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Christina Meetoo

On Media, Society and Mauritius

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Politics

Debate idea for media houses for the by-elections of #18

14/12/2017 By christina Leave a Comment

Today, I posted this on Facebook:

I offer this idea to all media houses: please organise a different type of debate with the candidates.

One where a voter of the constituency is randomly selected from the voter roll of each ward to ask questions to the candidates. If people decline, just keep on with the random selection until you find those who are willing to participate.

One where you collect questions from the voters of the constituency and select the ones which get more upvotes and those themes which are more relevant to the constituency.

One where candidates are NOT allowed to talk about their opponents at all and are only allowed to talk about what they intend to do as opposition MP for the constituency:

– how they plan to interact with all those they will represent once in parliament (including partisans and non-partisans – and this should not just be about the weekly meetings which will definitely attract mostly partisans, thus skewing the whole process)

– what type of questions they will raise about the constituency when in parliament (why not ask them what their 3 first PQs would be?)

– how they plan to report back to the inhabitants on the answers they have received and the follow-up they plan to do

Because, we’ve already heard it all about the reasons for their engagement with a particular party as opposed to another one, their current positioning wrt current national issues, their scathing criticism towards their opponents (also known as yesterday’s and tomorrow’s potential friends)…

Please feel free to use my ideas because I am a voter in Quatre-Bornes and I think this would allow me to make, not necessarily the better choice, but at least make up my mind about the one who has the highest probability of being a better MP for QB than the others.

In the comments, I also added:

Since there’s not much time left, why not organise a joint exercise in a neutral venue for once? Maybe at the Media Trust?

(…) the point is that any voice should have the same probability of being heard, not just ‘expert voices’, a category where people tend to think of people of our socioeconomic class only.

Filed Under: Information, Mauritius, New Media, Politics, Press, Society Tagged With: debate, elections, ideas, journalism, Mauritius, media, MP, parliament, quatre-bornes, voters

Transcription of live tweet session on the State of Right to Information in Mauritius

18/10/2017 By christina Leave a Comment

The State of the Right to Information in Mauritius in 2017
Transcription of live tweet session
organised by the African Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC)
with Christina Meetoo (@christinameetoo) and Abdoollah Earally (@AbdEarally)

Hashtag #AccessToInfo
This live tweet session was held on Tuesday 17 October 2017 from 15.00 to 16.30 (Mauritian time)

Tweets have been slightly edited for punctuation and typos.

For more information, read the full report and the Mauritius country report at: https://www.christinameetoo.com/2017/10/17/report-on-the-state-of-access-to-information-in-africa-2017/

Mauritius country report of State of Right to Information 2017

AFIC‏ @AFIC1
Question 1. @christinameetoo Which are the guarantees for ATI in Mauritius, at national and international level?

Christina Meetoo @christinameetoo:

  • There is no law on access to information in #Mauritius, thus no specific guarantee for access to information in Mauritius.
  • There is only a clause on freedom of expression in Constitution to guarantee freedom to receive & impart ideas and information.
  • This freedom is curtailed by restrictions linked to national security, privacy, public morality, public safety, health, etc.
  • And there’s an Official Secrets Act & a Human Resource Manual which prohibit civil servants from sharing information without authorisation.
  • In 2005 and 2015, winning coalitions have promised to introduce legislation on freedom of information (but not in 2010).
  • In 2013, government appointed consultant Geoffrey Robertson proposed FOI legislation, reform of media laws & media self-regulation.
  • In January 2016, Cabinet announced that a bill on FOI was being prepared.
  • In March 2016, the ACHPR country report committed to introduce FOI legislation, suggesting that the State Law Office is working on a draft.
  • But, there is little visibility so far on progress made.

Sarah‏ @sarahfkiw:
How far has this bill been? Why has it not yet been signed? #SDG16 #accesstoinformation #Mauritius #IDUAI @Gilbertsendugwa

Christina Meetoo @christinameetoo:

  • No bill has been presented yet. We are assuming that the State Law Office is working on a draft bill but we have no further information.
  • FOI legislation is very difficult step for political parties as it could result in constant scrutiny & questioning by mass media & citizens.
  • Our political parties are not used full transparency.

[Read more…] about Transcription of live tweet session on the State of Right to Information in Mauritius

Filed Under: Information, Mauritius, Politics, Press, Society Tagged With: access to information, africa freedom of information centre, freedom of information, Mauritius, media, Press, right to information

Report on the State of Access to Information in Africa 2017

17/10/2017 By christina 1 Comment

The Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC) has published the Report on the State of Right to Information in Africa 2017 in the context of SDG 16.10.2. The full report which covers 23 African countries is available at: here and the summary version here.

I have contributed to the report by writing the country report for Mauritius. If you wish to read it, here is the country report.

