Media&Makers: Juba

MEDIA&MAKERS:JUBA 2012OPEN KNOWLEDGE& SUSTAINABLE MEDIA FORUM

documentation

Editor: Julian KücklichManaging editor: Philipp HochleichterCopyeditor: Cathrin SchaerFact-checking: Roman Deckert, Nik Lehnert Design and layout: Gunnar Bauer Illustrations: Julian KücklichPhoto: Anke Fiedler

The Media & Makers: Juba 2012 Open Knowledge and Sustainable Media Forum was organized by MICT - Media in Cooperation and Transition and r0g_media with fi nancial support from the German Federal Foreign Offi ce and UNESCO (Juba offi ce), in collabora-tion with UNICEF. Offi cial Partners: Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Republic of South Sudan, and Association for Media Development in South Sudan.

Contact:MICT - Media in Cooperation and TransitionBrunnenstraße 9, 10119 Berlin, Germany+49 30 484 93 [email protected]

This work and all the materials it contains are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

dear reader,

MICT has been active in what was then Northern and Southern Sudan since 2008. Our work there began with the collaborative production of an interactive online tool for voter education, the Electionnaire. The following year MICT and its local partners initiated a continuous program for training young journalists from both parts of the country. This was done with support from the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. This project, Sudan Votes, brought together more than 50 media practitioners as well as musicians to bridge political, cultural and linguistic barriers. After the peaceful secession of South Sudan on 9th July 2011, the project changed its name to The Niles, an homage to the Nile rivers, an essential link between the two countries, Sudan and South Sudan.It is obvious that professional journalism training is still necessary here in order to decrease stereotypical and biased reporting. But over the years that MICT has been operating here, it has also become clear that the economic conditions, in which Sudanese and South Sudanese journalists work, are equally important. In both countries, publishing houses and their employees are hampered not just by political pressure but also by financial constraints. On the one hand, they are dealing with economic crises that have plagued the two countries after separa-tion. On the other, they must cope with the same structural issues that are challenging traditional media all over the world right now. This is particularly pertinent in the fledgling state of South Sudan where, daily, newspapers as well as radio and TV stations have to overcome a series of obstacles just to publish or broad-cast. At the same time their conventional revenue streams are being threatened by the digital revolution.This is why MICT and r0g_media teamed up with UNICEF South Sudan, the South Sudanese Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (AMDISS) to organize MEDIA & MAKERS: JUBA 2012. The conference, held in Mid-December, was funded by the Federal Foreign Office of Germany and UNESCO South Sudan. It consisted of two streams. One focussed on media and sustainability, the other on open data and open knowledge models. Rather than just holding lectures, the event saw working groups come together to discuss both themes. Three days of debate and discussion were attended by around 70 people from all over South Sudan, including senior editors and young journalists, representatives from civil society organisa-tions as well as government officials and members of parliament, diplomats and experts.This paper documents the theme of media and sustainability. The following six chapters summarize the lively discussions between international guests – mostly Africans who presented innovative solutions from Africa, for Africa – and the local participants. The results of those discussions may contribute to creating a more sustainable media sector in the newest nation of the world. Truly independent media may be a long way off in South Sudan, but a more diverse multi-dependency seems an achievable goal in the foreseeable future. After all, nascent South Sudan still has the chance to avoid the mistakes that have damaged the plurality of expression in more developed countries. The attend-ees demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to overcoming those challenges.MICT would like to express particular thanks to South Sudan’s Deputy Minister of Information, the truly Honorable Atem Yak Atem. By emphasizing the positive role that media can play in the pursuit of peace, he reinforced hopes for a better understanding between the two neighbouring countries, Sudan and South Sudan.MEDIA & MAKERS: JUBA 2012 has not been a one-off. It is to be followed up by MEDIA & MAKERS: KHARTOUM 2013 in May. Indeed, one of the most rewarding experiences of the Juba event was to be able to witness Sudanese journalists being very welcomed by their South Sudanese counterparts - regardless of the tensions between the two governments.

Roman DeckertSudan and South Sudan desk, MICT

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he world’s youngest country turned one on July 9, 2012, and although the celebrations were clouded by the ongoing spat with Khartoum over oil, pipelines and territories, one does not need to look far to find evidence of South Sudan’s resurgent national pride and self-confi-dence. The numerous posters and banners that are hung across the streets of South Sudan’s capital, Juba, convey the spirit of state and nation building with catchy slogans. “Thank you, people of South Sudan, for choosing freedom.” “Congratulations SPLM for the first anniversary of independence.” “Thank you for peace, security, stability.” It is no secret, however, that attaining independence was not the panacea some expected it to be. It’s clear that many issues remain unresolved – and that long list starts with infrastructure, national security, legislation and a functioning medical and educational system. South Sudan’s media doesn’t remain unaffected either. On the contrary. But before assessing it any further, it’s important to remember that this is a work in progress, as is the building of this new nation-state. Al-though some media in the south in pre-secession Sudan have a strong history – and in particular, a couple of radio stations there – in many areas the country has had to start from scratch.

“The WeSTeRn WoRlD neeDS To be MoRe paTIenT WITh uS.”

As Atem Yaak Atem, South Sudan’s Deputy Minister for Information and Broadcasting and founder of The Pioneer newspaper, put it at the Media & Makers: Juba conference in December 2012, “the Western world needs to be more patient with us”.When it comes to the reform of media legislation that has been being discussed since 2006, pressure on the South Sudanese government is increasing and it’s coming from the international community as well as from South Sudanese advocacy groups. One of the key local players that has been tracking the drafting of this law from the beginning is the Association for Media Development in South Sudan (or AMDISS), founded in 2003 by editors and owners of leading South Sudanese media outlets. In March 2012, three bills for media legislation were introduced to the Cabinet, then submitted to the National Legislative Assembly. But they are still awaiting final approval and enactment. These laws are the Right to Access to Information Bill (no. 54), the Broadcasting Corporation Bill (no. 53) which plans to transform the state-run South

Sudan Radio and South Sudan Television into national public service broadcasters and the Media Authority Bill (no. 52) which aims to establish an independent regulatory body for media. And media professionals in South Sudan are accusing the govern-ment of deliberately withholding approval of these laws. The existing legal vacuum makes it impossible for journalists and publishers to invoke their rights to freedom of expression and media freedoms, they say, as well as to access official information.

“We aRe jouRnalISTS, We Don’T feaR anyThIng. IT’S The polITICIanS ThaT feaR uS.”

