Former CBC journo Claude Adams tears a strip off John Honderich over the latter's dealings with Rwanda. He raises wider questions about the best way for Canadian journalists to help Rwanda develop a culture of media freedom.

From The Tyee commentary, set up by outlining some of the ways the Rwandan government browbeats the news media there:

Honderich knows all these things because he is an acute, sensitive newsman as well as an adroit news executive. But it was only after he left Rwanda that he went on record to chastise Kagame and his officials for their high-handed treatment of journalists and editors. While in Kigali, it seems, Honderich was far less vocal. Indeed, at an official function in late May, as he was preparing to return home, Honderich leant his professional authority to a gathering that included the country's Information Minister, as well as Dr. David Himbara, an adviser in Kagame's office who also happens to be a board member of the New Times.

According to the state media, who write the things they're supposed to write, Himbara talked about building a culture of "open debate and transparency" in Rwanda. Honderich made his contribution by enthusing about the New Times' "bright future." He added something about how the paper was "boxing beyond its weight class." All in all, his performance bordered on timidity, a missed opportunity to put a little starch in Canadian international co-operation, to put our principles where our money is. (Honderich did not reply to my e-mailed questions about his actions in Rwanda, nor about my criticisms of how the New Times cravenly does the government's work.)

Tough questions

Even though Honderich did an about-face with his commentary when he returned home, the incident raises questions for all Canadians involved in development programs in the Third World: To what degree should the fear of offending a host government prompt volunteers to soft-pedal professional and ethical standards in the course of their work? When is it okay to bite your tongue for the "good of the project," and when do you stand on principle, even at the risk of being shut down?

The questions are especially tangled for Canadian journalists in Rwanda: How do you teach professionalism in an environment when open inquiry, and speaking truth to power, are actively (and even forcefully) discouraged? In Rwanda, several promising journalism students I spoke to said they would probably seek work outside the field when they graduated -- in public relations or in the NGO field -- rather than struggle with the constraints on the media. How do they feel when visiting journalists fail to confront a repressive system?

Should we not insist that the government guarantee certain fundamental principles in the practice of journalism before we agree to take part in a development program? And when the state steps over the line, and violates a basic principle (like arbitrarily firing editors for their editorial decisions) should we not, as trainers and teachers, make a strong and unequivocal stand?