Fairness is Needed in Giving Adverts Tenders to Both Public and Private media

Journalists and RGB debated about how tenders to advertise are given to either public or private media.The debate was held at Isango Star and at Inkoramutima Radio stations, Sunday, 18,August,2013.

Mr Ntarindwa Theodor ,one of the  invited journalists said that when journalists say private media do not have equal access to adverts as well as public media, the issue is not to beg for money from the government or from anywhere else.

“We are advocating for our rights based on the law” Ntarindwa added.

For him economy structures and trade systems in Rwanda, including all sectors of economy, competition  for the advert is  a required condition which, unfortunately, is not respected.

Mr Asmani Niyonambaza,a journalist added that this especially concerns the private and the print media which  according to him suffers from unfairness in giving adverts to public and private print media.

To the other side ,Mr Ignasius Kabagambe,representing the Rwanda Governance Board,a government  based body having journalism monitoring as one of its attributions,responded that adverts are given to media that cover the size and the sample of the population a public institution targets  to cover.

“All depends on the nature and the sample population a public institution intends to provide information to. Governemnt does not distribute money to all media as if all have similar content and equal access to population” said Mr Kabagambe.

The key concern here ,said Mr Theodor Ntarindwa, related to the fact that mainly government- supported media  receive financial support while  the RBA(Rwanda Broadcasting Agency) receives an yearly budget to promote its activities.

“Look at Imvaho,Radio-Rwanda,The New Times…These are government-based media embodied into RBA that still receive more adverts than any other media in the country”Mr Ntarindwa and Niyonambaza observed.

Solange asked him what  is wrong with that as to whether this is not legally recognized.

For Ntarindwa what is wrong with that relates to fact that no tender is provided to media, especially print ones,so to compete for the tender and find the winner and loser.

“But tender is not  a legally required condition to provide to  given media as they do have same coverage,same story content ,nor same target population. The goverment is required to set communicate to general public its policies and plans  but it chooses to do so using a well prepared media.It does not concern all media.You set infrastructures and we become partners.”Ignasius Kabagambe underlines.

Both Ntarindwa and Niyonambaza observed that this is unlawful as the law stipulates that tenders should be delivered to all competitors as to be fair in tender giving and monitoring. Something that is not done according to them.

Mr Ntarindwa revealed why this discrimination has been so commonly observed in media in Rwanda.

“The decision to end financial support to private media in Rwanda has been taken up during the government retreat held in Akagera in 2007.The Article 8 of the retreat report stipulates this” Mr Ntalindwa and Niyonambaza observed.

Muvunyi,the show presenter, asked Mr Kabagambe whether he knows this article but he denied the existence of the article ,underlining that he did not attend the retreat that took that decision,if the said decision has been taken instead.

Listeners reacted to the show whereby some, including Mr Maurice Munyentwali, supported Kabagambe saying that Government is not required to support all media rather to advert on selected media that fulfill  advert conditions .

At the end of the show,Mr Ntarindwa Theodor and Mr Asmani Niyonambaza highlighted the fact that both government and media are close partners as  to communicate and educate the general public. So according to them both bodies should work hand in hand without any discrimination of any kind.

For Mr Kabagambe if media build the capacity in all areas of the profession,adverts will be given to them as the most competitive will be given more adverts according to the targeted population to cover.

This show takes place every Sunday Morning, from 9h00 to 10AM at Isango Star and Inloramutima radio stations.It is weekly program held in partnership of ARJ and Institut Panos-Paris,with the aim of enhancing the culture of debate and free expressions of one’s ideas about a matter of concern.It is sponsored by European Union.

Nizeyimana Jean Pierre

UM– USEKE.RW