This lack of trust is especially apparent in the media’s relationship with local security forces. In recent months, most of the media outlets in South Sudan have been threatened with censorship, repression or detention and generally harassed. The date of December 5, 2012, marked a low point in this young country’s history: this was the day that unidentified gunmen shot dead the writer and journalist, Isaiah Ding Abraham Chan Awuol, who was well known for his critical online columns. Even though this brutal murder is definitely not representative of most of the threats and obstacles faced by South Sudanese journalists, it cer-tainly made an impact. Yet the will to continue remains strong. “We are journalists, we don’t fear anything. It is the politicians that fear us,” Wadalla Peter, the head of community radio station, Maridi FM, says. The station was closed for a short time by authorities in Western Equatoria because of criticism of the government. However it is also worthwhile pointing out that the problem does not lie only with politicians. “Our major problem is that journalists lack professionalism,” the Deputy Minister for Information and Broadcast-ing has said. “Often they hold the government accountable for things without checking the facts and without objective information.”The poor quality of journalism education in South Sudan remains a problem. A lot of media professionals, especially among the young-er generation, have never had any training beyond the occasional workshop offered by non-governmental institutions or other institu-tions. The College of Mass Communication at Juba University cannot maintain international standards. And those journalists who did get the chance to study usually gained their qualification from somewhere

the media landscape in South Sudan todayAnke Fiedler

T

5the media landscape in South Sudan today

outside South Sudan, from the University of Khartoum or the Omdur-man Islamic University, for example – or from universities elsewhere in Africa or in the west. AMDISS is a strong advocate for quality journalism in the country and has been looking for funding with which to establish a training centre. The fact that they’re seeking these funds indicates just how much South Sudanese media institutions are dependent on interna-tional funding. For example, The New Nation newspaper is completely funded by the Belgian government. The radio station, Miraya FM, was created and is sustained by the United Nations and the Swiss-based media organi-zation, Fondation Hirondelle. These media outlets also compete with independent newspapers and radio stations for advertising and sales on the local media market.Due to the high rate of illiteracy in South Sudan - an estimated 70 to 80 percent cannot read - news is often disseminated by community leaders in rural areas. Increasingly mobile phones also provide infor-mation. Of mass media, radio is the most popular and simultaneously the cheapest source of information in South Sudan. At the moment, around 30 FM stations are spread across the country, often supported by evan-gelical churches. In order to reflect the new nation’s ethnic pluralism, many programmes are broadcast in local languages like Dinka, Nuer, Didinga or Bari as well as English and the local Arabic. Miraya FM offers the widest national coverage. The state-run South Sudan Radio and the Catholic Radio Network operate via a network of nine local radio stations each and cover the most populated areas of the country, such as Juba, Malakal and Wau. On the occasion of the first an-niversary of independence, the Sudan Radio Service changed its name to Eye Radio. The station is funded by USAID and broadcasts from the capital but plans to expand its services to the other nine states in South Sudan. Additionally international radio broadcasts, like the BBC World Service English, the Voice of America and Radio Omdurman, are also widely heard. There are also a number of more local, community-based radio stations such as Maridi FM in Western Equatoria, Grace FM in Central Equatoria and Radio Jonglei; although generally these stations are not heard much beyond the range of their transmitters. Newspapers are less common in South Sudan. The majority of the printed press is in Juba and is read mainly by South Sudanese politicians, opinion leaders and intellectuals. Hardcopies are sold by mobile vendors; there are no kiosks or shops. The price of a newspaper varies between one and three South Sudanese pounds and the circulation figures oscillate between around 1,000 and 7,000 copies per edition. One of the best known newspapers is the daily, The Citizen, the only paper in South Sudan that owns its own printing press outside of

government owned presses. This is a major asset, especially considering that other newspapers either have to print in Khartoum - as the bi-weekly Juba Post does- or in Nairobi, Kenya or Kampala, Uganda; the bi-weekly Sudan Mirror and the weekly Southern Eye do this. It is also difficult to know exactly how many titles are currently available on the newspaper market. In late 2012, at least a dozen newspapers were sold on the street. This included The Christian Times, The Juba Monitor (known as Khartoum Monitor pre-secession) and Al Maseer, the first Arabic language newspaper in the country. Apart from that, three glossy magazines are available in some local supermarkets: She magazine with a female focus, the lifestyle publication Yam Life and Gurtong Focus, which concentrates on political issues.

“JournalisTs ofTen holD The goveRnMenT aCCounTable foR ThIngS WIThouT CheCkIng The faCTS.”

As for online news, although some media outlets update their web-sites with news – for example, Radio Miraya and The Citizen - internet penetration is still very low in South Sudan. This is due to high in-stallation costs, low transfer rates and, once more, illiteracy. Frequent power outages are also a problem. The power outages also impact television broadcasts which means that these are also in a fairly early stage of development. If South Su-danese want local TV, they have the following options. The state-run South Sudan Television, which, according to programme director You-sif Michael Dafalla, is still very poorly developed. Or they can switch to Citizen Television, the country’s first private TV station, which started broadcasting in November 2012. All of this indicates that South Sudan’s media landscape is still in motion. “Radio is a very traditional medium in South Sudan. But in the long term, we need television, the internet and other modern means of communi-cation,” states Nhial Bol, editor-in-chief of The Citizen and the director of Citizen Television. Bol is convinced that these new forms of media are on the rise in South Sudan. However, whether the politicians running the world’s youngest country keep their word and turn South Sudan into a beacon of democracy in the region, complete with a free and professional press, still remains to be seen.

“in The long TeRM, We neeD TelevISIon, InTeRneT anD oTheR MoDeRn MeanS of CoMMunICaTIon.”

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1. the media sector in South Sudan

1.1 infrastructure

“We have very great hopes for the media in South Sudan, because we believe that the media are the fourth estate. Accountability of the government to the public can only be achieved through the media.” This is how Joy Kwaje, an MP for the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Chairwoman of the Information and Culture Committee in the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of South Sudan, characterized expectations for the budding media sector in South Sudan. Kwaje was speaking as part of an interview conducted during the Media & Makers: Juba conference late in 2012. However, the South Sudanese media still have to overcome many obstacles before they can fulfil these expectations. Widespread illiteracy, lack of a skilled workforce and lack of resources, an inadequate energy and transport infrastructure and one of the world’s weakest economies are just some of the challenges media outlets in South Sudan face currently. So it’s hardly surprising that economic sustainability is of paramount interest to the executives helming the country’s newspapers, magazines and radio and televi-sion stations. As Alfred Taban, editor-in-chief of The Juba Monitor put it: “In Khar-toum, our main problem was government interference but in Juba there are no printing presses”. The fact that most South Sudanese newspapers, apart from The Cit-izen, are printed in Khartoum in Sudan, Kenya or Uganda and then brought to Juba by air or road speaks volumes about the malaise of the South Sudanese print sector. And the situation is made worse by the lack of coordination between newspapers in Juba, which leaves The Citizen’s own printing press underutilized. For radio stations it’s far easier to reach an audience, especially as many of South Sudan’s radio stations broadcast in local languages such as Dinka, Nuer, Bari, and Acholi in addition to English and Juba Arabic. Nonetheless operating the stations is costly and attracting advertisers is difficult, especially in rural areas. Successful stations are usually supported by international donor organizations. For example Radio Miraya, the radio station with the greatest reach and largest number of listeners, is operated by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan in partnership with the Swiss Fondation Hirondelle. Meanwhile Radio Miraya’s competitor, Eye Radio, is supported by USAID.The unintended side effect of this support is that home grown stations face stiff competition from the donor-supported ones and find it even harder to establish themselves in the market. In the case of Radio Miraya this is exacerbated by the fact that the station occupies broad swathes of the FM spectrum, while other frequencies have been licensed for broadcast but are not actually being used.

