{"id":22,"date":"2023-01-05T09:16:09","date_gmt":"2023-01-05T07:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commspolicy.africa\/?page_id=22"},"modified":"2023-06-29T14:26:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T12:26:01","slug":"shaping-communications-ecosystems","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/staging.commspolicy.africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Shaping media & digital ecosystems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Guy
World Press Freedom Day, Addis Ababa, 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Who?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

CommsPolicy.Africa is a site created by Guy Berger, independent expert and consultant in media and internet policy issues. From 2011 to 2022, he led UNESCO\u2019s global work in these areas. With an African focus, the same topics featured in his work between 1994-2010 at Rhodes University, South Africa, where he is recognized as an emeritus professor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

G.Berger@ru.ac.za<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mastodon<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some say Africa\u2019s comms problems aren\u2019t due to poor policy, but bad implementation of basically good policy. That assessment tells us that much comms policy is a pipedream – or a form of political theatre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But public policy that is worth its salt should anticipate and provide for practical problems. Else, it’s flawed at the core. Policy will inevitably be undermined by weak state capacity or partisan capture – if the genesis and design underestimates these factors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s nowadays a clich\u00e9 that designing good policy should be \u201cevidence-based\u201d. Yes, research \u2013 including into due diligence and impact-assessment on human rights about policy \u2013 is fundamental. At the same time, what makes for \u201cevidence\u201d? How do different assemblies of \u201cfacts\u201d \u2013 and \u201csignificant data silences – get mobilized for specific narratives and agendas. What interests and actors work to shape policy – or policy charades, and for what purposes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Policy, even unimplemented, is profoundly about power, and therefore political.  Contestation (even if often hidden) is endemic to the policy cycle – research, design, implementation (or stagnation), monitoring and review. And the results shape whether a society will enjoy or be deprived of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n