The biting poverty within the Rwandan Media Sector and lack of financial means among local journalists are among the major causes that threaten investigative reporting in the country.
Mutemberezi Pascal, the Acting Director of Media Development and Professionalism Unit at Media High Council said that 97% of articles published in Rwandan media are based on invitations from institutions that invite journalists to cover their events.
Only 3% of them are investigative articles where a journalist goes to field and speak to grassroots level about their challenges that hinder their socio-economic development.
Mutemberezi said that the most challenge of local media institutions is poverty adding that a journalist can’t afford the cost of covering a feature story or investigative reporting.
He said there is a need to establish a fund that would help journalists in their daily activities.
However, Nduhura Dominique, a Lecturer of the School of Journalism and Communication observed that there are some students that enroll in the Journalism school without interest in journalism and that could affect the quality of their stories.
He said such journalists cannot handle Investigative reporting because such reporting requires committment and be able to think beyond what he is doing as well as producing a well research based article.
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