Marie-Soleil Frère

Silencing the voice of the voiceless: the destruction of the independent broadcasting sector in Burundi

On 2 August 2015, General Adolphe Nshimirimana, right-hand man of Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, was killed by rocket fire in the streets of Bujumbura. A few hours later, Esdras Ndikumana, correspondent for RFI (Radio France Internationale) in Burundi, was reporting on the spot when he was arrested by members of the local intelligence service (SNR – Service National de Renseignement) and taken into custody where he was tortured for two hours. He was eventually released but, badly injured, he had to be evacuated for medical care to Nairobi (RFI 2015). This was the latest episode in a systematic strategy to erase any independent voice in Burundi, in the context of a closely disputed but uncompetitive electoral process. For years, relations in Burundi between the ruling party CNDD-FDD and the private media – especially the independent broadcasters Radio Bonesha, Radio Isanganiro, RPA (Radio Publique Africaine) and Radio Télévision Renaissance – have been difficult. After the former rebel movement transformed itself into a

Navigating the complexities of media roles in conflict: The INFOCORE approach:

The article draws on the first findings of the INFOCORE project to better understand the ways in which different types of media matter to the emergence, escalation or, conversely, the pacification and prevention of violence. The authors make the case for combining an interactionist approach of media influence, which is centred on the effects of evidential claims, frames and agendas made by various actors over time, with greater sensitivity for the factors that make conflict cases so different. They argue that the specific role played by the media depends, chiefly: (a) on the ways in which it transforms conflict actors’ claims, interpretations and prescriptions into media content; and (b) their ability to amplify these contents and endow them with reach, visibility and consonance. They found significant variation in media roles across six conflict cases and suggest that they are best explained four interlocking conditioning factors: (i) the degree to which the media landscape is diverse and free, or conversely, controlled and instrumentalized by conflict parties; (ii) societal attitudes to and uses of different media by audiences; (iii) different degrees of conflict intensity and dynamics between the conflict parties; (iv) the degree and nature of the involvement of regional and international actors. The article maintains that de-escalatory media influence will be most effective over the longer term, in settings of low intensity conflict and when tailored carefully to local conditions.

‘I wish I could be the journalist I was, but I currently cannot’: Experiencing the impossibility of journalism in Burundi:

In Burundi, a small landlocked post-conflict country in Central Africa, the independent broadcasting sector was severely undermined in May 2015, following a coup attempt against the regime of President Pierre Nkurunziza. More than 80 journalists, some of them accused of being accomplices to the putschists, were threatened and forced to leave the country. Their outlets were damaged and forbidden to operate. Shown as a model of ‘professionalism’, ‘independence’ and ‘pluralism’ until then, journalism in Burundi has subsequently faced huge challenges, both inside the country (where the space for free speech keeps shrinking despite a pluralist façade) and outside (where Burundian journalists in exile have established alternative media). This article identifies how the professional identity of the journalists has been affected by these two phenomena: the challenges of working from abroad as well as the growing control on free media faced by those still operating from within the country. Based on extensive interviews, the author shows the extent to which Burundian journalists have lost self-confidence and trust in their ability to perform their professional ethos and the role they believe they should play in society.

Press Freedom in the African Great Lakes Region: A Comparative Study of Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Based on the example of three francophone African countries—Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)—this chapter enquires about the relevant factors influencing journalistic freedom in (post-)conflict societies. Using 132 expert interviews conducted between July 2014 and January 2016, the study concludes that press freedom, although enshrined in media legislation and promoted through local professional and international media assistance organizations in the region (such as Search for Common Ground, Internews, or the Panos Institute), faces many constraints at every level in the three countries but also that spaces of freedom sometimes exist beyond expectations. Against the theoretical backdrop developed by Ibelema et al. (2000, 98–115), the results show that in times of crisis and conflict, in particular, politics is the dominant factor influencing press freedom, while in more stable periods, other factors, such as economic constraints, are equally important. Nevertheless, each factor includes a wide diversity of internal dynamics, to the extent that one can discern similarities and differences between countries but not numerically assess and rank their levels of press freedom.