.....(Hal-ku-dhigyo Dhaxal-gal Noqday) = ..... President, C/raxmaan A. Cali: ''Jamhuuriyadda Somaliland dib ayay ula soo Noqotay Qaran-nimadeedii sidaa awgeed, waa dal xor ah oo gooni u taagan maanta (18/05/1991) laga bilaabo''...>>>>> President, Maxamad I.Cigaal:''Jiritaanka Jamhuuriyadda Somaliland'' Waa mid waafaqsan xeerasha u-degsan Caalamka! Sidaa darteed, waa Qaran xaq u leh in Aduunku aqoonsado''...>>>>> President, Daahir R. Kaahin: ''Jamhuuriyadda Somaliland waa dal diimuqraadi ah oo caalamka ka sugaya Ictiraafkiisa''...>>>>> President, Axmed M. Siilaanyo: ''Jamhuuriyadda Somaliland, Boqol sano haday ku qaadanayso helista Ictiraafkeedu way Sugaysaa! Mar dambena la midoobi mayso Somalia-Italia''.....[***** Ha Jirto J.Somaliland Oo Ha Joogto Waligeed *****].....

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Somaliland: Is there a spin doctor in the house?

In May Somaliland celebrated its independence. It's not surprising if this fact passed you by – the lack of a government communications unit means the country missed out on getting its story told in the international media. Much as we might deride the heavy-handedness of certain government spin doctors on the continent, the fact is they perform a vital function in facilitating government-press relations. Last month, the little breakaway republic of Somaliland celebrated 20 years of de facto, if not legal, independence from Somalia. The country has a lot to celebrate, particularly in the context of the complete breakdown of the state next door. Where Somalia has civil war and pirates, Somaliland has a functioning government, a thriving business community and, those most elusive of commodities in this part of the world, peace and security. I was in Hargeisa for the independence day celebrations, covering them for one of the major newswires.

It wasn’t easy. Despite the fact that the events were pointedly directed at the international community, with long speeches outlining why Somaliland should be recognised as an independent country, and huge banners printed in English, French and Arabic rather than Somali (so the international community could understand, I was told), there was almost no international media coverage of the events. And it’s not as if there was no news hook. It was the opportunity for some rare good news to come out of Somalia, on a significant day for the country, with plenty of good images and the opportunity for good interviews. Every publication I spoke to about the events was keen on covering them in some form or another.

And the Somaliland government wanted coverage - it really did. Cabinet ministers would come up to me, shake my hand and thank me for being at the events. My presence was so exciting that the state-run TV interviewed me for their news bulletin, and I was front-page news the next day in one of the newspapers, misspelled name and all – that or there was another bloke with bad hair running around Hargeisa named Seminal Elson, who looks a lot like me and holds similar views. Everybody wanted to help. Thing is, no one knew how to.

Media management, particularly in today’s frenzied media environment, is an art form, and it is one that most governments get wrong, sometimes spectacularly (South Africa’s chief government spokesman Jimmy Manyi being the best current example of this). But there are a few basics that every government should observe if it wants to retain even a modicum of control over the stories being published. And by control, I’m not talking about censorship, but rather the ability to exercise the rights that every government, institution or individual should have: to have their side heard, clearly and fairly, to be given the chance to put their position across, to correct facts and provide relevant information.

To do this, somebody in the government has to be responsible for the media. This was Somaliland’s problem. While the ministers and the civil servants were all enthusiastic about my presence, none of them really knew how to go about getting me what I wanted (facts, interviews, access), which meant that getting hold of this stuff was a lot more difficult than it should have been. Moreover, the government was working to its own deadlines and didn’t really take news deadlines into account. For example, after much pushing and prodding, I eventually got myself an interview with Somaliland’s President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo. The only problem was, the interview was four days after the independence day celebrations so the news hook had been lost, and the interview was picked up by only a handful of publications rather than the significant number who would have used it if they’d received it on independence day itself.

Having said that, Somaliland was lucky it received any coverage at all, having taken no steps to make sure the international media even knew about the event. Again, not because they didn’t want to, but because no one in government – people who are all specialists in their own fields, and doing a pretty good job by most accounts – was familiar with the processes by which media attention is generated. Doing so would not have been difficult: A press release takes about 10 minutes to write and it’s a pretty fundamental part of how most media outlets operate. Unless the media know something is happening, they can’t report on it.

And, given Somaliland’s rather obscure location, and how difficult it is to get here, the government should have been on top of providing international journalists with materials to help them cover the story – photos from the day, audio and translations of speeches, basic historical information, telephone interviews and so on. These are the basics organisers of most international events will arrange to make it as easy as possible for journalists to cover a story, and Somaliland – for which media coverage is a vital part of its quest for international recognition – needs to drastically up its game.

In short, it needs a media office, headed by a media officer who understands how journalists and the media operate. Although government spin doctors are frequently derided in the press, particularly when they overstep their remit and start trying to manipulate the news rather than merely facilitate it, they perform an essential function in any government or institution that wants to get its story out there and are vital in allowing journalists to do their jobs. As I was shunted from office to office around the government buildings of Hargeisa, I wished dearly for a spin doctor who had the authority to get things done, and who understood that what I needed – quotes for my story and a good location for my photographer – was also in the best interests of a government desperate for international attention.

Somaliland missed a trick because of its nonexistent media management. The question is: How many other stories are being missed because governments don’t know how to communicate with journalists? South Africa's Manyi is fond of complaining that journalists don’t bother covering all the good things the government is doing. He’s missing the point. The news priorities of overworked journalists and editors are first and foremost what is interesting, and secondly what is easy to cover (it shouldn’t be so, of course, but too often it is). This is a particular problem for African governments, whose media management is often unsophisticated. Governments who want better coverage need to improve their communication with the media.

A great example of this is Rwanda, which has so mastered the art of public relations that the country enjoys a stellar reputation in the developing world. No coincidence, this; the country employs a high-powered London public-relations firm to burnish its image, and the results have been impressive. In a 2009 report, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative noted that Rwanda has an excellent PR apparatus that has been successful in “persuading the key members of the international community that it has an exemplary constitution emphasising democracy, power-sharing, and human rights which it fully respects”.

Rwanda, of course, is the other extreme. The report went on to note that “the truth is, however, the opposite” of its projected image. Rwanda’s slick PR hides a multitude of sins, but it nonetheless demonstrates how important it is for governments to have a proper media team for getting stories out. And as for how those stories are covered – well, that’s where good journalism is supposed to come in

By Simon Allison.

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