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Somalia AMDI research report | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Author: Jamal Abdi Ismail
Since the Somalian state collapsed in 1991, the country has divided itself into three regions: Somaliland, Puntland and the south-central territory, including Mogadishu. The absence of a central administration has made it difficult to paint a coherent picture of the media landscape. Somalia retains a strong oral culture and the importance of radio as a mass conduit for the spoken word is fundamental. Partly due to the low level of literacy, radio is the most popular news medium across the country. Private and community radio stations have grown in strength in recent years. The only exception is in Somaliland, where the government is refusing to license any private or community radio due to its potential role in inciting ethnic violence. Only the state-run Radio Hargeisa is allowed to broadcast. The TV sector has also grown. There are currently seven Somali TV outlets, including two cable services. However, many Somalis in urban areas still rely on foreign satellite TV bouquets. Across the country, the newspaper industry’s presence is variable. It is relatively dynamic in Somaliland, but suffers from low-quality output in south-central Somalia. It has disappeared entirely in Puntland, where two newspapers have folded in the past five years. A shortage of modern production facilities, low levels of literacy, poverty and a lack of journalism training opportunities are some of the main obstacles facing all Somali media. Since 1991, donor and NGO efforts in Somalia have tended to focus on basic humanitarian issues, sometimes at the expense of democracy-building work, including media training and development. Case study: virtual journalism courses Following the decade-long civil war in Somalia, education facilities and institutions were practically destroyed. An overwhelming number of journalists lacked formal training. The few who were trained did not practise during the war, or had no access to refresher courses for enhancing their skills. It was against this backdrop that the Faculty of Distance Learning at the University of Hargeisa decided to offer journalism courses using the Africa Virtual University network. Modes of delivery include CD-ROMs, DVDs and other platforms. This successful programme is developing a new generation of journalists who apply social scientific methods of gathering and disseminating information to local communities, while maintaining proper editorial process. The research team Contact for this report Jamal Abdi Ismail Contact for the African Media Research project About PDF documents Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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