Ireland's burgeoning foreign aid spend should include assisting independent journalism in poorly governed recipient countries, argues Michael Foley
There are a number of similarities shared by the eight developing countries considered a priority by Irish Aid, the wing of the Department of Foreign Affairs that hands out Ireland's development aid money. All suffer from extreme poverty, but also from varying degrees of corruption and lack of transparency.
But the priority countries, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Vietnam and East Timor, have, in many cases also suffered from war and political instability; they were often colonised, with all the issues that raises and they are also countries with severe problems in terms of governance.
Ireland is now a serious player in the development aid business. Last year Irish Aid spent €814 million, which will increase if Ireland adheres to its commitment of contributing 0.7 per cent of GNP by 2012. Even before that target is reached Ireland is already the sixth most generous per capita aid donor.
Overseas development aid finances projects in more than 90 countries, but it is the eight so called priority countries upon which Irish Aid concentrates its efforts. And these countries have one more thing in common, problems with press freedom.
Governance has become a fashionable concern, and rightly so. Those involved in development aid have long harboured concerns about how the aid money is spent, how much might get taken by corrupt officials, and is it getting to the people it is meant to be helping. There are real links between poverty and bad government. The oft quoted comment from the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen that: "No substantial famine has ever occurred in any independent and democratic country with a relatively free press," is now more or less accepted.
Good governance and press freedom are probably somewhat low on the emotional appeal register when it comes to a collection tin waved under someone's nose. But if the child whose face might adorn the collection box is to get the money, then one must take Sen's quote and use it as the basis for examining the priority countries, to see if a pattern emerges.
All the Irish priority countries are low on Transparency International's ranking. Transparency International is a global body that fights corruption. It ranks Tanzania at 99, the best performer among Irish priority countries, Ethiopia is worst at 130. For comparison Ireland comes in at 18.
Transparency International ranks countries based on how well they do out of 10, where 10 is least corrupt and most transparent. Ireland gets 7.4, while the Irish Aid priority countries score between 2.4 for Tanzania to 2.9 for Ethiopia. Irish Aid would claim it is working in this area by funding projects aimed at civil servants and administrators, but Sen's statement concerning "relatively free press" is often forgotten.
The degree of press freedom that exists is a remarkably good indicator of the health of democracy and civil society. Ireland's priority countries are not necessarily the world's worst countries, though Vietnam and Ethiopia do come low in world rankings. However, none of the priority countries are ranked as free according to press freedom watch-dogs such as Reporters without Frontiers, Freedom House or the International Press Institute.
These rankings are not without their own problems. Reporters without Frontiers last year put Ireland at the top alongside Finland and Iceland as the most free in the world, even though an editor and a reporter face the possibility of prison for publishing material from a tribunal. However, even with reservations, a picture does emerge from an analysis of trends and rankings.
Zambia, for instance, ranked 100, often restricts freedom of speech. The government rejected a proposal in a new constitution that would give access to information and also rejected provisions protecting the media from state interference. Journalists have been harassed and the ruling party leaders have brought cases of criminal libel against journalists. It is also a criminal offence to defame the president.
The International Press Institute last year described Mozambique as "a difficult country to work in as a journalist". Criminal libel is often used against journalists and threats of violence and detention meant news outlets practise self-censorship. The New York based Committee for the Protection of Journalists found that in Ethiopia, another of Ireland's priority countries, 18 journalists were jailed last year, at least 15 of whom were on trial for "anti state" crimes. The government has banned at least eight newspapers and self-censorship is, unsurprisingly, common. Foreign reporters have also been expelled. Among the crimes journalists have been accused of is genocide.
The director of the committee, Joel Simon, in its annual publication, Attacks on the Press, said: "Democracy's foothold in Africa is shallow when it comes to press freedom." He pointed out that a number of countries, including Ethiopia, had won praise before for the progress it had made, but had slid back.
Press freedom and other practices common in democratic countries are not luxuries to be encouraged but are part of the process of dealing with poverty and an important element of good governance. Journalists using professional methods and aware of their role in a democratic society can serve as a warning of things going wrong.
The publication of investigative articles exposing corruption, bribery, the misappropriation of public funds, the abuse of power and fraud, can serve as eye-openers for the public. Journalists have a vital role in uncovering inefficient public services, natural disasters, organised crime; humanitarian and financial aid that fails to reach its intended recipients, as well as performing an essential service in areas such as public health information. Since the collapse of communism, organisations, including the EU, have been funding journalism training and education in the former Soviet Union and the countries of eastern and southeastern Europe, in an effort to encourage the development of democracy. If there is a link between corruption, bad government and poverty, then a vibrant press must be encouraged. If we are to stop famine, disasters, corruption and eventually poverty maybe Irish Aid might consider ensuring that those journalists in Africa who are trying to improve their own societies have the necessary skills and support to do so.
• Michael Foleyis the director of the MA in International Journalism at the Dublin Institute of Technology