THE INTERNATIONAL Labour Organisation has in the recent past been partnering with members of various professions to better understand labour rights as stipulated in the International Labour Systems. The media was not left behind in the consultations and the biggest irony was that the profession was also a victim of labour abuses and was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Labour disputes, such as nonpayment of wages that come up once in a while, depend on the goodwill of the employer if the employee has no contract. In that case, the courts’ hands are tied. Rwanda Media Council (RMC) does not intervene in wage disputes because it is not part of its mandate. The Association of Rwandan Journalists (ARJ), on the other hand, counts both the employee and the employer among its members and it says it cannot take sides since it might be construed as conflict of interest. Streamlining the media should begin at home. Media houses that take advantage of the protection loopholes could borrow a leaf from government service providers by designing in-house citizen charters as they wait for media stakeholders to try to plug the holes. That would be the first line of accountability. Otherwise it becomes problematic trying to explain to the masses about their labour rights when the messenger’s situation is not better than theirs.