Filed Under: Information, Mauritius, Politics, Press, Society Tagged With: access to information, africa freedom of information centre, freedom of information, Mauritius, right to information

Media as Agents of Democracy

01/07/2017 By christina Leave a Comment

Here are the slides I had prepared for my paper presentation at the Conference “Mauritius after 50 Years of Independence: Charting the Way Forward” which was held from 28 to 30 June 2017 at the University of Mauritius in collaboration with the Mauritius Research Council.

Filed Under: Academia, Information, Mauritius, New Media, Politics, Press, Society Tagged With: #50yrsMRU, conference, democracy, independence, literacy, media, media economics, people, Politics, university of mauritius

Une interview non publiée sur la liberté d’information 

24/01/2017 By christina 1 Comment

En août 2016, un journaliste d’un grand quotidien me contacte pour une interview qui n’est pas publiée sans que je sache pourquoi. Voici une copie de notre correspondance par courriel. 

​Je cherche des avis et des opinions sur un freedom of information act. 

De qui nous pouvons nous inspirer?

Il y a presque une centaine de pays au monde disposant d’une forme de législation apparentée, dont 13 sur le continent africain. Pour ne pas aller chercher très loin, nous pourrions commencer par nous inspirer de nos voisins sud-africains. Il n’y a cependant pas de modèle parfait et de toute manière, la mise en application de la loi et de l’esprit de la loi est très difficile. 

Lors d’une réunion organisée par la ‘Special Rapporteur’ de l’Union Africaine sur l’Accès à l’Information en mai, les Sud-Africains ont exposé de multiples difficultés, par exemple la préservation et la classification de documents écrits et visuels. Tout cela entraîne aussi des coûts et nécessite des formations spécifiques au ‘record-keeping’. Il y a toute une série de consultations et des préparatifs compliqués à mettre en oeuvre dans le sillage d’une telle loi.

Aussi, si certains pays prévoient des mécanismes très élaborés pour formuler des requêtes afin d’obtenir l’accès à l’information détenue par les entités de l’État, pour d’autres, l’accès à l’information est plus ardue et dépend du bon vouloir des décideurs politiques et des officiers de l’État. De plus, il ne suffit pas d’avoir une loi sur la liberté d’information pour que l’information soit réellement libre. Mais une loi sur la liberté d’accès à l’information est certainement une étape importante dans la vie d’une démocratie. 

Où en sommes-nous ? 

À Maurice, nous en sommes au statu quo. Tout le monde s’accorde à dire qu’une telle loi est importante. Un petit progrès a été noté avec l’annonce du conseil des ministres en janvier 2016 mais nous n’en savons pas plus. Où en est-on avec le ‘draft’? Nul ne le sait hormis ceux qui sont censés y travailler.

Il y a cependant eu de nombreux ateliers de travail (dont celui organisé par l’ambassade des États-Unis en décembre 2015 et celui organisé en février 2016 par la MACOSS avec des collaborateurs de l’Union Africaine – voir https://christinameetoo.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/workshop-on-freedom-of-information/), des publications (voir https://comstudies.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/publications-on-foi-and-media-self-regulation/) et de nombreux articles de presse sur la nécessité d’une telle loi. Mais tout dépend en fin de compte de la volonté politique et si on veut vraiment se donner les moyens d’introduire cette loi. Ce qui est sûr, c’est que tôt ou tard, il faudra qu’elle soit une réalité.

Entretemps, il faut tout de même souligner que beaucoup d’organismes de l’État publient déjà des informations en ligne sans en avoir l’obligation. Le hic, c’est que les données sont souvent peu structurées et que les informations sont enfouies dans des rapports kilométriques et verbeux. Et que tous ne publient pas toutes les informations, en commencant par les informations les plus fondamentales (par exemple sur des procédures).

Y a-t-il des risques ? 

Quelle (sic) est votre avis et/ou opinion sur un freedom of information act à Maurice ?

Toutes les lois sur la liberté d’accès à l’information comportent des exceptions et cela est compréhensible lorsque des questions touchant à la sécurité nationale mais aussi à la vie privée sont concernées.

Par contre, il faut bien prendre conscience que la mise en application n’est pas simple et qu’il ne suffit pas de rédiger et de faire voter une loi. Il faut aussi mettre en place des mécanismes pour recueillir, évaluer et traiter les requêtes du public, mais aussi les appels en cas de refus initial. Il faut former des personnes pour cela. Il faut un budget. Il faut aussi que les coûts ne soient pas prohibitifs pour formuler des requêtes d’information. Il faut que les formats de documents suivent des standards ouverts pour faciliter la réplication, la dissémination et l’analyse des contenus. Il faut surtout que tous les organismes de l’État transforment leur mode de fonctionnement pour faciliter la divulgation rapide des informations.

La position de l’IBA et du Media Trust dans ce combat.

