Trying to understand the regional news menu

Sometime back one of my readers made a rather candid observation about my columns on the East African Community. According to him, I was always writing about Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda hardly ever giving space to Burundi or Tanzania. Although it has never been my intention to ignore events in any country in the region including Tanzania or Burundi, I must say the media landscape in the region is shaped in such a way that gives some countries more news space than others. It is just the way it is. Following news in Rwanda is not that difficult since I am based here most of the time. However the news also often takes a two way dimension of the country’s good stories and the negative ones by mainly people outside the country. The media is just a growing industry in this country with many news outlets barely profitable, something which has seen some going radical in order to catch some attention. Uganda is a sea of news with a vibrant media landscape made up of some real professional and profitable media organisations, while others are simply gutter press especially the tabloid papers like the one that produced a list of gay people. The political temperatures in Uganda also serve to ensure that Uganda stays in the press with every move by the executive, being analysed to see how it relates to the succession process of a country that has had the same leadership for 25 years. The current economic stress in the country has led to numerous protests that often turn violent. More so, the opposition also seems to have resorted to protests in order to keep a presence in the media. Another thing about Uganda is that the discovery of oil resources against the backdrop of legendary corruption levels, means that news editors have just enough on their desktops to stay in business. Kenya’s economic might is enough for it not to be ignored. Look around you and you will see either, KCB, Equity or Kenyan Airways. Kenya’s recent entry into the fight against Somalia’s Al Shabaab militia has led to a surge in news from that side especially since the Kenyan Defence Forces had been involved in any serious fighting for ages. The 2012 general elections that will see Pres. Kibaki replaced are so much news fodder especially, if you factor in that the last elections turned out in a way many had not anticipated. So this time many want to follow keenly to see if Kenyans can do better. The race to the presidency only got more interesting considering that some of the top contenders are also wanted by the ICC over the Post Election Violence of 2007/8. My views on Tanzania and Burundi could be based on a whole lot of ignorance that I am working hard to correct but I will share them all the same. Tanzania does not provide much news first of all because its political leaders are not such newsmakers. CCM’s continued hold on power has not translated in the emergence of a clear visible newsmaker in the size of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere. Save for the time when we are told about albinos being killed by witchdoctors and the time a witch doctors had long queues of people lining up for a magic portion, not much news from Tanzania makes it beyond their vast border. However many in the media seem to have an obsession with painting Tanzania as the stubborn anti-EAC country, without providing enough evidence that other countries are progressing as far the integration of EAC is concerned beyond parroting the pronouncements from EAC summits and leaders. These same pronouncements often turn out to have very little backing or effectiveness in real life. Now when it comes to Burundi, language is the first issue or excuse depending on how you look at it. However, that should not be such a big reason. On the other hand, I think the regional media in general has not given Burundi much of a chance thus further complicating an already complicated situation. For example, Nation Media group the largest media organisation in the region has done a lot to bring Rwanda on board, especially through its regional publication The East African. Apart from the times when an EAC summit is held in Bujumbura or when there is a security breach not much news comes from the city by the lakeside. However, I strongly intend to keep a wider eye on Burundi and Tanzania. Email: ssenyonga@gmail.com Blog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.comTwitter: @ssojo81