Are the headlines were back in half an hour right now its the listening post. Overthrow and exiled point again saying it will all. Reach a new and intimate film about the struggle of the elected leader of madagascar to return to his country and reinstate his presidency you know is that true. And we all know do you think it is that all the long winter change the return of a president on aljazeera. Right thats 1. 5. Countries. Hello im Richard Burton youre at the listening post here are some of the media stories were covering this week the protests in lebanon a multifaceted story that many of the countrys news outlets want no part of in ethiopia a showdown between a media mogul and the winner of the Nobel Peace PrizePrime Minister. Postcolonial residue governments in Subsaharan Africa are still using the laws that the colonists left behind to silence journalists and never mind the tear gas it is lebannon after all and the beats must go on for a week and a half now the streets of lebanon have been jammed with protesters the biggest antigovernment demonstrations there for 15 years among the aspects of this story that stand out although it has since grown into a nationwide movement against a government corruption and economic mismanagement these protests were triggered by talk of a new tax on whatsapp and other internet cull Services LikeFacebook Messenger and face time secondly while so much of lebanese politics is sectarian there is nothing factional about these demonstrations the issues are economic the protesters are a nonsectarian coalition not that you would know that watching some of the Television Channels coming out of beirut unlike the movement they are supposed to be covering much of lebanons media is split along sectarian lines some of the more independent outlets have jumped on this story but those controlled by politicians have been spinning downplaying or just ignoring the unrest thats what happens when the media play a central part in a system that so many citizens are trying to. Our starting point this week is beirut. Watching television in lebanon these days on some channels at least is like watching a nation talking to itself. The channels like and t. V. Are just running constantly on the interviews of the crowd basically telling the crowd to just. Talk about what happened to their family their story. I mean. These reporters they stand there and people just warm around them and wait for their turn. The others argue it does about me. What it is they feel good about it talking about issues local issues bigger issues like you know having sectarian political system driven by warlords. It is that system the protestors are out to change. But it was Economic IssuesPower Outages water shortages and proposed new taxes on the basics like fuel wheat even online phone calls on platforms such as whats the 1st brought people onto the streets which is where the domestic media come in with their built in bias lebanese politics and power are carved up between political factions the president comes from a christian per the Prime Ministers Office is reserved for a sunni muslim and a shia muslim always gets to be speaker of the parliament some of lebanons biggest. Channels t. V. The future of t. V. And the n. B. A. Are owned by who are aligned with those political parties. Then there is has bombers t. V. And the state on channel telly both of which downplayed the demonstrations or ignored activists stormed talibans offices in protest 3 other privately owned channels apparently with agendas of their own l b c m t v and al judy have all provided wall to wall coverage of the unrest. In the media landscape. By a handful of. About 12 families or control the entire. Interview which is affiliated to the president s party on the very 1st night of the demonstration or to view was broadcast. On the ground have been forced to remove their logos from the microphone because protestors have some refused to speak to them every single media every single newspaper has a particular political slant so it comes as no surprise that the facing the front of them would not want to be broadcasting the protests with as much as m. T. V. And that are on the other side politically when we look at media we need to understand that Live Television is one of the keep the form of media and so the majority of the stations with the exception of tele ball is out broadcasting the channel. Which is tied to the speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri also one of the powerful figures this channel has no reporters in the ground they are getting a shot of the crowd and whenever they hear a protest chant they dont like they actually mute the sound of the entire broadcast. So its hilarious to just turn on channel and its really their speech that these channels are literally speeches and b n n l a t v and others al not trying to direct whats happening so that cause they have pundits on air and they kind of dip in and out of the protest very strategically in this fight their best efforts they still cant really control and direct the crowd but theyre trying very hard to do so. Spare a thought for lebanons Prime Minister saad hariri future t. V. Channel his family controls suspended operations rost month due to Financial Difficulties hariri must feel like hes at a political gunfight factional free for all having been suddenly disarmed of his own channel. Given all the criticism old t. V. Has been taking for its coverage we asked for an interview we were told there an official at the Free Patriotic Movement president michel party could speak for the channel that official defended old t. V. s journalism and directed our attention elsewhere to the coverage on l b c m. T. V. And. All t. V. Is caught in the midst of this is taking the pulse of the state sending a bit porters sometimes to all stars surroundings and use for reporters to be cursed and asked. Because theyre hard to be. From the government side which is the case some of the stations was part of it mostly inciting people whereas usually you get all of the media is to just think the pulse of the city and implode what is happening look at international t. V. Stations and you see a t. V. Station and inviting people to go on manifestations will bush and bush little know what the comfort of this is how it should be done. We looked for examples of what had just described channels inciting citizens to join the demonstrations although we found now the deed has tweeted out videos of lebanese celebrities urging the channels followers to go out on the streets and some of those channels reporters have lost or at least parked their objectivity on this story. And if you got a good. Deed correspondent to be a for example went viral after helping a protester escape arrest while she was live on the air as she was a talking to another demonstrator a young man was called out of the crowd by assuming security forces. What she said at the time was that she had seen the same man distributing food to other the newspapers the thing and that she knew she had to take the stand on the side. I think was a commendable moment as journalists were often pushed towards this creed of objective if