1.2. sources of income

Dependence on a single source of finance - often international donor money - is not limited to radio. The New Nation, a newspaper founded in 2011, is financed by the Belgian government. Printed in full colour and boasting a professional website, The New Nation raises the bar for other print publications in South Sudan. Few newspapers and magazines can survive on advertising revenue and sales alone. And even if they do, they’re often reliant on a small number of institutional advertisers, such as United Nations’ agencies, government agencies or NGOs. Media executives are keenly aware of this problem but often lack the means to diversify their sources of income. This diversification would enable them to manage the transition to a business model with multiple revenue streams, rather than the current model where they are dependent on a single source of revenue. The latter also severely limits media outlets’ ability to tap into new markets and broaden their product portfolio.

”in khaRTouM, ouR MaIn pRobleM WaS goveRnMenT InTeRfeRenCe – In juba TheRe aRe no pRInTIng pReSSeS.”

At Juba’s Media & Makers conference, different financing models and their inherent advantages and disadvantages were discussed at length by participants. These included, among others, representatives of the newspapers The Citizen, Juba Monitor and Southern Eye, the women’s magazine She, radio stations Jonglei Radio and Eye Radio and the television station, Citizen TV. They explained that grants gave them “peace of mind” because of the steady cash flow. However they also said that grants were not sustainable in the long term and, in fact, that they were detrimental to creativity. One participant compared the relationship between donor and recipient to “a father who spoils his son”. Several participants mentioned that their media outlets also received irregular cash injections from private investors to keep them afloat. However this could hardly be regarded as a sustainable business model, if one considers that in most cases the return to investors will be marginal at best. Newspapers face the additional problem that the marketplace in which they operate is severely limited and that higher circulation does not necessarily equal higher profits; this is because the cover price does not contribute significantly to a newspa-per’s income.

media financing and economic sustainability in South Sudan

Thomas Koch and Julian Kücklich

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In regard to advertising revenue, the participants mentioned dis advantages such as their audiences’ lack of awareness in regard to advertising, ethical constraints and concerns about corporate influ ence on their editorial content. Brigitte Sins of She magazine added that companies in South Sudan were often unaware of the benefits of advertising. Participants believed that advertising could lead to eco-nomic stability and a long-term increase in quality, provided that the market kept growing, became more completive and provided potential advertisers. Eric Wakabi of The Southern Eye added that, “because many businesses are setting up, they need to advertise - and this is a good young market”.

1.3. case study: The hero

The Hero, a newspaper started in 2011 by a group of young journalists with the assistance of a private investor, provides an informative case study. Bongiri Peter Ladu, one of The Hero’s co-founders, outlined the brief history of the newspaper in an interview, stressing that the lack of trained journalists was a problem initially but that they were able to tackle it by training their own staff. “The Hero was a newspaper that everybody liked,” he said. “The name alone gave you courage, it was beautifully designed and the content was very good.”

“We WanT To pRoMoTe DeMo- CRaCy, equalITy, anD juSTICe. buT Who SuppoRTS uS?”

Ladu also felt that in the lead-up to independence, the climate became more favourable for media: “In 2010 when elections were held, both governments realized the importance of the media. They started chang-ing their attitudes toward the media and started to release [more] infor-mation.” However, he believed censorship, whether direct or indirect, still posed a problem. “The conflict led to suspicion between the two nations and both governments began to censor information. But as this conflict is being resolved, things will get better,” Ladu concludes. It was the paper’s unsustainable economic situation that eventually led to its demise. Because the newspaper was financed by a private investor, it was not easy to keep going. After secession, Ladu explained that The Hero was no longer able to be printed in Khartoum. But switching to a printing company in Kampala had raised costs so much, that they’d had to close down. “We want to promote democracy, equality, and justice,” a clearly frustrated Ladu said. “But who supports us?”


“Many RaDIo STaTIonS anD neWSpapeRS Don’T knoW Why TheIR lISTeneRS oR ReaDeRS pRefeR TheM oveR oTheRS. you neeD InfoRMaTIon To Make DeCISIonS.”

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2. economic sustainability

2.1. supplementary sources of income

One way out of the dilemma of dependency would include diversi-fying media outlets’ sources of income. This could be achieved by acquiring new advertisers by offering special rates and new adver-tising formats. These could include advertorials and other paid-for content such as company portraits. Obviously this is a sensitive matter as readers and listeners must be able to distinguish between editorial content and advertising. However, provided the boundary between the two is not blurred, it might provide some cash-flow without damaging credibility. Community journalism also has the opportunity to tap into new ad-vertising markets by attracting small businesses. This allows smaller publications to service the niche markets that larger media outlets do not. By cooperating and sharing resources local media outlets can thrive and diversify the media “ecosystem”, increasing its overall stability. Equally promising is the possibility to branch out into other commer-cial ventures, such as sales and services. Newspapers in Europe – for example, Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Guardian in the UK - now routinely offer products such as CDs, DVDs and books, as well as services such as dating agencies and ticket sales for cultural events. They also organize lectures and dinners, capitalizing on net-works created by their staff. It is unclear to what extent these models could be emulated in South Sudan but the high level of interest in the Introduction to Media Marketing segment at the Juba conference seems to indicate that this may well be a viable option. This does requires media outlets to position themselves clearly with regard to target groups and advertisers. They would need to generate unique selling propositions and highlight the advantages for audi-ences as well as for advertisers and agencies. Currently, the South Sudanese media sector lacks a coherent structure and there are signif-icant barriers to entry for international advertisers. This is also due to the fact that there is hardly any market research on different media’s audiences in South Sudan.

2.2. audience research

Peter Biar Ajak, Deputy Country Director for the International Growth Centre in South Sudan, characterizes the status quo regarding audi-ence research in South Sudan succinctly. “Many radio stations and newspapers are dependent largely, or even completely, on advertise-ment but they don’t know why advertisers choose them rather than their competitors. They have not asked those kinds of questions. At the same time, they don’t know why their listeners or readers prefer their newspaper or radio station over others. You need information to make decisions.”

Considering that the entry of international advertisers into the South Sudanese market is just a matter of time, it is crucial for the country’s media to prepare for this eventuality by conducting audience research and then positioning themselves in the market accordingly. Media should also publish realistic and transparent data about circulation and readership as those figures can be used as the basis for advertis-ing rates.

“accounTabiliTy of The goveRnMenT To The publIC Can only be aChIeveD ThRough The MeDIa.”

Among media executives in South Sudan, there is insufficient knowledge about the role of media planning, the importance of audience research, research methods and data analysis. While many different organizations provide training for journalists in South Sudan, albeit often in a superficial and intermittent fashion, hardly anyone offers training in media marketing, business development or market research. However there is no doubt that these are the skills media executives re-quire to create and maintain financially sustainable media outlets in an increasingly competitive market where they encounter not just domes-tic competitors but, increasingly, international ones as well. While they face the same problems as media outlets in Europe and North America, where newspaper circulation figures are steadily declining, they do not have to repeat the mistakes that have been made elsewhere. For exam-ple, giving content away for free may not be a good idea, considering that very few international newspapers have managed to recover lost sales revenue through online advertising. If South Sudan’s media exec-utives are provided with the required skills and knowledge, the future of the country’s media sector may not be as bleak as the current economic climate suggests.


“businesses neeD To aDveRTISe, anD ThIS IS a gooD young MaRkeT.”

