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MISA press freedom award 2008
MISA
September 02, 2008
The Media Institute of
Southern Africa (MISA) would like to congratulate Professor Fackson
Banda of Rhodes University for winning this year's MISA Press Freedom
Award. A Zambian Professor of Journalism and Media Studies, Professor
Banda is one of the most outstanding academics of his time, having
carried out extensive research, written numerous reports, made presentations
on the media in Southern Africa specifically and Africa generally.
He has contributed immensely to knowledge on media sustainability,
media policy, and new media as well as the production of manpower
that is now serving various media organisations in southern Africa.
Under his leadership
as Regional Director of Panos Institute Southern Africa, he spearheaded
the development of the Zambia Community Media Forum (ZaCoMeF) and
facilitated the production of a book that looked at the use of Information
Communication Technology (ICTs) called "Into or Out of the
Digital Divide" that looked at the use of Internet within the
SADC region. His interest in the use of modern technology has enabled
him to write and publish on media related issues on the Internet
and some of the latest facilities on the Internet.
Between 2000 and 2001,
acting as Executive Director of the Panos Institute Southern Africa
and in his own right, Banda obtained an interdict from the High
Court of Zambia to stop the ZNBC from curtailing the televising
of paid-for presidential candidates debates. The ZNBC Director-General
at the time was to confirm the presence of political interference
in the corporation's decision. Despite obtaining a court order,
the corporation refused to broadcast the remaining live programme
scheduled for transmission on the eve of the 2001 local, parliamentary
and presidential elections. The State deployed the Zambian paramilitary
police to enforce this impunity, defying the rule of law. Even though
the programme was not broadcast, the very act of obtaining the interdict
was contributory towards asserting media freedom.
Prof Banda is not only
an academic but he has been and still is involved in various projects
at the grassroots level. From August 2004-2005, he was co-opted
into the Publicity Sub-committee of the Constitution Review Commission
appointed by the President of the Republic of Zambia in 2003. His
job was to provide advice to the commission on how best it could
publicize its work, including presenting a live television and radio
phone-in programme entitled Your Constitution. Through the programme
Banda managed to take constitutional issues to the people opening
up the whole constitutional review process to a greater and more
informed public critique, including raising questions about media
freedom and independence.
Between 1991 and 2005,
he conceptualised, produced and presented various radio and television
interview programmes, many of them broadcast on the ZNBC, became
some of the few examples of independent broadcast journalism in
the country, subjecting politicians and other public figures to
the kind of critical questions that epitomised engaged citizenship.
Since 2007, he has been
a weekly columnist on media issues on the column - Media Discourse
by The Post newspaper of Zambia, a cutting-edge analysis of issues
relating to media freedom, freedom of expression and media development
in Zambia.
In his insatiable interest
for media responsibility and ethics within the context of media
freedom among media houses, Banda became a founding Board member
of the Media Council of Zambia (MECOZ). He was secretary to the
Council between 2003 and 2005.
In view of his distinguished
career, Banda was in September 2006, awarded the prestigious UNESCO
Chair in Communication (media and democracy), the first such academic
honor to be given to a Rhodes University staff member. Since then,
he has also been sitting on the Editorial Board of the Canadian
Journal of Communication, Editorial Board of Ecquid Novi: African
Journalism Studies and Board of Directors of ORBICOM - the
network of UNESCO Chairs in Communication, among others.
In 2007, he was commissioned
by UNESCO to research and produce a training manual on civic education
for media professionals. The manual, soon to be published, will
be used in tertiary media educational institutions that are interested
in raising the skills profile of civic journalists. There is a strong
element of media freedom as a human right in the document.
Between 2006 -
2008, he led efforts under the auspices of the BBC World Service
Trust and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
to developing a comprehensive African media development framework.
This work has resulted in a coherent and comprehensive framework
within which to argue for African media development. It has also
become a recognized framework by many journalists, largely through
his appearances and presentations at high-profile gatherings, including
the May 3 2008 celebrations in Maputo, Mozambique, where he formally
tabled the framework for media development. Encapsulated in this
framework is a strong component on media freedom and independence.
In 2008, he was inducted
into Honorary Membership of the Golden Key International Honour
Society at Rhodes University, South Africa in recognition of excellence
in teaching and other contributions to media. Other notable Honorary
Members of this student-led society, whose membership is drawn from
the top 15% high-achieving students, include such distinguished
figures as Roberta Bondar, Canada's First Female Astronaut; Bill
Cosby, world-renowned Entertainer; the Most Reverend Desmond M.
Tutu, Anglican Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town; and the late Ronald
W. Reagan, Former US President.
Prof Banda has written
several books including the Newspapers and magazines in Zambia:
A question of sustainability. Lusaka: MISA-Zambia (2005), Elections
and the press in Zambia: the case of the 1996 polls. Lusaka: Zambia
Independent Media Association (1997).
*This award
presented at a gala dinner held at Centurion Lake Hotel in Pretoria,
South Africa on 1 September 2008 is brought to you in conjunction
with the Southern Africa Trust.
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