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first part appeared on Thursday, June 30 on the column, The Arena with Hildegarde.
HM: You have been a media practitioner for decades. Was journalism your passion?
BA: Yes, I have done nothing else in my life! I started working as a journalist in 1980, the same year that Zimbabwe gained its independence.
So, Zimbabwe and I have something in common. No wonder, Zimbabwe stirs all the passions in me.

HM: The media terrain globally has experienced tremendous changes, with the electronic technology especially. What are some of the issues that have impacted the media terrain and the journalistic profession? Are we also getting closer to the paperless society?
BA: A paperless society may be a long way away, especially in Africa where many people don’t have their own computers.
Even in Europe and America where the electronic revolution and new technology are far advanced, a paperless society is still a long way away.
But you are right, some newspapers in Europe have lost, or are losing, a good part of their circulation due to the explosion of new media, and this is changing the media terrain.
But as a print man, I would like to think that printed newspapers and magazines will stay in business – and be profitable – for a long time to come.

HM: How would you describe the media in Africa, and Zimbabwe in particular – the strengths and weaknesses, and what should be done to improve the situation?
BA: Because of a lack of resources – for research and other things, including the education we receive in African journalism schools – the African media is generally weak.
Added to this, is the fact that we try to imitate the Western media without going the whole hog.
The Western media support their mother countries when it comes to their national interests.
In Africa, we don’t even teach national interest, which is totally different from government interest.

As such, the “best journalist” in Africa is the one who fights his or/her own government and tries to bring it down, irrespective of the fact that national interest may be involved.
For example, in Zimbabwe, the land issue is a national interest issue. President Mugabe’s Government will go some day, but the land will forever remain a national interest issue to Zimbabwe.
Thus, if a journalist cannot distinguish between this national interest or the government which is fighting to safeguard it, and those who say “everybody under 40 years in Zimbabwe want a job, not land”, then that journalist is in trouble.

And, this is what is happening right now in Zimbabwe.
I am sorry to say that the Zimbabwean media scene is so polarised. The so-called “independent” media, and even the state-owned media, cannot distinguish between national interests and government interests.
In fact, most people outside Zimbabwe will be astonished to know that there are private newspapers in Zimbabwe that constantly attack the Government and the president, irrespective of the national interest issues involved, and are free to continue the attack.
HM: Do you think that local journalists have the requisite skills and knowledge to transform the media landscape?
BA: I cannot answer this question properly without knowing the resources at the disposal of local journalists.
You may have all the skills, but without a good resources backing, you may find yourself wanting in many aspects of your job.

HM: How about news coverage?
BA: My last two answers above cover this question as well. The polarisation of the media scene and the lack of resources are two major factors impinging on news coverage in Zimbabwe.

HM: Women in the media is a touchy issue with arguments centering in most cases on why there are no women editors, and the fact that this affects the news reports, with some claiming that women are usually portrayed negatively. As someone who has interacted with the Zimbabwe media for years, how would you respond to these claims?
BA: You mean no woman has held an editor’s position in Zimbabwe before? That astounds!
Something must be done then. Or are they saying the women in the media do not have the skills to become editors?

HM: How about Zimbabwe’s media laws. Are they in tandem with media laws in other parts of the world?
BA: Every law in Zimbabwe is supposed to be “draconian”, but I can tell you that Britain has the most laws impinging on media freedom than any country in the whole wide world!
In 2006, we were able to count 50, repeat 50, different kinds of laws impinging on press freedom in Britain, including one that goes back to 1840 – The Treason Felony Act, which says anybody who advocates in print for the downfall of the King or Queen should be banished for the rest of his natural life.

This law was enacted in 1840 and it still sits in the British statute book! So does Britain have “draconian” media laws?
I leave your readers to figure the answer.

HM: What do you think your contribution to the telling of the African story has been over the years? How about New African and other IC publications? Any word of advice, caution and encouragement to Zimbabwean journalists?
BA: Short of inviting me to blow my own horns, which I would hate to do, I would say I have done my bit over the last 23 years at New African to tell the African story from the African point of view.
My colleagues in the other IC publications (we now have 9 of them) are doing likewise, and I will leave our readers to make the judgment.
I think readers are the best judges when it comes to the effectiveness of journalists and publications.

HM: You have travelled the length and breadth of Africa. Any part of Africa, apart from Ghana, which you have fond memories of?
BA: That is a difficult question, for every African country is unique in its own way, and it is difficult to pick and choose.
However, after covering Zimbabwe intensely for the past 10 years, I now have a special affinity and fondness for this country. Zimbabwe has now become my pet project.
It may interest you to know that I know Zimbabwe better than I know my own country, Ghana, and I consider Zimbabwe as my second home.

HM: What else do you do apart from overseeing the editing of New African – I mean pastimes?
BA: Editing New African is a 24-hour project, it leaves you very little room to do anything else.
Bu,t I am a keen jogger and gardener, and an avaricious reader of factual books.

HM: Any thoughts of retiring, or are journalists like teachers – once a teacher, always a teacher?
BA: Yes, once a journalist always a journalist. But I hope to hang my gloves, as they say in boxing, next year after the London Olympics. That would give me 24 years at New African. I want to go back home to Ghana and impart some of the knowledge I have acquired in the profession to the younger generation of journalists coming up.
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