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1. working conditions for journalists

As media houses around the world struggle to make their balance sheets add up, the media sector in South Sudan and Sudan is no exception. But as well as living on the breadline, journalists attending the Media & Makers: Juba conference outlined a further unwieldy set of daily obstacles. Most of the group of 30 reporters, which included print, radio and TV specialists, combine their journalistic work with other work, public relations, study, sales or even working as drivers or guards. Journalists from right around South Sudan said they were often limited in topics they could cover: subjects like the security forces, key politicians and corruption cases were generally viewed as out of bounds. Sudanese reporters faced similar constraints.Writing balanced news reports was also difficult given many South Sudanese journalists’ piecemeal education during the decades of war that rocked Sudan. To this day professional training is scarce.Government scepticism hampered journalists in several ways. Free-lance journalists were unable to cover official events because press cards from one of the media houses were required. Staff reporters, meanwhile, have to weigh up the consequences of what, and how, they report. Would-be citizen reporters are also unable to take photographs freely, given widespread fears about northern spies.Official information is scarce in South Sudan; national statistics are either unavailable or hard to obtain. As discussed during the confer-ence, alternative information often comes the press departments of non-governmental organisations, or, failing that, by quoting statistics from other media reports. In a bid to avoid problems with the security forces, journalists wrote under pseudonyms or hid behind a general staff by-line. In light of this, it is hardly surprising that in 2012/13 South Sudan dropped from rank 111 to 124 in the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index – one of the biggest falls internationally. This was put into stark perspective by the murder of online columnist, Isaiah Ding Abraham Chan Awuol. His murder was viewed by many as an attempt to silence a powerful, critical voice.

the challenges facing South Sudanese and Sudanese journalistsJess Smee

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2. from reporters to entrepreneurs

Against this backdrop of specific local issues, prizewinning journal-ist and novelist, Tolu Ogunlesi, spoke to the group on the subject of “technologies, tools and business models”. He outlined the broad international trends affecting journalists and suggested how working practices could evolve to fit the faster-moving, more globalised world of online journalism and social media reporting.“Journalism is a profession in flux,” Ogunlesi said. “We need to ensure we have the right tools.”This worldwide transition is evident on the newsstand, with publi-cations increasingly focusing on their online publications and even scrapping print altogether, as the US magazine Newsweek did in late 2012.Economic pressures are a daily reality for journalists in South Sudan, where the economy has been on a downhill slide since all-import-ant oil income was halted in January 2012. Newspapers struggle to find revenue sources and sometimes cannot afford to go to press for extended periods. Journalists meanwhile can go without payment for months on end - hence the need for alternative incomes.Another big problem is the limited circulation of newspapers. The best-selling publication, The Citizen, has a daily circulation of not more than 7,000 copies across Juba and a few other states. This token readership is linked to economic malaise and the nation’s high illitera-cy rates; these are some of the worst on the planet with just one in four people estimated to be able to read. Future models discussed at the conference included giving away free copies of papers in order to attract more advertising. Meanwhile, a focus on radio makes sense so that media outlets can reach out to more people, regardless of liter-acy, in their local language. For freelancers struggling to earn a living, Ogunlesi suggested work-ing as a small business. Successful journalists need to brand them-selves and boost their networks. Competition is rife but a reporter can best develop a unique niche by having a specialist subject, known as a beat. Correspondents with in-depth knowledge on, for example, the oil business or climate change in South Sudan would have a unique sell-ing point. Such reporting would also help develop a less stereotyped portrayal of South Sudan in the international arena.

the challenges facing South Sudanese and Sudanese journalists

“JournalisM IS a pRofeSSIon In flux. We neeD To enSuRe We have The RIghT ToolS.”

3. looking elsewhere for inspiration

South Sudanese journalists also need to track the broader African media landscape. Following the news flow from neighbouring countries and international sources enables reporters to keep up-to-date with media developments and style, as well as giving them the perspective to identify pan-African trends and new markets for their freelance copy.This international comparison is also invaluable to readers of The Niles website, who, according to Google analytics, are spread over 180 countries. The IP addresses show that The Niles readers include United Nations agencies, universities including Ivy League, Oxbridge and others across the globe. It also spans government agencies, espe-cially in the US, UK and Norway and think tanks, including Chatham House.Although the internet has challenged traditional media funding models, it also offers journalists access to new networks and sources of support. With the click of a mouse, journalists can access details of fellowships, journalism data and other helpful tools. Two of The Niles correspondents have also had abuses publicised by international media advocacy networks including Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.As the traditional practice of journalism transforms, the Juba confer-ence highlighted the need for full disclosure – that is, a journalist with experience consulting for pharmaceutical companies needs to alert his or her editor to this and declare this interest at the bottom of any news report on the industry. There are many ethically grey areas but honesty and full disclosure serve to inform readership and the editor of the reporter’s background and previous work.Specifically in South Sudan, the development of media laws and the further development of the journalists’ union are both key tools to protect journalists. The official union is a relatively recent develop-ment. The Union of Journalists of South Sudan dates from 2008. Pos-itive steps like this need to be reinforced in the future if journalists are to be able to report freely on the development of their young nation.

South Sudaneseprint publications

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1. the digital media landscape

So far the internet revolution has largely passed South Sudan by. Ac-cording to a survey conducted by Fondation Hirondelle in 2007, only 7 percent of respondents used the internet. While this figure is likely to have risen in the meantime, coverage still remains low and high il-literacy rates are an additional obstacle to internet use. Where internet connections are available, for example, in Juba, connections speeds are slow and frequent power outages are an additional hindrance. Nevertheless a number of media outlets, such as Radio Miraya, The Juba Post and She magazine, have their own websites. In some cases, their main purpose seems to be simply the establishment of an online presence rather than for dissemination of news and information. At the time of writing in January 2013, the top news item on The New Nation’s website dated from October 16, 2012. Other newspa-pers’ websites, such as The Southern Eye’s, have no datelines.

“Due To The CulTuRe of ShaRIng on The InTeRneT, IT’S veRy haRD To go The SouRCe.”

In addition to official news websites, there is a small number of polit-ical blogs; the group blog PaanLuel Wël, written by South Sudanese expatriates in the United States and other countries, is a prominent example. Updated daily, PaanLuel Wël features news analysis and opinion pieces as well as poetry, petitions to government officials and an overview of news items related to South Sudan. However it has only very limited reach in the country itself. John Penn de Ngong’s blog, Weakleaks, is one of the few blogs main-tained by a resident of South Sudan. However, as de Ngong pointed out, news items often find their way into the country via the blogs maintained by expatriates so these too have an important function in the South Sudanese media landscape.As in many other African countries, mobile network coverage in South Sudan is much more widespread than internet access. There are five mobile phone service providers who maintain a total of 317 aerials in the country, the majority of which are located in the states of Central Equatoria and Upper Nile. Remote areas such as Jonglei and Northern Bahr el-Ghazar have significantly fewer aerials. Considering this state of affairs, perhaps it comes as no surprise that new technologies play an almost negligible role in South Sudan’s media sector. Apart from NGO-operated offerings such as The Sudan Tribune or MICT’s The Niles, there is hardly any content produced

exclusively for the internet, hardly any multimedia journalism, hardly any journalistic use of social media and hardly any use of online communication for feedback, in an interactive sense, or as a tool for citizen journalism. However, there are indications that this is changing. For example, the citizen news outlet, NubaReports, has become an important regional player. Mobile phone footage of recent clashes between civilians and security forces in Wau was aired by the international news service, Al Jazeera, based in Qatar.

