As far as Madagascar is concerned, its media are more used for political purposes than for development ones. As authorities keep a close eye on information, the latter becomes the monopoly of the State and the journalists. The proliferation of media over the past 10 years requires more responsibility from national media so that the main roles of media namely informing, educating and entertainin can be respected and balanced. As media are part of the population’s daily consumed products, they directly influence their behaviors, their ways of thinking and can forge a mentality depending on the way in which information is conveyed to this audience.
Financial constraints, editorial lines, political pressure can be the underlying causes of the incomplete information disseminated by these news organizations because complete information requires time for in-depth work similar to what is needed for investigative journalism. Some journalists do their best to do their work appropriately, but this may fall short or deviate from the objective when their investigations are limited to denunciations and factual exposures only, without revealing relevant information, because working for the society, they have the duty to expose information likely to help the public to get the truth and, in return, to react in the right way.
In this « Press Tour » program in coordination with the United States Embassy in Madagascar / Comoros, the NGO ILONTSERA plans to put its expertise at the service of this partnership in the information section. Indeed, the community is overwhelmed by « information » which indeed are not reliable information as journalists limit themselves to telling facts only. Yet, complete information doesn’t interfere with the editorial line of the news organization at all if the journalist controls the choice of the coverage angle.
With a view to providing reliable information for public interest , the NGO ILONTSERA intends to support the United States Embassy in Madagascar / Comoros to strengthen the capacities of a group of journalists to cover, to produce a health report more specifically on USAID projects, namely Malaria in the DIANA region. In order for all the parameters to be met in order to access all the information and procedures of USAID in carrying out its activities, the mission will be carried out during the period of Malaria, that is to say between October and November 2021.