Il faut leur poser la question. L’IBA est un organisme d’État pour la régulation de l’audiovisuel et il ne me semble pas qu’il y ait une prise de position officielle sur ce sujet à ce jour. Quand au Media Trust qui organise des formations courtes pour les gens des médias, ses membres sont en faveur mais je ne crois pas avoir vu de position officielle non plus.

Ce qui est étrange, c’est que la version finale du rapport Robertson, dont la version préliminaire a été publiée en 2013, n’est toujours pas publique. Ce rapport préliminaire préconise la réforme des lois concernant les médias et l’introduction d’une telle loi. Et personne ne semble s’en émouvoir…

Y a-t-il des déclarations de politiciens pour ou contre la liberté d’expression de la presse qui vous ont marqué ?

Tous les politiciens et autres décideurs économiques sont d’ardents défenseurs de la liberté d’expression et de la liberté de la presse quand il s’agit d’attaquer leurs opposants et de s’auto-promouvoir. Ceux-là mêmes sont les plus sceptiques ou précautionneux quand il s’agit de se défendre contre des accusations dans la sphère publique. C’est un réflexe humain. Il s’agit pour nous en tant que société de savoir aller au-delà des personnes, dans l’intérêt général de notre société. 

Pour information, j’ai assisté à la réunion d’experts de l’Union Africaine sur l’accès à l’information durant les élections en mai 2016. Voir: https://twitter.com/search?q=from%3Achristinameetoo%20since%3A2016-05-23%20until%3A2016-05-29&src=typd

Si vous avez des questions spécifiques à ce sujet, n’hésitez pas.

Filed Under: Mauritius, Politics, Press, Society, Uncategorized

L’express vs. government

02/06/2010 By christina 23 Comments


Why do I have this uneasy feeling that we ordinary people are caught in the middle of a serious egocentric war between our power elites? That our democracy, though good in comparison with other nations on the continent, direly needs to be rebooted? That the system seems clogged with viruses?

Latest episode in the saga: the Sentinelle vs. Government tug of war with the decision by Pravind Jugnauth (DPM, Minister of Finance and MSM leader) to bar access from his press conference in the government house to all journalists from L’express and 5 Plus Dimanche (of the Sentinelle group) and from Radio One (of Viva Voce company which is partly owned and managed by La Sentinelle).

There has been an avalanche of articles in L´express which have traced back the punitive actions against the media group to 2006, with the advertisement boycotts from government and parastatal agencies, then with the tense relationship with the MSM which is now in alliance with the Labour party, then with the coverage of elections this year. It is a very complex affair which intertwines personal conflicts (Jean Claude de L’Estrac and Raj Meetarbhan vs. Navin Ramgoolam and Pravind Jugnauth) together with institutional (Sentinelle vs Government and its agencies, private sector vs government) and national inter-ethnic dimensions (Franco/Creoles vs. Hindus). This is where it becomes dangerous as we ordinary people are called upon to take sides without being given the full picture.

What is it that went sour in the relationship between the boss of L’express and the PM? In fact, how come they had such an intimate relationship at all? Why is the MSM so angry against JCDL and what does JCDL have to hide about the Jugnauths? There are so many questions to be asked and it looks like we will not be getting answers soon.

Personally, I am not taking anyone’s side. Rather I am taking the side of democracy. And I feel that both parties have done wrong to our democracy. On the one hand, L’express did not provide neutral and independent coverage of elections (just like Le Matinal and Le Dimanche). On the other, the Labour Party/MSM alliance has used its authority to try to stifle the private press (just like the MMM did in the past).

But, government has gone too far this time. Banning journalists from a press conference is a direct attack to press freedom. I hope this does not go any further and that they will recollect their senses and stop this escalation…

Hereunder a collection of links to articles which were published in the written press recently:
– Ce que je sais by Jean Claude de l’Estrac
– Ramgoolam, pile et face by JCDL
– Délits d’opinion by JCDL
– Faux démocrates by Raj Meetarbhan
– Boycott de la presse : Navin Ramgoolam répond au Dr Philippe Forget
– Cette grande presse partisane… by Subash Gobine
– Maladresses by SG
– Boycott ? by Kiran Ramsahaye
– Le Mauricien Opinion: Nous condamnons…
– Week-End Opinions : Délire liberticide et Ça sent la banane…
– Mauritius Times: Freedom of Expression and Media Censorship
– NewsNow: Did I hear you say Mobutu? by Sydney Selvon

Addendum: list of publications whose editors/columnists have condemned the press conference ban (please let me know if the list is incomplete):
– Le Mauricien
– Week-End
– Samedi Plus
– Business Magazine
– Mauritius Times
– Le Défi

Filed Under: Mauritius, Politics, Press, Society, Uncategorized Tagged With: democracy, Mauritius, press freedom

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