BROWN ENVELOPES AS A PANACEA TO LOW SALARY INCOME IN TANZANIAN MEDIA INDUSTRY AND AFRICA AT LARGE.

Abstract

In today’s world where the economy is pinching, depending upon your monthly salary is next to nothing. Instead, extra curricular activities that are income generating are highly encouraged to support your family. Journalist in Tanzania would hardly depend upon their salaries alone except if they have only an item on their life agenda “Survival”. But the sad part is that they cannot make a life agenda without affecting their family members; “it’s either, or”. With little time to involve in other extra curricular income generating activities that are genuine, they would opt, but for one option which is ‘lesser evil’, Brown Envelope Journalism.

Key Words: brown envelope, low salary, Tanzania, panacea, lesser evil, corruption

Introduction

The notion of Brown Envelope Journalism is one that has been discussed at length by many scholars who in one way or another have come to a consensus definition. Lodamo and Terje in their article acknowledge the fact that Brown Envelope Journalism is internationally known.

According to them, it is some kind of media practice where journalists are paid by their sources for covering news. Whether this could be considered corruption or not, is what is difficult to say (Surprisingly no scholar has ever called it corruption although Terje and Londamo equate it to bribery). The basic reality is that this practice has gained fame by acquiring various euphemistic names like “bonus journalism” (Frère, 2001, p. 62), “oiling hands” (Kasoma, 2000, p. 96), “Payola” (Biagi S, 1994, p. 134) and “cocktail journalism” (Akinfeleye, 2007). In Tanzania, the recognized term “sitting fee” describes the allowance paid by organizers to journalists for showing up at an event and staying until it is over. “Blessing fee” is the equivalent term used in Ethiopia when the Orthodox Church is involved (Londamo and Terje).

Brown envelopes has also acquired some kind of sarcastic terms in local African vernacular which a Journalist would not be comfortable being associated to, such as gatu in Liberia (Berger, 2002, p. 26), soli in Ghana (Diedong, 2006; Hasty, 2005a), coupage in DRC (AMDI, 2006, p. 43), gombo in Cameroon (Ndangam, 2006; Tagne, 1996), ndalama yamatako in Zambia (Kasoma, 2009), a variety of terms in Nigeria: keske, kua, gbalamu, and egunje (Adio, 2001), and mshiko in Tanzania (Mfumbusa, 2008). All these terms have a negative connotation. For instance mshiko in Tanzania has a connotation of corruption or some unethical practice to acquire money.

What is commonly understood by many scholars is that brown envelope is poisonous to journalistic practice although it has never in some sense been equated to corruption. There is however an overall agreement that it compromises our journalistic values like truthfulness and objectivity (Biaje 1994) and (Kasoma 1994). Surprisingly, almost all ‘aggravated terms’ stamped no Brown Envelope journalism are initiated by media practitioners themselves. For instance, Zambian term ndalama yamatako (Kasoma, 2009), literally meaning money of the buttocks, has a connotation of ‘Sitting allowance’. However, today, the term is dying out and it is being replaced by nichekeleko which literally means ‘cut a piece for me’. In Tanzania as well, mshiko in a denotative manner would not be considered an aggravated term as Terje and Landamo consider them, but simply meaning something that you can hold in your hands. This however has gained a bad connotation of a negative term rushwa which would mean corruption. Thus, what is observed is that Brown envelope is an ‘accepted practice in Tanzania and Africa at large. According to Mwesige (2004: 90) the practice is condoned by editors and media managers.

Hence, the questions that arise are,

RQ1:   Could we still have journalists that do without Brown Envelope Journalism?

RQ2:   Is Brown Envelope Journalism really evil and an impediment to good journalistic practice?

Purpose of Study

The main purpose of this study is to inquire whether brown envelope journalism is really evil and whether journalists can genuinely do without it. This study also analyses the journalists’ reasons to embarking on brown envelope journalism with a basic focus on their salaries and family lives in general. In conclusion, the study will also embark on the professional portrait of journalists in Tanzania and their quest for ethics.

Literature review and Research

Reviewing some schorlary literature on Brown Envelope Journalism prove futile in some sense. There is little or almost nothing written down on brown envelope journalism that can be relied upon, except as a ‘by the way thing’. However, scholarly articles like those of Twange Kasoma (2009), Bernadin Mfumbusa (2008), Londamo and Terje (2008) are of great help and probably the only official ones. This implies that the major source of this research was based on interviewing media practitioners and direct observation.

Methodology

The research was conducted among journalists working in government-owned, privately owned freelancers and religiously owned media in a period of three months from June to August 2010. In all these, we focused on knowing their risk of involvement in Brown Envelope Journalism, Their perception of it, how much they earn per month and how much their basic expenditure is per month. This research was done for both print and electronic media houses. Thus, at least one of each type was taken for ownership as a sample, implying that for each ownership, six people were interviewed leading to a sample size of 24 individuals. Since the case was considered sensitive and data was given directly during in-depth interviews, many interviewees suggested that their identities and media houses be concealed if data was to be published. With this sample size, the response was 100 percent with no wastage especially that the interview was done one-to-one. The respondents and interviewees were stratified and purposely selected largely by snowball sampling.

What then is Brown Envelope Journalism

The English term “brown envelope” refers to an occurrence in the UK in the late 1980s when businessman Mohammed Al Fayed paid a Member of Parliament (MP) to pose questions in the House of Commons. The story was investigated by The Guardian’s reporter Jonathan Hunt, who came to expose the color of the envelope used when the MP was bribed as being brownish; and thus the term “brown envelope.” The term later came to mean bribery in journalism when journalists were paid by sources or other actors (Forbes, 2005, p. 62) in (Londamo and Terje, 2009). Thus from this perspective, Londamo and Terje define Brown Envelope Journalism as  direct financial offerings that journalists receive from sources and agencies for a certain journalistic undertaking, either in the form of cash, surplus per diem, or similar forms.

Many scholars have come up with different definitions of Brown Envelope Journalism. However, they concede on one thing that it is a poisonous practice in a journalistic environment. This implies that although it is tolerated even by media managers and editors (Mwesige 2004) and demanded for by journalist without shame as their right; as in an incidence shared by a World Food Program (WFP) source who revealed that Journalists in Zambia almost manhandled the ‘visibly shaken’ WFP country director for not offering brown envelopes after a coverage (Kasoma 2009), the practice is condemned. It is considered bribery in day light as revealed by many who confess that it compromises a journalist’s objectivity. One responded had this to say:

I acknowledge the effects of brown envelope journalism but I always wonder what I would do about it. Consider my meager allowance and how I would sustain myself, my family at home, pay bills, and even consider my extended relatives that I take care of. My salary is just nothing at all.

In another interview, the responded disclosed that he realized the side effects of brown envelope journalism but it is not as evil as people think. Thus she said:

People equate brown envelope to bribery or corruption, but I would never call it that way. We really demand for brown envelopes when we are covering a conflicting issue; that is a different case, and in that way, somebody would directly threaten the source with publication of the opposing side when they refused to cooperate. However, with brown envelopes, we only demand for sitting allowances when we are invited to cover a launching especially. “I would be so stupid to ask for a brown envelope if I went to cover a normal news story like from a company”.

As interviewed, every respond