2. case study: Weakleaks

Weakleaks is an example of a news outlet that straddles the deep divide between South Sudan’s “pre-market agrarian society” (Peter Biar Ajak) and the small digital elite that has managed to establish itself in Juba. The blog’s producer, De Ngong, is keenly aware of the contradictions of the situation. During a discussion about the pro-posed media laws in South Sudan, he questioned whether the same regulations would apply to traditional media and new media like Facebook and Twitter. The eventual reply given by Joy Kwaje, an MP for the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Chairwoman of the In-formation and Culture Committee in the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of South Sudan, indicated another problem: local politicians’ lack of familiarity with these media. Kwaje had assumed they would all be covered by the same law. Of course, it is impossible to regulate social media in the same way as traditional mass media. The problem of rumour and slander that comes via social networks makes this clear – and it is a problem that also affects South Sudan, where images of crimes allegedly committed in Juba cast local authorities in a dubious light. De Ngong, who has been harassed by the government for his critical posts on Weakleaks, knows this from experience. “Due to the culture of sharing on the internet, it’s very hard to get to the source,” he said. “This raises questions about the legislation of defamation on social media.”When he started blogging, he says he did so in order to “hide from persecution”, after quitting his job as an editor at The Southern Eye. He says he was inspired by PaanLuel Wël and that other bloggers have been inspired by him in turn. There is a constant exchange within the

the role of digital media in South SudanJulian Kücklich

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small group of people who experiment with digital media in South Sudan. When these “rucksack reporters” started out, they often squatted in the bar in hotels like the Juba Grand because they pro-vided reliable access to electricity. Quaint as this sounds, the impact they had was profound: de Ngong has received death threats because of his writing. The hotel eventually proved hostile and management there removed wall sockets to prevent the bloggers from hanging around. This is why those working in South Sudan’s digital media eventually founded the Association of Facebook, Twittersphere and Blogosphere Operators of South Sudan (or AFTABOSS), which intends to pool members’ resources to provide reliable internet access and electricity. Much hope for the future of new media in South Sudan rests on this example of grassroots collaboration. If others follow the example of de Ngong and AFTABOSS, it is likely that blogging and citizen journalism will continue to become more established in South Sudan.

3. the future of digital media in South Sudan

It is possible that in the relatively near future, South Sudan will start to overcome its problems with infrastructure and that internet access - and particularly mobile internet access - will become both widespread and affordable. As the case of other African countries, most notably Kenya, shows, this can pave the way for a host of other things, such as mobile payments, citizen journalism and increased citizen participation in political processes. Which is why it seems en-tirely possible that digital media will not only challenge the business model of traditional media in South Sudan but it could also chal-lenge their position as the ones who set the agenda, a role they have always held up until now. Dickens Olewe works at The Star, a Nairobi-based newspaper, and he is also a member of the Nairobi chapter of Hacks/Hackers, a network of journalists and technologists, who work collaboratively on new ways of spreading the news. “Technologists are becoming a key part of the future of journalism, they employ their skills in building apps that allow users to consume content in a simple and at times in a fun way,” he said. “The Star has just built a health app using open data. I think we have succeeded in proving that the re-lationship between a journalist and a technologist is important and exciting in the newsroom, and especially in data journalism.”

“South Sudan is facing different challenges, the infrastructure is not well laid out, media freedom is not guaranteed and the jour-nalists have a difficult working environment,” Olewe continued. “Despite these challenges it’s encouraging that the media is already employing simple but innovative ideas that are bringing citizens’ voices into the process of news gathering. Radio stations are hold-ing local meet-ups where they record citizen voices and broadcast them to the regions. This means that there’s a medium to project the voices of the people, just like citizens around Africa are using Facebook, Twitter and SMS to share their stories.”

“TechnologisTs aRe beCoMIng a key paRT of The fuTuRe of jouRnalISM.”

While there are still huge obstacles to widespread internet use, Olewe highlighted the potential of innovations such as Speak to Tweet – a service that allows Twitter users to call a phone number and leave a message, which is then published on Twitter; it was invented to circumvent interruptions to internet services. As Olewe said, this “might be a possibility for South Sudan, considering the high illiteracy rate and that the majority of the population lives in rural areas”.Initiatives such as the African News Innovation Challenge, which funds ideas that advance journalism and digital news gathering in Africa, also raise hopes for finding solutions to the problems South Sudan’s digital media faces and for developing ways to produce, enrich and distribute news that are particularly well-suited to the country.

the role of digital media in South Sudan

“souTh SuDan IS a pRe-MaRkeT agRaRIan SoCIeTy”

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1. legal situation

Media regulation is one of the key factors on the road to establishing a professional and responsible media sector in South Sudan. How-ever regulating the media in a way that is neither too liberal, nor too oppressive, has proven difficult. The so-called media bills - that is, the Right to Access to Information Bill (no. 54), the Broadcasting Corpo-ration Bill (no. 53), and the Media Authority Bill (no. 52) - have been stuck in parliament since 2006. At the opening of the Media & Makers: Juba, South Sudan’s Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Benjamin Barnaba Marial, declared that his country would be the eleventh African country to pass an access to information law. However this has yet to happen. Considering South Sudan’s history, the need to pass a law that breaks with the past appears even more urgent. “Prior to indepen-dence we were operating with the laws of Sudan which were very oppressive, limiting the freedom of information and the freedom of the press,” Joy Kwaje, an MP for the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and Chairwoman of the Information and Culture Committee in the Legislative Assembly of the Repub-lic of South Sudan, said. “So, as a new republic we felt that it was imperative to replace those oppressive laws with progressive and democratic laws.”At Juba’s Media & Makers conference, Kwaje got into a heated debate with Edetaen Ojo, the Nigerian Director of the African Platform on Access to Information, and a number of local journalists about the proposed media bills. In particular the discussion around the Right to Access to Information Bill was divisive. Kwaje began by outlining the individual articles of the law and ex-plaining how they applied to journalists. She talked about the process of requesting information as well as the role of the officials; these include a commissioner of information as well as information officers in individual branches of government.

2. criticism

The criticism raised by Ojo concerned aspects of the Bill, such as: “every citizen shall have the right of access to information”. He pointed out that this doesn’t cover residents without citizen status and he questioned the provision that allowed the president to appoint the commissioner of information without parliamentary consent. He also asked for clarification regarding responses to requests for informa-tion, suggesting this be reduced from a response within 20 working days to seven working days.

Kwaje’s response seemed to suggest that these points had already been debated at length and that some of them would be raised again. However, she also made it clear that some suggestions, such as the reduction of the time limit for responses, were simply not feasible, given South Sudan’s current economic and political position. Kwaje also pointed out that there were provisions for the maintenance and publication of records and sanctions for non-compliance as well as parliamentary oversight through the Committee of Information.

“We felT ThaT IT WaS IMpeRaTIve To ReplaCe oppReSSIve laWS WITh pRogReSSIve anD DeMo- CRaTIC laWS.”

