The 6th Annual National Dialogue on Media Development in Rwanda took place on Friday 5th December 2014. The dialogue, organised by the Media High Council, is one of the Media stakeholders’ national events.

Speaking during the events,  the UNDP Country Director, Auke Lootsma  emphasised that  “the United Nations regards self-regulation as the cornerstone of the 2013 media reforms and as such, as an integral part of realising a free, independent and pluralistic media in Rwanda”

The national dialogue is supported by the One UN in Rwanda under the framework of Deepening Democracy and Accountable Governance Programme.  The UNDP Country Director re-affirmed support for self-regulation in Rwanda, with a call for the government, development partners and the media fraternity to provide the necessary support to ensure a sustainable self-regulatory framework. “Investing in media is investing in Democracy” he said.

Speaking at the opening of the dialogue, The Minister of Local Government Hon.  Francis Kaboneka, who was also the Chief Guest, re-iterated the    “unwavering Government support for as long as it will take to make the Media Self-Regulatory Body stand on its own”.

The theme of the 2014 media dialogue was Two Years after Media Reforms: The Impact Assessment.  Key institutions which the reforms targeted had a chance to present the progress they have made thus far. These included: the Rwanda Media Commission which was created as the media self-regulation, the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency which transformed from a state to public broadcaster, and the Media High Council which changed its mandate from state regulation of the media to capacity building.

Discussion also focused on strategies of uplifting the profile of Rwanda media businesses as a contribution both to democracy and professionalism.

 Participants expressed concern over the poor distribution network of newspapers that curtails media sales, the high cost of printing newspapers, taxation of media inputs, and high cost of using the signal distribution infrastructure of Rwanda Broadcasting Agency by private and community radios.

There was a general consensus that these supply-side operational costs affect media profitability and thus have a negative impact on the economic sustainability of media enterprises.

At the end of the dialogue it was agreed that   media reforms should also focus on proper systems of regulation that would ensure profitability of the media sector.