you are asked. But in reality journalism should be a service in the Public Interest and this is. And i think this is precisely why this moment by all. The prevailing distrust lebanese have in their Mainstream Media has led them to lean on social media to share information but unlike the arab spring and regardless of the whats at bangle this is no Facebook Revolution in some ways its bigger than the millions of lebanese of all sects are not just out to bring down a dictator or a mere government they want to overthrow a system terry into the cold right down to the t. V. Channels that are supposed to be telling their story theyre basically. Regardless of what our politicians tell us no matter how our media choose to report levanon doesnt have to be this way. But if it came down the media. Is Strong Enough back to dialogue with the alternative Political Group because there seems to be representation in the right alternative to the current political leaders of. Their. Political fight that are better equipped better rounded that have legitimacy from the people and they need to be given a stronger voice in the Mainstream Media so that we can actually lead our country forward. To looking at other media stories that are on our radar this week with one of our producers tara tara 2 weeks ago the ethiopian Prime Minister met wins the Nobel Peace Prize he helped forge that peace deal with neighboring eritrea ending a military stalemate that lasted 20 years and this past week a major media owner in the country says that hes now being targeted by government agents whats the story so richard this is a story about 2 powerful men in a new and a relationship that looks like its gone from the Prime Minister took power in 2018 after wave of government protests and like you say hes just been awarded a nobel prize one. Rival was at the time and obama for putins the media mogul you mentioned that he was a journalist and. A controversial figure for a lot of people but very much credited as a galvanizing force ethiopians he said videos and protests strategies from his living room coming newsroom in minnesota after. A very influential player with a formidable new station his disposal the iran. Media network this is hard to was the surprise of the Prime Minister when we spoke to him last year the kind of freedom that weve seen it will be today is unprecedented that everybody has this doubt in their mind is this is this a dream is it going to last is this guy going to go into another dictator where went hunting would support him but were going to hold his feet to the fire as well because there are a lot of promises he must kill so thats to our own Prime Minister in july 28th now on tuesday the Prime Minister issued a thinly veiled threat to jawad in Parliament Saying if he continues to stir from arrest and undermine peace the government would quote take measures sounds like it didnt take long for those measures to take place well joe was that later that evening a group of Police Officers showed up at south after midnight tried to dismiss his security detail and there was a kind of confrontation. Goes on facebook and lets not forget this is the guy who mobilized the masses in 2018 and thanks to his 1750000 followers by wednesday morning there were thousands on the streets including outside his home which you could say is rather convenient timing because this week also hinted who run for Prime Minister next the government meanwhile has categorically denied try to arrest him or harm im sure the nobel people will be watching with interest from stockholm thanks to our. Next were moving to a media story whose roots date back to the late 19th century european powers were setting sail for africa sweeping across the continent colonizing country after country once they took power they wrote laws designed to ensure that the colonised would not rise up against the colonizers laws that could also be used to silence censor intimidate or jail journalists who refused to toe the line come the late 1950 s. Africans began revolting and over the next decade or 2 most countries would win their independence however much of the colonial legislation remains in place and there is now a growing list of journalists in Subsaharan Africa falling afoul of those laws and they were never written with contemporary democratic societies in mind the listening posts nick knew or had now on the colonial era laws that still determine what can and cannot be reported in parts of Subsaharan Africa. 2018 in the democratic republic of congo a newspaper editors that was funny was jailed for publishing articles critical of a bank she was prosecuted under a defamation law dating back to 940 when the d r c was a belgian called in november 2 10165 zambian radio journalists were arrested for allegedly calling a member of the ruling party a useless person they were charged under section 179 of the zambian penal code which dates back to British Colonial times and in another former british colony courts one makani a newspaper editor at the sunday standard published a report that the former president was involved in a late night car crash he was charged with sedition i told my lawyer you know what i am going to plead guilty to say he should. Because i believe i did that i think and if its still be it but there was a change of government and the government decided to drop the charges against me but i was very disappointed that the to the charges because they had to go with the only opportunity we had to challenge the constitutionality of this edition so sedition. Compared to ls our fans of defamation which are much more used to is very specific to care. Sedition it is people at the pinnacle of power in any society there are sanctions is that the said comments remarks views expressed have the potential of causing and National Security threat or a public order threat one suspects that because the the newspaper was so independent then had been writing about other matters that was clearly upset in the government of the day that they used that as an excuse to move against the journalists the irony of course is that the world looks at that and sees it as a best of democracy and stable rule in Subsaharan Africa and yet some fortunately sedition still remains a crime in botswana and it is used to close down the democratic space. Which is by design colonial era last werent written to protect democracy but to limit dissent when countries like britain france and belgium established the african colonies in the late 19th century the new colonial administrations expected journalists who were almost exclusively white and mostly compliant to highlight the achievements of government perpetuating the notion of african dependence on colonialism they also want to be opponents silenced and a Legal Framework was created so that. When the colonize ation process began in the late 1950 s. An african governments started coming into power securing independence was the priority not Media Freedom and the new leader is so valued in the lords that they inherited what happened after independence when our leaders took over before they were calling for a free media but after they changed they decided