which is at least functional, which deals with public claims on the acts of the
media.
Training opportuinities in the field of journalism have also increased, particularly
with the growth and emergence of training institutions, at middle and higher
level, apart from the short courses offered by various bodies. However, it should
be noted that there is still a lack of quality in the courses offered by formal
education institutions, particularly due to the fact that their curricula do not
match the interests and concerns of the market, largely due to the inability of
educational institutions to set up a connection with the journalism market, over
and above the problems of a lack of qualified human resources and practical
experience to teach journalism.
Public Radio still has problems with regard to independence of content and a
Board of Directors which represents the interest of citizens, mainly due to an
Independent Regulatory Body which ensures that public radio works for the
service of citizens. On the one hand, this fact is due to not having ensured any
progress in the proposed broadcasting law, which is still governed by the Press
Law (18/91, of August 10); on the other hand, the dependence of government
public broadcast companies, which get their financing channeled directly by the
Government, through programme contracts signed by RM and TVM with the
Ministry of Finance and top executives nominated by the Government, due to
the fact that these companies are legally considered to be public undertakings, in
applicaiton of Law 17/91 of August 3 1991.
Digital Migration – from analogue to digital – is the other problematic theme
which may endanger the access to information of citizens in Mozambique.
Tthe way in which the process is directed means that there is no clear public
information as to what will be done with regard to compliance with deadlines,
although there are only a few months until the switch-off agreed to by the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Added to this, there are the issues
of the costs for signal conversion, for which the policy of access and marketing is
still not known, publicly, in addition to its means of selling on the market being
beyond the capacity of many citizens.
Finally, in order to overcome these situations which call into question the
media environment, in Mozambique, among various actions, socio-professional
organizations defending the cause of freedom of the press and freedom of
expression must be strengthened, over and above the need to remove all legal
impediments which limit freedom of exrpession and the right to information. It
is also important to encourage the monitoring of ethical issues with recourse to
self-regulatory mechanisms and the application of international instruments of
freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Mozambique.

AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MOZAMBIQUE 2014

65

Select target paragraph3