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American
author Mark Twain once quoted a Mauritian as saying that heaven was copied
after this Indian
Ocean island paradise. Mauritius is cited today as one of the few havens
of press freedom in Africa, but for Raj Meetarbhan, left, editor-in-chief of the
island's largest newspaper L'Express, the country is fast
losing its glow.Meetarbhan was literally shaking with anger one recent day as I walked into his newspaper's office in Riche Terre, just outside of Port Louis, the island's largest city.
He had just been visited by two senior police
officers who, he told me, were trying to strong-arm him into publishing, on the
front page, a retraction to a story his paper had published a few days earlier
on corruption. "We published a story a few days ago on alleged unethical
business practices and corruption by a company whose owner is a very close
friend of our prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam," he
said. The company sent a rebuttal that was published in the newspaper within
three days as required by law. "And now, today, I have received this visit from
two senior policemen harassing me for not publishing the company's response on
the front page of the newspaper!" exclaimed Meetarbhan.
L'Express, which publishes in Creole
and English and has a daily circulation of 40 000, is owned by the private
media group La Sentinelle, which holds L'Express
Dimanche, 5 Plus Dimanche, and Radio
One in its stable. What did Meetarbhan think was going to happen next? "Well
I really don't know. I could be arrested or they could continue to harass me...I
don't know but we have to stand up to this repression of the media," he
responded.
In
an interview with CPJ, Dan Callikhan, director of the state-run Mauritian
Broadcasting Corporation, MBC, rejected any suggestion that the
media was being repressed in Mauritius. "Freedom of the press is very old and very
concrete in the Mauritian psyche. There are certainly no threats against media
freedom," he declared. "The prime minister is very clear that freedom of
expression is critical but that it must come with responsibility," he added.
Still,
a 2008
report of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) quoted Ramgoolam as calling
for stricter measures to control the press during an address to the National
Assembly on November 20, 2007. The report quoted the prime minister as saying
that it would be "totally in order for legislation to be introduced with a view
to strengthening existing provisions aimed at preventing abuse of freedom of
the press amounting to unwarranted intrusion in the privacy of citizens and
scurrilous and defamatory, if not untrue, allegations against citizens of our
country."
The
comments referenced the case of three journalists--Editor-in-Chief
Gérard Cateaux of the private weekly Week-End,
and reporters Josian Valère andAnabelle Volbert of Radio Plus--who were arrested a few months earlier on
charges of publishing false news in connection with a story that said a large
sum of money was found in a officer's locker at a police station. The three,
the first journalists to be arrested in the country in 13 years, were released
on bail and charges were eventually dropped.
The
government views La Sentinelle Group as supporting opposition leader Paul
Berenger, an assertion denied by Meetarbhan. Tensions between the media group
and the administration began to mount in 2006 following the group's critical
coverage of the Ramgoolam party's campaign efforts during parliamentary
elections, he said. "When Ramgoolam won, during a media briefing, he publicly
warned the editors of L'Express that
they would now pay the price for supporting the opposition," he added.
In
May 2010, the group petitioned the Supreme Court to issue an injunction preventing
state officials from denying its journalists access to public events. This came
after the deputy prime minister and minister of finance, Rashid Beebeejaun,
barred a Radio One journalist from attending a press conference at Government
House. A few days later, the minister for foreign affairs, Arvind Boolell,
refused to allow a photographer working with L'Express to cover a ceremony involving French and Mauritian
officials on Tromelin Island. An out-of-court-settlement was reached between the
two parties, and journalists from the La Sentinelle Group were once again
allowed to cover government events. In a June 2010 editorial, Touria Prayag, editor of
the L'Express English service, asked:
"The tug-of-war between La Sentinelle
and the political leaders holding the levers of state power has come to an end.
Or has it?"
The
price, according to Meetarbhan, was a directive from the prime minister's office
to Air Mauritius and Mauritius Telecommunications, in which the state owns
majority shares, to stop placing advertising in any of the group's newspapers
and to stop carrying the newspapers on Air Mauritius flights. "This has been
hugely damaging to us and we have lost millions in revenue. The only way we
have survived is because we are a popular newspaper; otherwise, we would have
been forced to close down."
Callikhan
points out an increase in the number of privately owned newspapers as evidence
of a vibrant press climate. But is the press freedom climate also strong? In a June 2010 editorial, Prayag wrote: "Did we
really need a court judgement, a judge, a string of lawyers, and the attorney
general to tell us that journalists should be allowed into government offices
for press conferences held by government ministers in a country which misses no
opportunity to boast about the freedom of the press and access to information?"
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Dear Shehnilla,
Thats a great article we have here. I am so impressed by the way you put things. The facts above are completely true. Mauritius need more freedom of expression.
I believe in free n open journalism and mechanisms to convey real news by the people for the people. Therefore, I have created a site where anyone can post their feelings, opinions or frustrations on subjects like mauritian politics etc... It is also a place where members of mauritius police can voice out their problems. As the case is, the police has lots of stuff to voice out, but are often afraid of being oppressed by senior officials.
Please visit my website and post an article if you would like to.
www.mauriblog.org
Thanks,
Shakeel
Site Editor/Moderator - Mauriblog
You got one thing wrong. The minister of finance is not dr beebeejaun but pravind jugnauth. Not much to choose from in truth. What needs to be added is that a large conglomerate close to government (in a cute throw back to real colonial politics, it is labelled as both british and american) has been , since the last elections were won in may 2010,on the warpath, itself boycotting la sentinelle of adverts and buying sentinelle shareholders at high prices with a view to improve its influence.It also seems to have used facade companies ( and straw men ) to attempt a take over radio one. Why the facade ?because it already has a 40 per cent interest in another radio-which should not be by law since they also own newspapers.
Therein lies the other point : callikhan and his crowd have been pointing to a number of NEW newspapers to suggest that press freedom is doing fine. Actually, those newspapers are actually either totally subservient to government's interests, or are hell bent in destabilising the free press ( defi group, week end and la sentinelle) or indeed onky have the purpose of "collecting" government adverts even though they have hardly any newspaper sales.
Clearly, a free press is very inconvenient in a country where news includes the minister of finance s family selling an old,closed clinic under an uregency certificate, for rs 144 million , ie TWICE the price initially evaluated by the chief government valuer; very dubious , but very kindly distributions of government land to party agents ( eg the Banghaleea case, a driver of Mauritius Telecoms who got his hands on 20 odd arpents of beachside land which he sold for Rs 200m , pocketing the money in Switzerland or avery long leasehold being given over to an indian company called Neo Town , the lease conditions being such that their chairman was glib enough to suggest they amounted to " a steal " !
Is it surprising then that instead of looking after challenges with traffic,water, education, drugs, law n order, that the prime minister should spend so much time destabilising, criticising and focusing on the "press" as its ultimate nemesis ?
Maybe not....