This past week hasn't been great for the reputation of the aid world. Media reports have alleged misuse of aid in Somalia, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and El Salvador on a fairly grand scale. [more]

Global media and communications research company InterMedia Tuesday launched 'AudienceScapes' (http://www.audiencescapes.org), a multi-platform communication resource intended to support and improve international development efforts and outcomes.[more]

Google CEO Eric Schmidt revealed the Middle East and North Africa region is the company's fastest growing region in the world, in terms of the number of users and revenue generated.[more]

On March 19 and 20, the Nation Media Group and the Africa Media Initiative will hold easily the most high profile African media conference ever witnessed on this fair continent (http://panafricamedia2010kenya.com). [more]

Patriotic Front (PF) president Micheal Sata has sued the Times of Zambia for libel. Mr Sata has also applied for an interim injunction to restrain the newspaper and its servants or agents from publishing any defamatory words concerning him. [more]

The Department of Communications’ long-awaited policy on the national radio frequency spectrum would be presented to the Cabinet today after it was approved in draft form by a Cabinet committee last week, director-general Mamodupi Mohlala said yesterday.[more]

The employees of the closed Central Broadcasting Services (CBS) radio station have argued that the station was only used to mobilise people to attend the function of the Kabaka of Buganda in Kayunga, but not to cause violence. [more]

Malawi government is reported to have stopped advertising in one of the country's private media house Nation Publications Limited. Media reports in the southern African nation say that the Malawi government has ordered all its departments and other partners to stop advertising in the newspaper.[more]

On the occasion of the celebration of the 15th International Women's Day, observed worldwide Monday, the Union of media workers in Benin (SYNAPROMEB) seized the occasion to pay tribute to Beninese female media workers for their contributions to the revival of the press in their country.[more]

If, like me, you listen to the Beeb (that’s slang for the BBC if you didn’t know) every night, these are some of the headlines you expect to hear as soon as you switch on the radio: “Three Marines dead in Iraq”…. “Israel is building more settlements in the West Bank… “The US Health Care Bill is being filibustered”…“Somali pirates highjack an Italian registered freight ship”.[more]

The International Women Media Foundation (IWMF) has paid tribute to the media for highlighting success stories of women in agriculture since the introduction of the training programme last year.[more]

New broadband users across the Middle East and North Africa expected to add nearly $600m to market revenue base.[more]

President Yahya Jammeh says he will kill human rights workers in Gambia. He now holds a Nigerian on 'false information' charges[more]

The newly-elected president general of the Democratic Party, Mr Norbert Mao, used his two-day tour of Masaka to turn his guns on Mr Museveni and his thorny relation with Buganda.[more]

Harare — For well over three hours last Thursday, President Mugabe spoke to editors of local media houses about the progress the inclusive Government has made in its first year.[more]

I hope I never become one of those “former editors” who complain all the time about how poor journalism is “today” and, by implication, how good it was when they were around. I’m proud to be a hack. I’m proud of all the hacks in the country. Almost everything we know about the rot in SA is because of journalists and opposition politicians. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in print or on radio, TV or the internet — journalism makes this country a better place.[more]

SABC board member Clare O'Neil has been appointed by its fellow board members - at the recommendation of CEO Solly Mokoetle - to provide expanded oversight of the corporation's sales and marketing activities.[more]

The Zambia Union of Journalists (ZUJ) has urged women in the country to persevere and break barriers people might put to inhibit their professional progression.[more]

The decision to appoint SABC board member Clare O’Neil to oversee the broadcaster’s troubled sales and marketing division has been met with opposition from experts in the media sector and unions.[more]

Malawi's The Nation Publications group has published a two-page statement claiming to have evidence of a government directive withdrawing all official advertising from the company's titles, writes Sam Makaka for journalism.co.za.[more]

Parliamentary reporters for the government owned Daily News have been instructed not to cover outspoken Selebi-Phikwe West Member of Parliament (MP), Gil Saleshando and his son, Dumelang, The Monitor has been reliably informed. [more]

Lagos — Veteran journalist, Dr. Isa Momoh, is currently a lecturer at Lagos Business School and a Director at the Public Relation Unit of Kwara State University. In this interview with EMMA MADUABUCHI, Senior Correspondent, he lists the importance of Financial Analysis for every media practitioner, as well as the responsibility of the industry to the journalist, the publisher and the general public.[more]

