DZ: Freedom of the press in Zambia is improving. There are now private newspapers and radios and we’re seeing lots of new issues being covered, like corruption. We’re currently pushing to pass a Freedom of Information Act, which was originally introduced in 2002, and then withdrawn. Now lobbying is going on to reintroduce it. And if it’s reenacted, it will allow more access to important information and allow for more freedom for the media and the public.
GO: The press in my country of Nigeria is free. It is acknowledged and respected as the Fourth Estate of the realm. We pride ourselves on having the most vibrant press in sub-Saharan Africa. In Nigeria the media have little interference from government. There are, of course, government-owned media outlets which act as mouthpieces, but a huge chunk of the media are privately owned and liberal.
The government tries to maintain a degree of cordiality with the media. The Nigeria Guild of Editors meets with the president regularly to get the government’s view on burning issues and to talk over knotty points. This has created better understanding between the government and the media. The president also has a media chat with media executives once a month on national television. Though this seems cordial, it does not stop the media from playing their role as the watchdogs of society. The press keeps a good eye on goings-on in the corridors of power and never hesitates to bare its fangs when the need arises. There are often face-offs between the media and the government when the media performs this role.
The media environment is better now than it was under the military. Our democracy is new, and all hands are on deck to ensure that it will survive. We are working on a Freedom of Information Act. The bill has passed through one reading in Parliament. Many elected politicians and government officials understand why the media seem to be preoccupied with the act, but many more are jittery every time they hear of it. They equate accountability with vulnerability, but we are insisting on accountability and honesty.
IWMF: What are some of the greatest challenges you have faced in your career?
DZ: There are very few women in the media in my country. It’s still a challenge for me to work in the media. Not so many women are in management positions for the obvious reason that women journalists are not highly regarded in my country. And there are a lot of other challenges. I have to mix being a professional journalist, mother and wife. It’s really difficult to handle the two roles because time limits the whole process. I need time to be at work, and I work long hours. My family needs me also, so it’s really a challenge, but I think I’m managing it just fine.
GO: The challenges for me as a female journalist in Nigeria are no different from the ones Diana has talked about. Journalism is male dominated. Female journalists are in the company of men all the time. Nigerian society is still very traditional despite the sophistication that is seen on the surface. Women are not expected to be very visible. Society is judgmental and women are easily viewed in a negative way. It therefore tends to be difficult for women to break into the media effectively without losing something. Because of this difficult choice, there are very few women sticking it out long enough to get to high positions in the media. Some, however, manage to keep both home and career running smoothly.
In Nigerian society, women are expected to be married. It is difficult to combine the work that we do as journalists with being wives and mothers. Men like to meet their wives at home when they get back after a hard day’s work. This is hardly possible for female journalists. As a result, many women find themselves dropping out of journalism for less demanding or less visible jobs.
At The Guardian, where I work, I am one of less than a dozen female journalists out of more than 100 journalists. There is an attempt to limit women to beats that are considered less important because of social stereotyping and prejudices. The newspaper may be able to scale down or, in some cases, do without its fashion and cookery page when the woman who runs that page goes on maternity leave or when she calls the office on production day to say, “my child is sick and I have to take him to the hospital.” But these are not the beats that get people far in journalism.
There is also the proverbial “glass ceiling,” beyond which women cannot rise. It takes a woman longer to become an editor than it takes her male colleagues. Many female journalists find this quite frustrating.
A major challenge for me is doing my work effectively without sounding like a social renegade. Society is patriarchal and traditional. Talking about the rights of women involves questioning age-old norms and practices, which have been accepted as the way things should be done. The person who comes along to say “there is a better way” often sounds like a lunatic.
IWMF: Where have you found the inspiration to keep moving forward?
DZ: I’ve found the inspiration to move forward from a lot of women journalists whom I’ve found working at the newspaper, though most of them are no longer there. I just want to be an example to other women that there is nothing that is impossible to achieve if you set your mind on it. That’s why I’m determined to go forward no matter what hardships I might feel during the course of duty. I know that I can make it. I’ve made it so far and I’m determined to go on and finish and succeed in my work and open up the way for other women, so that they should not fear to work in the media if they want to. What men can do, they can also do, and maybe even do it better.
GO: My inspiration comes from Nigerian women. I feel that they deserve much more than they are getting from society. I think they deserve a pride of place in the socio-political mainstream, which they are very far from right now. I think their general lot should be bettered. I think that this will happen faster if there are women like me in positions where we can say “let’s assign so and so pages to women’s issues,” “let’s write this editorial to promote the cause of women,” or “let us do this story to promote this female achiever.” My work in the last couple of years has mainly been about following up on Nigerian women who are making an impact in politics, in business, in the professions or in whatever field of endeavor in which they may be engaged. I interview them and such interviews create awareness that women indeed have something to contribute to society if they are given the chance. This way, I think society will be encouraged to put more women in positions of influence. Gradually, people will realize that the best man for the job is often a woman.
IWMF: What is the impact of the IWMF fellowship on your careers?
DZ: There isn’t a newspaper organization in Zambia that has an established health desk and I know that health issues right now are paramount, but they don’t get the coverage that they deserve. My intention has always been that of establishing a health desk at the Zambian Daily Mail. I hope by the time I leave here I will have the necessary equipment in terms of knowledge, in terms of capacity, to be able to go back home and convince my bosses that the time to establish a health desk is now.
Zambia currently is facing a lot of challenges in the health arena, but because of restrictions we don’t get the issues about health that people want to hear out there. Preference is always given in newspapers to political issues and other hard news, so the only way that we can be able to do that is if we have pages that will specifically provide space for health issues. With the International Women’s Media Foundation fellowship, I hope that I’ll be able to go out there and convince my bosses to look into this issue.
GO: I expect to go back at the end of the fellowship vibrant and refreshed with new tools to do my job more effectively and a new capacity to take on fresh challenges. My managing director at The Guardian was very pleased to learn from the IWMF letter that I was one of two women selected out of 40 that applied for the fellowship. The week before I left Nigeria, I was promoted from assistant editor to editor of the Living Section. I also look forward to going back home with new skills to take on this challenge effectively.