...

Interesting photo.

A woman, possibly African, speaks with a black veil over her face.

Why should this be so?

Is it because she is personally ashamed? Maybe she has HIV/AIDS?

Or maybe she speaks out against corruption, and fears for her life?

Why, too, should this be so?

Answers to these two questions, and the headline query, lies in the fact that media and communication are different ... and, with respect, should forever be kept separate.

In today's world, political and corporate leaders love 'communication' but hate 'media' - witness the billions spent worldwide on communications, often a euphemism for public relations, poorly disguised or otherwise.

Compare that with the steady erosion of independent media over the last three decades, since Watergate, when corporates began their buy up of newspapers, radio and television with vengeance, determining that journalists needed reining in. Impeach the president? The nerve!

The two terms have become hopelessly intertwined - such as in ICT4D - diluting the respective benefits of each. As an independent journalist I am, perhaps surprisingly, fully in favour of 'communications' and 'public relations' for governments and corporates, because few leaders are media savvy. That makes it easier for journalists to extract 'gotcha' moments from politicians and fat cats, but do such moments add more heat than light?

I am even more in favour of the two fields being firewalled and openly classified for what they are, news versus views.

This might risk divide and conquer tactics, but I do not believe that journalism can recover by endlessly mixing with government and corporate communications programmes. Cooperation between the two areas should be on the basis of two strong and separate institutions.

That way, the confusion that Feek refers to is replaced with clarity, rather than just claret at all those communication conferences!

And that way, independent media can play a greater role representing the voiceless, including women with black veils over their face, hiding in shame and pain.

...