Luanda – The Angolan minister of Social Communication, Carolina Cerqueira, Monday in Luanda, encouraged the women journalists to improve the sector, by helping identify the problems and eliminate stereotypes.[more]

The most visible face of digital media in Africa today is the mobile phone. And a range of infrastructural developments are emerging to ensure a widespread rise of broadband mobile communications. [more]

South African officials would not say on Tuesday whether ransom money was paid in order to free captured SuperSport sound engineer Nick Greyling from his Nigerian captors. [more]

A move by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to regulate the highly lucrative business of sports broadcasting rights came closer to policy last week as the deadline for submission on Icasa's "preliminary findings and conclusions" closed on Friday.[more]

In an open rebuke to Media, Information and Publicity secretary George Charamba who has been frustrating the licensing of new players in the newspaper publishing sector, President Robert Mugabe has told the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) to get on with its mandate of opening up the media space. [more]

South Africa's ‘excessive' media ownership and control at the hands of a very few players continues to be the main topic of discussion in political, media, civil society and academic circles, with some calling for an urgent intervention to regulate what they see as a ‘selfish' and ‘slow-transforming' industry.[more]

An edition of the BBC World Service programme Assignment, alleging that money intended for famine relief in Ethiopia in the mid-1980s was used to buy weapons, has prompted an angry response from aid campaigners. Andrew Whitehead, Editor, News and Current Affairs at the BBC World Service, explains how the story came about.[more]

The press is vital in pushing for socio-economic and political development. It can serve, to an extent as an alternative to what we normally would refer to ‘representative government’ even as submitted by William T. Stead in his concept on ‘Government by Journalism’, notwithstanding Walter Lippman’s counter argument that the press can not serve as an alternative to institutions.[more]

Being a columnist in South Africa is like being a sweetie thief in kindergarten. There is such a smorgasbord of venality, stupidity and greed on display week after week to choose from[more]

Radio phone-ins and the press across South Africa were dominated last week by British newspapers' assault on President Jacob Zuma during his visit to London and on criticism of World Cup preparations.[more]

The Angolan minister of Social Communication, Carolina Cerqueira, visited on Thursday the premises of “Edições Novembro” publishing house, to introduce herself to the employees and learn about the working conditions in that public media organ.[more]

The media in Zambia has stepped up preparations for the forthcoming World Press Freedom Day celebrations scheduled for May 3 with a call for unity among stakeholders.[more]

President Robert Mugabe on Thursday did what he should have done a long time ago: holding a no-holds barred meeting with editors at Zimbabwe House. The roundtable meeting was refreshing and should be a constant feature on the presidential calendar.[more]

In Govt published Herald: It had been 10 years since the President played host to such a large number of local journalists. The date was March 4 2010 and the setting was his official Zimbabwe House residence.[more]

Freetown — Madam Chairman and Commissioners of the Independent Media Commission, Minister of Information and Communication representing His Excellency the President, other Ministers of Government, Chief Executive Officer and other staff of Zain, which I should add is the oldest surviving mobile phone company in Sierra Leone, Members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, fellow journalists especially entrants for this year's awards, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, good evening.[more]

Johannesburg - Some British media had by Thursday toned down their controversial coverage of President Jacob Zuma's first UK state visit, but instead turned on him for breaches of protocol and royal etiquette.[more]

Zanzibar now has its first community radio, to foster civic education, democracy and promote reconciliation, thanks to the United Nations, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.[more]

The Chief Justice of the Gambia was invited by the Young Journalists Association to preside over the opening of their training programme on media laws. The chief Justice did accept the engagement. It is important to share with the readers what he said to the Journalists.[more]

The Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) has proposed that the public interest disclosure Bill (protection of whistle blowers) should include protection of media practitioners because they are key figures in the fight against corruption.[more]

Harare – Zimbabwean civic society on Wednesday appealed for protection from President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s unity government in the wake of rising threats and harassment of human rights activists by state security agents.[more]

Harare — Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has extended the free "call me back" service to its Buddie subscribers, the latest customer-focused innovation to come from the country's largest cellular operator.[more]

The Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) has proposed that the public interest disclosure Bill (protection of whistle blowers) should include protection of media practitioners because they are key figures in the fight against corruption.[more]

