industry in Rwanda. Many came and went because the market cannot absorb them all. Records show that there are 181 accredited media outlets in Rwanda that include 14 TV stations, 33 radio stations, 34 print media, and 100 online media. According to Rwanda Media Commission, there are 1,025 accredited journalists, but, unfortunately, unlike other sectors in Rwanda, it is doing poorly in gender balance as there are only 244 female journalists accounting for 23.8 percent. So, how is the media fairing? Because of a small market compared to most regional countries, the advertisement base is equally small and cannot prop up the media industry, so many media houses have to moonlight in order to stay afloat. And as a recent seminar suggested, their only salvation is merging but that might not work. Most “media houses” are actually a one-man-show and have no offices. They all work from the press house where they have access to computers and free internet. It will be very interesting to see egos being tamed because some have made it a habit to survive by extortion. They will dig up dirt on a subject, threaten to expose them or there is another alternative of paying for it to be spiked. It is difficult to see someone giving up their gravy train. What the media fraternity needs to do is to lobby the government for tax incentives; otherwise, all their proposals are short-term solutions.