Meanwhile local journalists protested against the government’s plans to charge a “nominal fee” for accessing official information. They feared this would allow corrupt civil servants to take bribes and would deter cash-strapped reporters from requesting information. In the ensuing debate, it also became evident that the journalists pres-ent were not familiar with the Access to Information Bill. It also be-came clear that there was a considerable lack of knowledge regarding journalistic ethics, particularly in regard to defamatory reporting. As a result they were reprimanded by Alfred Taban, editor-in-chief of The Juba Monitor, who said that he wanted “all journalists to be concerned about the media laws because those are their laws. They have not been as involved as I would have liked them to be”.

3. reconciling government and the fourth estate

Judging by the debate between policy makers and journalists, it quickly became clear that there is still a deep mistrust between the government and media in South Sudan. While some journalists said that it was easier to get access to those in power in South Sudan, many expressed the view that mostly it’s just difficult to find out where information is kept and how to access it.

access to information and media ethics in South SudanJulian Kücklich

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The blogger John Penn de Ngong, of the site Weakleaks, added that, in his experience, bureaucracy was a major obstacle. According to Kwaje, this would be addressed by the proposed bill because it will enshrine the right to access to information in the law.Nevertheless such mistrust has far-reaching consequences. Hardly any of the journalists present had participated in public hearings held as part of the legislative process for the media bills and it seemed imperative that the government of South Sudan regain their trust. Otherwise media regulation is unlikely to have the in-tended effects. MP Kwaje asserts that “accountability of the government to the public can only be achieved through the media”. But this requires a continued effort by both sides to re-establish a working relationship previously damaged by slanderous reporting by the journalists and harassment and censorship by the government. Editor-in-chief Taban stressed the role of legislation in overcoming this mistrust: “In this country, many government departments do not release information. Maybe in order to shield the corrupt elements in the government or to prevent the exposure of malpractice,” he speculated. “That is the reason the Access to Information bill is so important.”

“all jouRnalISTS ShoulD be ConCeRneD abouT The MeDIa laWS, beCauSe ThoSe aRe TheIR laWS.”

Bonjeri Peter Ladu, one of the founders of the now defunct news-paper, The Hero, added that while access to information had improved since 2006, it was a hard-won victory. “You could not go to a minister or a director and ask for an interview,” he noted. “People would say: I am not allowed to give interviews. But we kept insisting, although we were told to go away, and even accused of being spies.” Speaking about the role of investigative journalism, Eric Wakabi of The Southern Eye explained why it was important to find the common ground between media ethics and media legislation. “If you are pro-fessional, it can be good journalism because you are fighting for the people, you want information to be out there, you are fighting corrup-tion, impunity, whatever it is,” he said. “But how are you getting your information? That can be a problem. With investigative journalism, it’s funny … you might do unethical things.”

Clearly, South Sudanese journalists struggle with the same problems that journalists all around the world struggle with. This quandary around media ethics is also being exacerbated by the rise of new me-dia, with the culture of sharing and the danger of information going viral before it has been proven true.

“WiTh InveSTIgaTIve jouRnalISM, IT’S funny … you MIghT Do uneThICal ThIngS.”

While social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, are still not very wide spread in South Sudan due to low internet penetration and illiteracy, many journalists are already concerned with the legal status of Twitter sources and the prosecution of Facebook libel. In this realm, one of the other big dangers South Sudan’s media law faces is that parts of it will be outdated even before they are passed into law. This is yet another reason journalists should get involved in the legislative process before the bill’s final reading in 2013. As Kwaje said during the debate at Juba’s Media & Makers conference: “the door is not closed to suggestions and debate”.

access to information and media ethics in South Sudan

“every CITIzen Shall have The RIghT of aCCeSS To InfoRMaTIon”

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1. open source and development

The concept of “openness” has established itself in a range of ways over the last decade – ranging from open-source software to open data, open access and open design, to open innovation and even the concept of open governance. What used to be the domain of programmers and computer scientists now informs the debates held by architects, city planners, policy makers, designers, academics, teachers and, of course, journalists. In regard to South Sudan, the idea of the open source paradigm has been suggested as one way that the country could help itself overcome the many challenges it faces. The #OSJUBA conference, which took place in Berlin in June 2012, was part of this and brought together technologists, international development economists and researchers, cultural activists, artists and software developers to discuss how to apply the means and methodologies of the open source, accessible technologies and hacktivist communities to post-conflict development in places like South Sudan. A capital city can define the contours of a country as a whole and #OSJUBA asked whether Juba could become the world’s first open source capital city. The debate that grew out of #OSJUBA and became the ‘Media & Makers: Juba 2012’ event eventually broadened, and the discussion centred on how open source could be used in the country as a whole. One of the aims of ‘Media & Makers: Juba 2012’ was to increase transparency and mobility, enhance communication, foster the utilization of local knowledge and encourage collaborative learning. Above all, it aimed to make government institutions, trade, education and the media more sustainable and responsive to the needs of citizens. From the use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in jump starting literacy and education to citizen empowerment and knowledge building initiatives, there were plenty of practical examples of how this can be achieved. In conjunction with the increasing access to social media, mobile and open technologies, open source solution, based on sustainability and collaboration are being implemented worldwide - even in regions of post-conflict or post-crisis transformation. Another aim of ‘Media & Makers’ was to find out to what extent open source methodologies could be used to increase media sustainability and to help create what UNESCO identifies as strong and independent Knowledge Societies – this is part of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, to which South Sudan is a signatory.

2. open source software and intellectual property

During a discussion of new technologies at ‘Media & Makers’, Dickens Olewe, who works at The Star, a Nairobi-based newspaper, and who is also a member of the Nairobi chapter of Hacks/Hackers, a network of journalists and technologists, who work collaboratively on new ways of spreading the news, told journalists about his efforts to establish open source software in The Star’s newsroom. Olewe wanted to encourage them to follow his example.However, open source often comes into conflict with an author’s automatic intellectual property rights. Still, considering that South Sudan has no native intellectual property rights legislation or other applicable legislation, this appears to be a moot point. As a country that currently holds observer status at the UN World Intellectual Property Organization, South Sudan is unlikely to prosecute anyone for copyright infringement anytime soon. In the context of the borderless flow of information and content, this scenario places a particular responsibility on authors and journalists to identify the ways in which their work can be consumed and spread, and to claim attribution for their work. Open source itself can provide the tools for journalists and newsrooms to network and to dis- seminate what they produce – and it can do so at less cost and with greater freedom to customize.