The Nigerian broadcasting market is one of the toughest in Africa where there is plenty of competition for tough markets. The pioneer of private broadcasting in Nigeria is Galaxy CEO Steve Ojo who runs a company that encompasses studios and a Nollywood producer and distributor. Russell Southwood spoke to Steve Ojo at DISCOP 3 in Dakar last week.[more]

Freetown — For the first time in the 38-year history of SLAJ, the association this week started a comprehensive training needs assessment of journalists in the country. The first phase of the programme kicked-off yesterday at the conference hall of SLAJ headquarters in Freetown and continues today March 3.[more]

Owerri — Peace has finally returned to Imo State Council of Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, following the unconditional acceptance of the peace moves by one of the principal actors and State Correspondent of Business Day, Mr. Christian Nwokocha.[more]

The SABC is to enter into mediation with 1800 employees and pensioners today in a bid to avoid a lengthy court case over its decision to stop paying its portion of medical aid contributions.[more]

The Lagos State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) plans to establish a microfinance bank to guarantee a secured future for both serving and retired journalists. [more]

Maputo — The Mozambican government is studying the best options for digital broadcasting which must be adopted by 2015.[more]

South Africa television is being held back by the power of the incumbents to prevent change. A couple of years ago we were looking at the possibility of new pay-TV broadcasters challenging MultiChoice’s monopoly. There was a flurry of applications, a few were granted, and the market looked like it was opening up. In particular, there was the promise of cheaper options to MultiChoice’s costly one-size-fits-all model.[more]

The Lagos State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) plans to establish a microfinance bank to guarantee a secured future for both serving and retired journalists. [more]

The Independent Communications Authority of SA, Icasa, is not helping to open up the pay-TV market, writes Anton Harber in Business Day. MultiChoice has proved able and willing to throw considerable resources into defending the territory it controls against new entrants. [more]

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) has dismissed public complaints about a risqué Cape Town-based reality documentary series, citing the broadcaster's right to freedom of expression.[more]

Three journalists working for African pay tv sports channel SuperSport were abducted by gunmen on Monday near Owerri, in eastern Nigeria, although one escaped yesterday.[more]

Bloemfontein - The Citizen is considering a possible appeal to the Constitutional Court against a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) decision in favour of Robert McBride, the newspaper said on Tuesday.[more]

The government-controlled New Vision newspaper has accused the now closed Buganda CBS radio of promoting genocide, and likened it to the notorious Radio TV Milles Collines that participated in the Rwanda genocide.[more]

Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has tasked the Inspector General of Police Mr. Ogbonna Onovo and the Police Service Commission to ensure that all the Owerri-based operatives of the Nigeria Police who interloped into the Federal Capital Territory and abducted the Abuja-based journalist, Mr. Maximus Uba to Imo State are prosecuted, for breaching the fundamental human rights of freedom from arbitrary arrest and abduction enshrined in chapter four of the 1999 constitution.[more]

Radio France, Radio France International (RFI), RTL and the newspaper La Croix informed on wednesday that the togolese government refused to provide visas to the journalist, who were chosen to cover the election in the west african country.[more]

Lesotho has established a universal access fund to expand broadcasting and telecommunications services, writes Mzimkhulu Sithetho for journalism.co.za.[more]

My people, I am very confused. Is Africa a country? Here is what respected New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman wrote in one of his columns: “Walking through the Olympic Village the other day, here’s what struck me most: [more]

A South African sports journalist and two Nigerian colleagues have been kidnapped in Nigeria's restive oil-producing Niger Delta region, South African media reported on Tuesday.[more]

The Buganda Kingdom is now running two weekly newspapers, in a move that media observers say is a replacement for the Central Broadcasting Services (CBS) radio station shut down in September last year, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za. [more]

Some four years ago, the information communication technology (ICT) policy was launched with the hope of making ICT accessible to a broader community, even in the rural areas. [more]

Following its closure precipitated by the 2009 September riots, inciting the masses into committing genocide besides abusing the President of Uganda are some of the accusations labelled at CBS- the radio run by the Buganda Kingdom in Mengo. [more]

Bloemfontein - The Citizen is considering a possible appeal to the Constitutional Court against a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) decision in favour of Robert McBride, the newspaper said on Tuesday.[more]

I was rather hoping Robert McBride would go and crawl under a rock somewhere. Upon hearing he was tipped for a top job in the Northern Cape I idly wondered if he might disappear down Kimberley’s great hole.[more]

