Victoire Ingabire (holding a baby) told Rwanda Media Commission that her image was tarnished by a media outlet and wants an apology. COURTESY PHOTO

Victoire Ingabire (holding a baby) told Rwanda Media Commission that her image was tarnished by a media outlet and wants an apology. COURTESY PHOTO

IN SUMMARY

  • Despite embarking on self regulation, the media in Rwanda is still riddled with cases of lack of professionalism, incidence of corruption, blackmail, defamation, libel and extortion, all which experts point to being responsible for the low rating of the industry.
Rwanda’s journey towards media self-regulation which took shape in 2013 is still facing many hurdles as mushrooming media houses continue to flout professional ethics.

On Thursday, detained opposition politician Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire won a petition against three media outlets, which she accuses of publishing a defamatory article in which she was described as a “witch” and a “child murderer.”

Through her lawyer, Gatera Gashabana, Ms Ingabire petitioned Rwanda Media Commission (RMC), the body charged with overseeing self-regulation, to force Umusingi newspaper, owned by journalist Stanley Gatera, who recently fled the country, Rwanda Paparazzi website and Radio 1 to retract a story they published about her and issue an apology.

Displaying a photo of Ingabire, clad in an orange prison’s office and carrying a baby of a fellow prisoner, the three media outlets alleged that the politician was caught red-handed by prison guards as she “attempted to bewitch” the toddler.

“These were baseless rumours, which were aimed at hurting Ingabire’s person and family members. There is no doubt that this story was published with the intent of tarnishing my client’s image and name,” said Mr Gashabana.

Rwanda Paparazzi claimed to have carried the story from Umusingi newspaper, while Radio 1 also claimed that it disseminated the story during its press review.

While Rwanda Paparazzi said that it was ready to apologise to the politician, Radio 1 told the ethics committee that it cannot apologise for a story it was not a primary source.

Radio 1, however, said that it is willing to read out Ms Ingabire’s response if published by any of the media outlets, as well as the apology.

According to RMC’s Fred Muvunyi, the three media houses are hereby called on to abide by the decisions adopted by the ethics committee and failure to do so will be punishable.

After consulting and scrutinising further the submissions from all sides concerned by this issue, RMC concluded that what the media houses had contravened Article 2 of Media Law 02/2013 of 08/02/2013.

It states that “defamation is the intentional false communication, either through oral or written statements, visual elements, photographs or gestures with intention to harm a person’s reputation and respect…”

“Rwanda Media Commission concurs that what was written about Madame Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza in the newspaper issues highlighted above violated her human rights and rights to privacy, hence the victim is accorded the right to respond or correct the story as stipulated by the law,” a resolution by RMC reads.

Despite not responding to the ethics committee, Umusingi newspaper was also found culpable

But the latest incident paints a grim picture of Rwanda’s path towards self-regulation, especially as concerns an increasing number of web-based media outlets which have no regards for ethics.

Mr Muvunyi agrees that the journey will most likely be a rough one but he said the commission is ready to crack the whip on misbehaving media houses.

“We are still facing major challenges. It will not be an easy one because some of the websites are difficult to control. We have received the concerns regarding pornographic material, defamatory and blackmail stories.

“We have since received over 35 complaints, all of which relate to ethics and professionalism. We are determined to deal with whoever is flouting the code of ethics, for the good of media in Rwanda,” Muvunyi said.

Despite embarking on self regulation, the media in Rwanda is still riddled with cases of lack of professionalism, incidence of corruption, blackmail, defamation, libel and extortion, all which experts point to being responsible for the low rating of the industry.

According to Prince Bahati, a member of the ethics committee, media practitioners who flout the code of ethics and put a blemish on the entire industry will be exposed and punished over and over until they adopt better practices.

“The difference is that they will not be arrested but they will be punished and exposed until they correct what they are doing wrong. By exposing them, their image in the eyes of the public is affected and advertisers will pull out of deals. The only option they will remain with is doing the right thing,” Bahati said.

According to Mr Muvunyi, if the guilty media outlets do not implement the decisions reached by the ethics committee, they will be slapped with financial fines, and if they continue to do so, a suspension will be effected or risk facing closure.