“creaTive CoMMonS Can offeR a Way ouT of The ‘lICenSIng TRap’”

When it comes to intellectual property in South Sudan, an alternative to traditional copyright agreements, such as Creative Commons, could be a significant tool for the empowerment of media producers there. Creative Commons is a global non-profit organization that seeks to share alternatives to existing and often outdated copyright and license laws.As Dorothy Gordon, Director-General of Ghana’s Advanced Information Technology Institute, pointed out, Creative Commons can offer a way out of the “licensing trap” that many journalists and media businesses unwittingly stumble into, due to lack of experience with intellectual property legislation. Creative Commons offers a way of fine-tuning how one shares digital content, but without giving up protection; it allows creators to choose a license that states specifically for which purposes their intellectual property can be used and for which purposes it can’t. This is particularly helpful when it comes to international licensing agreements.

open knowledge and sustainable media in South Sudan

Julian Kücklich (contributions by Stephen Kovats and Jodi Rose)

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3. open data

Open data was another much discussed topic at ‘Media & Makers: Juba 2012’. Open data is not exactly open source; rather, it is material in the public domain that’s often carried by open source systems. Open data can be professionally accrued or it can be information resulting from public input and interaction. There are a number of examples where open data has been used success-fully by media, one of the most prominent of which is UK newspaper, the Guardian’s data journalism initiative - this has produced some impressive pieces of reporting, particularly in collaboration with the WikiLeaks site. In a development context, Ushahidi - a non-profit tech company specializing in the development of free and open source software for collecting information, visualization and interactive mapping – has been leading the way in using publicly sourced information. Often they’re doing this in conjunction with real-time data gathered on mobile phones to map rapidly evolving events for effective crisis response, to help counter injustice through eyewitness testimony or to illustrate broad reaching effects of issues that are pertinent to any number of peer communities worldwide. They’ve done this effectively in the Haiti and Japan calamities, in efforts to help inde-pendently monitor elections in India, Kenya or the US. Where Ushahidi may provide highly useful mappings of both complex statistical data and user generated, or crowd sourced, infor-mation, platforms such as ojoVoz by ‘Media & Makers’ participant Eugenio Tisselli from Mexico aimed at lowering the technical hurdles associated with literacy, language and accessibility that are often great challenges to using open data. Using a simple non-text based mobile app, ojoVoz provides a platform that helps communities easily create and publish collaborative stories, observations and documentaries on the web. ojoVoz, which has been used successfully in projects such as Tanzania’s Sauti ya wakulima (voice of the farmers), in which farming communities create an online knowledge base about the effects of climate change, the system is now being assessed to see if it can be used in South Sudan’s Warrap State a as a mobile tool for community exchanges and crisis dialogue.Also of relevance to South Sudan is Open Oil, a non-profit consul-tancy, which tries to make information about the oil industry public and to encourage dialogue between the oil industry, governments and ordinary citizens about oil production and consumption. They have produced a series of oil almanacs, covering Libya, Iraq, Ghana and Niger among others, and they also recently complemented that with a 147-page South Sudan Oil Almanac. This was published under a Creative Commons license and provides the most comprehensive overview of the South Sudanese oil industry to date.

Open data and open government initiatives have sprung up across the globe not just in North America and Europe, but also in Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Kenya. The latter few have met with mixed success - which is hardly surprising considering that some of these countries have entrenched traditions of secrecy. In a critique of Saudi Arabia’s open data initiative on the NextGov website, which focuses on government and technology, US journalist Joseph Marks highlights the disparity between the wealth of data about oil production and the complete lack of information about “women’s access to education or the working conditions of foreign labourers” there.

ushahiDi haS been leaDIng The Way In uSIng publICly avaIlable DaTa

Gordon, who is also a key member of the Free and Open Source Foundation for Africa, sees open source and open data as essential elements in both developmental economics and the empowerment of African civil society. Gordon spoke about an example from her own country in which crowd sourcing and open data were used to increase the number of girls going to school. The absence of sanitary facilities or the idea that they would have to share facilities with males had often deterred females from attending school. After the data about toilets in schools was published, and the correlation to attendance statistics was made, the Ghanaian board of education took measures to address the gender imbalance in the education system, by providing proper dedicated sanitary facilities for the girls.Five mobile phone companies operate in South Sudan, and there is a rapid increase in mobile phone network coverage and penetration even across rural areas. The National Bureau of Statistics in South Sudan has been using Google’s Open Data Kit technology to collect data and information from local households on a weekly basis. This is being done in collaboration with the World Bank. Using electronic survey forms sent to a server at the end of each day via the mobile phone network, the resulting data is available in close to real time and provides much needed information for policy and development as well as helps create the cultural narrative of the country. Ostensibly this information is free and open for anybody to use. However a rudimentary electrical grid that relies on diesel generators and an insecure and weak server infrastructure hamper access to that data. David Chan Thiang, Director of Economic Statistics at the National Bureau of Statistics (or NBS) says such problems are a major


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hindrance to the promotion of stable civic structures, because open information, data and knowledge have the potential to significantly promote economic and social development. He says it is a priority that servers operate around the clock – and preferably independently of the unstable electrical grid. But open source could help here too: Open source hardware and power generation technologies such as those being developed by the international Open Source Ecology initiative could be used, for example, to create a stable, self-sufficient South Sudan Server backbone network. A network with, say, one unit in each state, would allow the NBS to “create and manage our own intranets – take control of our own servers, to achieve our own goals in effectively sharing data and other public information.” (David Chan Thiang)

4. crowdsourcing and citizen journalism

For all of the above reasons, a lot of work is needed to achieve even small improvements. In a country like South Sudan, with over 60 indigenous languages in addition to English and Juba Arabic, translation is also a major challenge. For many of the larger language groups, open or crowd sourced translation – that is, translation by peer groups or larger number of users - offers a number of solutions. One of the world’s leading citizen media organisations Global Voices, and Kiva, a micro-lending website, have both successfully used crowd-sourced translations. If the considerable South Sudanese diaspora is also considered, crowd sourced translation can be done in collaboration with expatriates whose requisite skills and access to technology complement local knowledge and the emergent structures within the country.Gordon made the point that, “when we’re talking to our own people we must talk in our own language. Open source technology allows for unrestricted adaptability and localization,” she explained. “If it’s all in English, the people need to learn two new languages - that of the technology and English. Please, publish in your own language!” The Free and Open Source Foundation for Africa (or FOSSFA) en- courages students throughout Africa to use Open Education Resources, to gain the equivalent of a university degree using free, open source resources online. With these, relevant, locally responsive and contex-tualized libraries, databases and information resource centres can be created in South Sudan - for example, in the fields of adult literacy,

hygiene, sanitation, computer literacy and maths. Organizations such as the Juba-based Community Empowerment for Progress, who are involved promoting human rights, democratic principles and free ex-pression, see the application of Open Education Resources, open data and open source technologies as a key component of their work. The fact that access to information technology in South Sudan is still very limited, particularly in rural areas, is also a barrier to entry for citizen journalists. While the highly centralized media landscape in South Sudan would clearly benefit from more reporting from the periphery, it is not just the digital but also the cultural divides that make it difficult to adopt this model of reporting here. Many discussions at ‘Media & Makers’ made it clear that South Sudanese journalists don’t enjoy contemplating the potential threat to their professional status that citizen journalists might pose. Rather they want improved access to social media and mobile information technologies in order to boost their own skills. Similar challenges are faced by radio journal-ists in West Africa who implemented open source platforms to link traditional radio and web media and created the award winning West Africa Democracy Radio platform.‘Media & Makers’ participant, journalist Mading Ngor, teamed up with Sourcefabric, a company building digital, open source newsrooms and platforms for radio, online and print media in order to create an online radio station, streaming 24 hours, seven days, and linking diaspora with local South Sudan-based journalists on the New Sudan Vision platform.

