By Supreetha Gubbala
The past week has unraveled a horror story for all those involved in high stakes media and one of the richest men in the world. Rupert Murdoch’s British media giant News Corporation took a tumultuous fall amid rising accusations of
The News of the World’s involvement in hacking of 13 year-old girl’s cell phone who was murdered earlier this year and the father of a victim of the London train bombings in July of 2005.
The hot scandal although providing ample stories for top media sources worldwide, will also hugely impact the media worldwide, including Rwanda.
The New’s of the World is Londons most widely read Sunday tabloid, and has long been involved in minor scandals involving hacking. Former Editor Andy Couslon resigned in 2007 over a phone-hacking scandal of the royal family, which eventually resulted in the jailing of the royal editor. However, currently the New’s Corp is facing is biggest scandal yet.
It was uncovered recently that The New’s of the World reporters and editors had long been involved in hacking of cellphones in order to gain tips and information. Bribes were also given to mid-level police officers to provide more information on crimes and tips for stories. Just recently, it was accusations arose against News of the World for hacking a 13 year-old girl’s phone who was founded to be kidnapped and later murdered by a London night club doorman in 2002.
When Milly Dowler’s parents detected her missing, they had repeatedly left voicemails, in great concern of her not returning home from school. Allegedly News of the World hackers had deleted some of these messages in order access newer ones, therefore giving false hope to investigations, and her parents, that Molly remained alive.
After accusations of this hacking incident were made, further connections to hacking of victims families in the London train bombing also surfaced. Later investigation narrowing down the hacking to a father of a bombing victim.
The Murdoch’s have been thrown into the spotlight internationally, especially due to their recent bid to purchase Britain’s largest broadcasting network, British Sky Broadcasting, or BSkyB. News Corp already own 39.1% of the companies shares and has recently made a deal to broker the largest deal in Murdoch’s history of 14 Bil. to own it entirely. The entire corporation however, will now be under investigation and the big for BSkyB thrown into question with a possible vetoe in the near future.
In a public statement made Wednesday, Rupert Murdoch took his stance on the matter saying, “Recent allegations of phone hacking and making payments to police with respect to the ‘News of the World’ are deplorable and unacceptable. We are committed to addressing these issues fully and have taken a number of important steps to prevent them from happening again.”
Moreover, Britain’s new Prime Minister Cameron has also been throw into question, causing the entire scandal to hit even the upper echelons of British politics. Cameron hired Andy Coulson in 2007 as his spokesman despite his former involvement in the royal family hacking case and kept a close relationship with the most recent chief executive, Rebekah Brooks. Coulson resigned in January due to accusations of his possible involvement in the current scandal and a call for his arrest.
“Very bad things had happened at the News of the World, he had resigned, I gave him a second chance, he had proved himself as an effective person in opposition and it was acceptable for him to come into Downing Street,” Cameron told the press Friday when questioned about his judgment.
The atrocious abuse of freedom of press signified a dark day in the world of the press and the official closing of the 168 year-old newspaper on Friday. The Times published a 10-page editorial entitled, “ Hacked to Death” announcing the official closing of the tabloid and summarizing the papers path to its own downfall.
However, more than the loss of over 600 jobs and resignation of current Prime Minister’s spokesman Andy Coulson, the scandal a major step backwards for those who have defended freedom of press.
As Times editorial concluded, “A handful of people have trampled upon others in grief and despair. They have shamed themselves, destroyed a newspaper and damaged trust in the free press. It will be a long time before that trust is regained.”
Rwanda has a hit its era of fighting for its freedom of press, and the shuttering of News of the World has displayed clear support for conservative press rights. Moreover the quick closure of the company, proved to be economically efficient for the Murdoch’s as they bid to a move to television, also signifying a new push for televised journalism.
We need ot do a lot of dialogue and media reuglartion in this country.as we come up with new laws to govern media, we make them in order to make responsibility.
Unfortunately, as Rwanda enters its novel press era, this scandal could put the government and all those working within media here to take a giant step backwards. It is time for the press here to also ponder how much freedom is too much freedom, along with their fight for access and rights.
Patrice Mulama, the Executive Secretary of the Rwanda Media High Council, told Igihe, “For our part of the world, I think this something that is very important. We have discussed with colleagues and have noted that what is happening in the UK is a serious challenge to media, and to us as well.”
“In the first place, in a country like Rwanda that is under going media reforms, this represents major media self-regression. So it presents a very interesting challenge. We need to do more in terms of discussion, critical thinking as a country, given he level the media is and where we want to go,” he revealed to Igihe.com
The lessons learned from this scandal should also ensure that Rwanda Bureau of Information and Broadcasting are taking adequate measure to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future of Rwanda’s advancing media.
When questioned about what the Media Council is doing to ensure this does not occur in Rwanda, Mulama told Igihe.com, “ What happened in the UK put in question, very seriously, the role of a self-regulatory organization in ensuring media responsiblities.”
“You see one of the questions being asked today in the UK is the role of the Press Complaint Commission (PCC). Since the commission was established and managed by the media itself, there is a conflict of interest because they don’t want to criticize their colleagues. It was under their watch that the invasion of privacy occurred,” he explained to Igihe.com.
Ultimately, Mulama believes the question for Rwanda remains, “Do we want to emulate the UK model of self-regulation or pursue a different model?
Lastly, it seemed that those who may have been involved in the scandal did so out of pressure to obtain “hot” stories. As competition arises between the media moguls of Rwanda, it is vital to keep in mind what exactly we are training journalists to see as important. Their ethics or a good story?
For many in the profession, it’s a task that is often dealt with daily. From the use of off-the-record quotes to source anonymity to invasion of citizen privacy, ethics are at the core of good journalism. With the large number of young people entering media in Rwanda today, training in ethics may easily be lost in the growing competition.
Some say Britain may never be able to regain the level of trust its citizens had in the media, lets make sure Rwanda never loses theirs.
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