Press Freedom in Commonwealth Countries

• Author: Derek Ingram
• Pages: 9-17

PRESS

FREEDOM

IN

BY

DEREK

INGRAM

new

chapter

in the

evolution

of the

Commonwealth

opened

with

the

adoption

of the

Harare

Declaration

by

heads

of

government

in

1991.

Before

that,

the

Commonwealth

had

accepted without ques-

tion

the

existence

of a

wide variety

of

administrations within

its

member-

ship.

The

majority were democratic,

but

some practised

a

limited version

of

democracy. Some ruled with

one

party,

and

some with

the

military.

One

or

two, such

as the

Idi

Amin

regime

in

Kampala, exercised extreme brutal-

ity and

total denial

of

human rights.

Yet

Uganda remained

a

full

member

of

the

Commonwealth.

In

many countries

the

press

suffered

greatly. Under colonial rule there

had

often

been

a

large measure

of

freedom

of

expression,

but

news

was

fre-

quently managed, press activity

was

considerably restricted,

and

from

time

to

time quite draconian restrictions were imposed.

After

independence, colonial decrees were

in

many cases carried over

and

some

of the new

governments used them

to

greater

effect

than

had

their imperial predecessors.

In a

number

of

countries, such

as

Kenya, Tan-

zania,

India, Pakistan,

and The

Gambia, such decrees remain

on the

statute

books

to

this day.

In

many parts

of the

Commonwealth, journalists showed

— as

they

still

do —

professional bravery

by

resisting these pressures.

But

often

in the

end, particularly

in

most parts

of

Africa,

journalists were worn down,

and

political reporters were

forced

into practising what

a

great Zimbabwean

journalist

of the

1980s,

the

late Willie Musururwa, used

to

call

scathingly

"speech journalism." Stories,

he

would say,

ran to a

formula like this:

COMMONWEALTH

COUNTRIES

A

9