5. open governance

“The Republic of South Sudan has the potential to become the leader for a new political imagination of a more open, more transparent space in the movement to digital technology,” Philip Thigo, an advisor to Kenya’s Open Government Partnership, said. The concept of open governance has been part of the discourse in Europe and North America since the 1970s; it has fostered numerous transparency initiatives as well as freedom of information legislation. The Open Government Partnership (or OGP), initiated in 2011 which now includes around 60 nations, is a global initiative that applies the philosophy of open-source to democracies. The OGP aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies to strengthen governance. Relying on elements like open data, open source models of collaborative enterprise and multi-stakeholder input,

Publicizing DaTa abouT ToIleTS In SChoolS leD To an InCReaSe In The nuMbeR of gIRlS goIng To SChool.

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the OGP is rapidly becoming a blueprint for progressive governments across Africa. Helping to provide guidelines for the support of civic participation and increased access to new technologies for information sharing and accountability, the OGP is seen as one way of giving governments an international peer structure that will support capacity- and institution-building – these are key elements for South Sudan’s independence and future. A number of ‘Media & Makers’ participants, including Moses Simon Soro, Commissioner of Morobo County, specifically called for more transparency in government affairs. With a clear intention to make government work better and be accountable to the people, the recently appointed Commissioner outlined a number of key objectives for open government, including:

increase transparency to increase trust in the work of branches of government.ensure people are involved in decision making to improve information flow.build capacity and effectiveness of all government agencies. adjust policies using the media to gauge people’s view.provide raw, open data so people can extract value out of it, and create innovative services that ultimately benefit citizens.

Considering the embryonic state of many government offices, opening up policy making and governance to the broader public increases the potential for government efficiency as well as for citizens’ participation in political processes. Efforts should be focused on providing better access to, and use of, new and open technologies – this should include as broad a range of channels for participation as possible, including radio, mobile telephony, petitions, surveys and public meetings. Much of the debate around open source was new for many and at times difficult to follow. However in general, it was clear that there was a need for more multi-stakeholder dialogues with local media outlets and civil society organizations, which would allow them to participate in the development and implementation of open source systems and strategies in South Sudan. “Fail to capture the commanding heights of technology and your political efficacy will be of no significance,” Gordon concluded at ‘Media & Makers: Juba 2012’. “In the Republic of South Sudan you have an historical opportunity to be a beacon for other countries by making very conscious decisions on the technologies you use and how you use them to strengthen the voice of your people and to enhance the quality of your independence.”


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For a full detailed review of the discussions from the Media & Makers: Juba 2012 – Open Knowledge stream, please consult the wiki set up for this session: http://wiki.r0g-media.org

25video interviews with conference participantsDaga Chaplain, Marketing Manager, The Citizenwww.youtube.com/watch?v=golFc-nrgJw

Dickens onditi olewe, Web administrator, The Star (nairobi)www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq_Tkh9glzc

eric Wakabi, Managing Director, Southern eyewww.youtube.com/watch?v=ejhJk5rboce

bongiri peter ladu, journalist and Co-founder, The herowww.youtube.com/watch?v=rywuupKd3gQ

joy kwaje, Member of parliament (SplM) and and Chairwoman of Information and Culture Committee in the legislative assembly of the Republic of South Sudanwww.youtube.com/watch?v=oyepFss_0hk

peter biar ajak, Deputy Country Director for the International growth Centrewww.youtube.com/watch?v=y-eiF-3er04

alfred Taban, editor-in-chief, The juba Monitorwww.youtube.com/watch?v=rbpQxganzzM

media & makersis an attempt to chart the common ground between media businesses and the open source movement in Sudan and South Sudan. The forum explores new solutions for the extraordinary challenges faced by the two countries, looks at new ways to make use of existing resources, and examines new means of participatory media production, innovation, and collaboration across all sectors of society. It is an opportunity for experts and media practitioners from South Sudan, (north) Sudan, and other parts of the world to discuss the future of the media sector and the role of the open systems /open data movement for the world’s two youngest nations.

MeDia&MaKers: KharTouM 2013will take place on May 4th and 5th, 2013 in khartoum.

Information and registration: media-and-makers.tumblr.com

experts

Peter Biar Ajak, Interna-tional Growth CentreNhial Bol Aken, The Citizen Jacob Akol, AMDISSHon. Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, Deputy Minister for Information and BroadcastingJay Cousins, Open Design CityJohn Penn de Ngong, weakleaks.wordpress.comDorothy Gordon, Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICTCharles Haskins, Fondation Hirondelle Mark Kaigwa, AfrinnovatorThomas Koch, thomaskochmediaHon. Joy Kwaje, MP (SPLM)Amrit Naresh, OpenOilAsteway Negash, FOSSFATolu Ogunlesi, toluogunlesi.wordpress.comEdetaen Ojo, Media Rights AgendaDickens Onditi Olewe, The StarSeverin Peters, GIZDavid Chan Thiang, National Bureau of StatisticsPhilip Thigo, SODNETEugenio Tisselli, Pompeu Fabra University

participants

Emmanuel AchahaHassan AhmedJacob AkolBrenda AmmeraalMubarak ArdolAtem Yaak AtemJohn AtemBenson AtingIbrahim AwolMatthew BensonIduol BenySamir BolSinevda CuarothJoseph DaudaDavid De DauCharlton DokiMichael DukuAmoja DulmanJoseph EdwardJessica GregsonSulakshana GuptaMalek GutnyinNada HammadOcan HanningtonMohammed HilaliMikael L. Clason HookHou Akot HouDickson Mawa JamesKeiko KanedaAping KuluelPeter Ladu LasuEmmanuel Sebit LodongoBanak LonyaAndreas MabierAtem Simon MabiorAbraham Daljiang Makar

conference participants

Suba Samuel ManaseAbraham MaviakAtekdit MawienPeter Marino Modi PityaPaola MoggiBenjamin Majok MonBeate Mueller-GrunewaldJoseph NashionKenyi NdipaTom NyakoeKanako OharaSteven OmiriCharles OtaraWilliam RappJohn RubganaMatata SafiChristian SchulteMoses Simon Soro de NigoDavide StortiAlex TabanAlfred TabanBonifacio TabanMichael Taban TowongoJames TurittoSteven TutPeter WadalaEric WakabiAnthony WaniGyavira WaniAbdallah Wani KebaJasun WiriEdmond YakaiEve Yayi

team mict

Klaas Glenewinkel, Managing DirectorDirk Spilker, Senior Project ManagerPhilipp Hochleichter, Project ManagerJulian Kücklich, Head Media and DocumentationDominik Lehnert, Editor-in-Chief at The Niles and Representative MICT Juba officeLeila Bendra, Editor at The Niles and Representa-tive MICT Juba officeJess Smee, Assistant Editor at The NilesRoman Deckert, Sudan Desk and ResearchAnke Fiedler, ResearchLutz Kordges, PRAkim Mugisa, Assistant MICT Juba office

team r0g

Stephen Kovats, Curator and Managing DirectorJodi Rose, Head Media and DocumentationGeorgia Nicolau, Head of PREla Kagel, Managing Part-ner at Supermarkt Berlin

team partner

Salah Khaled, UNESCO Juba officeJessica Hjarrand, UNESCO Juba officeBakhita Lato, UNESCO Juba officeAnna Grace Victor, UNESCO Juba officeDaro Justine, UNESCO Juba OfficeStuart Campo, UNICEF Juba office

News & Politics

Media&Makers: Juba