THERE WILL BE INK - Initiative for Policy Dialogue

journalists in these countries that focus exclusively on the extractives. We felt that findings onbusiness journalism could easily be applied to journalism on the extractives. Indeed, in countries likeNigeria, it is impossible to cover the economy without covering the extractives.Much has been written about the challenges facing journalists in the countries we visited. Ourresearch, we believe, has refreshed that knowledge and deepened it with personal accounts frompeople in the industry. What is unique to our project is our canvassing of journalist trainingprograms in Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda, an effort that has not, to our knowledge, been previouslyattempted.We wish to be extremely careful when speaking about the findings of this report in a general sense.A common fallacy in much writing about Africa is the tendency to generalize about countries acrossthe continent. The three countries in our study have distinct histories and political and economicclimates. There are huge differences in the size of each country’s populations and in the specifichurdles each faces in achieving development goals. In fact, the countries do not even necessarilyshare all the same goals.The countries do have some things in common. Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda are all English-speakingAfrican countries whose extractive industries form an important part of their respective economies.The United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Report of 2007/2008categorizes all three as low developed countries. 2 Other than these similarities, there are large andimportant differences between the countries’ contexts.MethodologyA team of six students and one professor conducted the research over the course of the winter andspring of 2009. One student each traveled to Ghana and Uganda, while four traveled to Nigeria,which has by far the largest population, extractive industry and media industry of the threecountries. Researchers visited Ghana, Uganda and Nigeria for two weeks in January 2009, and madea second trip to Nigeria for two weeks in March 2009.Researchers used standardized interview formats for most interviewees. There were differentquestions for journalists who had reported on the extractive industries and for those who had not,and a separate set of questions for editors. Questions were divided into two main categories:challenges that journalists face in their jobs, and their reflections on training programs in which theyhad participated. Interview questions are attached to this report in Appendix D.These standardized interviews lasted between 45 minutes and an hour and a half each. Researchesconducted most interviews at the offices of publications and media outlets. We made an effort,however, to avoid interviewing journalists in the presence of superiors, as we felt this couldinfluence their answers. We conducted some interviews by international phone calls, and wherepossible we have indicated this in the report. Please note that interviewee quotes are presented inseveral different ways throughout this report. Some journalists and professionals agreed to beinterviewed only on the condition that their names are kept confidential. Thus we have named someinterviewees but given general descriptions to others.2 United Nations Development Program Human Development Report 2007/2008, http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/1.html.– 3 –