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Dispatch #6 from Rwanda
My first question at TV Rwanda was met with laughter.
The question the news team found humorous? "Do you
have any computers?" Well, at least I now knew exactly
where I stood and had a fairly good idea as to what I
was up against (or not, I suppose, depending on how
you look at it).
TVR is in central Kigali and together with Radio
Rwanda form ORINFOR, the office of information. That
should give you some sense as to the state of
journalism in this country. There's little, if any,
press freedom and although the government has
announced it will issue more licenses for radio
stations in the country, this has yet to happen. The
government says it doesn't want a repeat of how radio
was used during the genocide. You see, Radio Milles
Collines was used to spread a message of hate and
literally incited people to go out and kill their
neighbors and anyone else who might be around and who
might be Tutsi. Television, on the other hand, has
only been around since 1997, hard to believe but true.
TVR, like all government offices here, has a guard at
the gate which one must pass by to get into the small
compound composed of several small one-story buildings
and a pretty garden with a gigantic plumeria tree. The
newsroom at TVR consists of a room with a few chairs
and a couple of tables. That's it. Nothing electronic
whatsoever. TVR puts out 3 evening newscasts (each
approximately 20-30 minutes each...time is not an issue
here) in 3 different languages: Kinyarwanda, French
and English. By the end of my first day I have to
admit I was pretty impressed with what they are able
to put out given the challenges and the limitations
they work under. But I have to admit, much of the
content is in desperate need of help.
There are 2 edit suites, a voicing room, a studio with
what I can only call antique lamps and what appears to
be a homemade set with the backdrop a hand-painted
picture of the African continent in greys, whites and
black. No wireless microphones here. Instead, there's
a mic on a stand on the table (which often ends up in
the shot, though hopefully that has now changed!)
Perhaps the only computer at the entire station is the
one used for teleprompter.
The newscasts consist of an anchor reading the intros
to the 6-8 packages that run from 2-4 minutes each.
Most of the stories are of official events:
ceremonies, meetings or workshops, which a minister,
the president or the first lady might be attending.
And that's the only reason the story is done - there's
really very little, if any, newsworthiness to what is
being covered. This became the theme of my two days at
TVR. The English editor, who was acting news director
that week, suggested I work individually with
reporters as they worked on their stories.
So Thursday I worked on a few scripts (in both French
and English) and helped with some editing, making
suggestions along the way. It was challenging working
with the French-language reporters as my French,
although better than it was 6 weeks ago, is still not
fluent, but I
somehow made it through and the reporters seemed to be
grateful.
Friday was somewhat more structured. We began with the
morning meeting, not much different than morning
meetings I've attended in North America. We talked
about the stories of the day and then I was asked for
some suggestions as to how to cover these stories.
Well, I thought, I didn't want to offend anyone, but
it was clear that every single story being discussed
made it onto the list only because some government
official was involved. I wasn't sure where to go with
this. Part of me wanted to just yell out "who cares
what meetings/ceremonies/workshops government
officials are attending today...let's do some REAL
news." But I bit my tongue for a second and thought of
how I could deal with this at least somewhat
diplomatically.
So, I basically started by pointing out that every
single story involved some minister and that seemed to
be the only reason they were doing these stories.
Indeed, everyone nodded in agreement - and that's when
the discussion really began. It became clear that
these people were all too aware of the restrictions
they were working under but many had become so used to
operating in this way they just never gave it a second
thought. On the other hand there were some who were
very clearly frustrated with this state of affairs but
really were unsure of how, or if, it could be changed.
What a revelation this was to me. I just assumed that
these people were acting as automatons, as peons of
the government, but what I quickly realized is how
wrong I was and how much they wanted change.
As I began to answer their questions I felt like some
subversive or something, that I was doing something
illegal. But in reality all I was doing was encourage
them to diversify their sources and to look for the
story behind the ceremony/meeting etc. Sure, I said,
go and cover these meetings and sure, go ahead and
speak to the minister present, but then go after the
real story and speak to the people affected by this
story. We spoke about an example from the day before
which involved an aid organization that helps street
kids presenting some award or other to someone. Well,
all that was covered was this ceremony, the reporter
didn't bother speaking to anyone. I suggested that
they could have spoken to some street kids (turns out
there were some at the ceremony) etc etc.
We discussed a story from the day's lineup. It was a
story of the first ever graduation ceremony at a new
health institute and the first lady was going to be
there. OK, so they were expected to go because the
first lady was going to be there, but let's at least
speak to some of these new graduates.
I also went out with a couple of reporters to cover
the closing ceremony (yes, a recurring theme here) of
a week-long workshop regarding decentralization of
taxation etc., and yes, the revenue minister was
supposed to be in attendance. So off we trudged in our
land rover bouncing along the potholed and cratered
roads. Once we got to our location we basically
waited, and waited. The minister never showed up and I
had to return to town as I had another meeting. I
discussed with the reporters what the story was and I
suggested we speak to some of the 150 or so
administrators from all over the country who were in
attendance. One of the reporters brought out an
English-speaking man. I asked him just two questions
and I got back some great responses. Yes, handing over
taxation responsibilities to the districts was going
to be challenging....there simply was not the
infrastructure to handle it.
The man left and I explained to the reporter, who was
standing there dumbfounded, that while I now had to
leave, he should speak to the same man on camera in
addition to finding some others who might have
something to say. When we met later and looked at the
tape I realized he had not spoken to the same man and
in the end spoke to only one person who really didn't
give a very good clip. I asked what happened and he
explained that the first man didn't want to speak on
camera. Oh well, I hoped at least some of my message
had gotten through.
I stayed for the first evening newscast, in
Kinyarwanda. The anchors here have had no training
whatsoever and are pretty much thrown to the wolves. I
met with Isabelle, this week's Kinyarwandan host. I
had watched the show the night before and the poor
girl looked absolutely terrified...didn't blink, her
face was set like stone.
I chatted with her, gave her a few tips and tried to
have her relax as that was clearly her biggest
problem. Apparently the 20 minutes I spent with her
paid off...people told her that her performance that
night was much better than usual, what happened, they
asked her?
So, a challenging but rewarding couple of days at TVR,
and I'm anxious to get back. While I was in Kigali,
Radio Rwanda got wind and asked to meet with me again.
I thought I had received a lukewarm reception when I
had met with them several weeks previously but met
with them again. I remembered they had a "real"
newsroom, ie. computers and internet connection. I
asked the TV news director why radio had all the
computers and TV had none. The answer was simply that
the former head of radio (now head of TV) had gotten a
major donation from a German organization. So, it
seemed that TV was like the poor step-child. In any
case, I agreed to come back and do some work with
radio for a week in May (after my week in Uganda) and
they seemed pleased. I also told TV I'd be back in
June.
OK guys, I know I've rambled so let me finish with a
quickie.
I was looking forward to the bus ride back as I just
wanted to crash, which I did for the first hour and a
bit. Then suddenly I felt some wet specks land on me
and looked out the window to see a liquidy substance
splashing back on the window. Turns out the kid in
front of me had gotten car sick (or something) and
puked his poor little guts out. As he stuck his head
out the window puke flew back inside, and back, at
me!!
Yup, never a dull moment.
Be well, be happy.
Michelle
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