MEDIA Owners in Rwanda are disputing the results of an audience survey that has placed state radio as the biggest in terms of listenership, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za. [more]

AT LEAST three senior staff of the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC’s) commercial enterprises division are expected to be suspended in the next two weeks, after the division’s head, Gab Mampone, was suspended last week.[more]

Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria, HURIWA, has tasked the Inspector General of Police Mr. Ogbonna Onovo and the Police Service Commission to ensure that all the Owerri-based operatives of the Nigeria Police who interloped into the Federal Capital Territory and abducted the Abuja-based journalist, Mr. Maximus Uba to Imo State are prosecuted, for breaching the fundamental human rights of freedom from arbitrary arrest and abduction enshrined in chapter four of the 1999 constitution.[more]

The media blitz in the Western and American press against Nigeria which is an age – long practice assumed a frightening dimension recently following the unfortunate December 25, 2009 incident in which a Nigerian child adopted by the West attempted to blow up a plane in the United States. [more]

BULAWAYO — The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists plunged deeper into a crisis yesterday when another election, described as a “sham” by journalists was held in Bulawayo yesterday. Dumisani Sibanda was re-elected president of ZUJ, almost three months after his initial victory was set aside. [more]

The Media Council of Tanzania (MCT), has started working on modalities on media monitoring before the forthcoming General Election in October. [more]

NAMIBIA’S Constitution defines us as a democratic society which should be practising tolerance and non-discrimination and subscribing to the principles of press freedom, but increasingly the actions of various political parties and their leaders are exhibiting the contrary.[more]

British ambassador to Malawi asked government media to desist from lacing negative government issues with 'kid gloves'. Commissioner Fergus Cochrane-Dyet was speaking when the local media watchdog, the Media Council of Malawi (MCM), sensitized stakeholders on its new set of Accreditation Policy and Procedures and Press Card Scheme in the capital Lilongwe.[more]

Mobile phone-based money transfer and banking solutions have been recognised as the avenue to take banking services to people outside the formal financial industry.[more]

In her letter responding to the concerns I raised in a column last month about SABC CEO Solly Mokoetle, newly appointed board member Pippa Green carefully avoids answering most of the questions I posed. She ignores most of the examples I cited and, in effect, says that any management or news corruption that occurred at the SABC happened either before Mokoetle was appointed to a position of influence or after he left.[more]

Foroyaa published the following information after Gambia submitted its report on the Human rights situation in the Country: [more]

Speaking in Nakasongola, he urged the Baruuli, one of the tribes seeking autonomy from Buganda, to stand firm and defend their culture against what he said were efforts by Mengo to wipe it out. [more]

Exiled radio stations, labelled pirates by the Robert Mugabe regime have once again come under attack from ZANU PF during a protest march by hundreds of youth members through the streets of Harare on Wednesday.[more]

Cape Town— Job cuts are looming at the SABC as the new board and CEO Solly Mokoetle strive to slash costs and reduce the bloated head count of nearly 4000 employees.[more]

Is it cynical to say opposition leaders should use adverts in the media, emails, sms, and fliers? While in Pader recently, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) President Kizza Besigye was scheduled to be hosted on the local radio station, Luo FM radio. He had booked time and paid Shs 800,000 for the privilege. But at the last minute, he was blocked and his money refunded. He was told the talk show could not be hosted because of an order from the local representative of President Yoweri Museveni in the district, the RDC.[more]

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha has described as erroneous a political a statement by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the current Government has lost credibility that late president Levy Mwanawasa garnered as champion of press freedom.[more]

A Catholic evangelist who told a BBC reporter that he committed 70 ritual murders has been charged with giving false information to a public officer.[more]

Government has unveiled the National Information Communication strategic plan that will run from 2010 to 2014, and is expected to usher the country into the global information "super highway".[more]

African telecommunications regulators have been tasked to ensure the harmonization of policies to encourage frequency distribution that would boost mobile broadband and enhance the chances of benefiting from digital dividends.[more]

The Buganda Kingdom has rejected a raft of conditions the government wants CBS Radio to comply with before it could be reopened, saying it will not apologize, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.[more]

Johannesburg - A high level task team will be formed to discuss communication problems between the media and police, the SA National Editors' Forum (Sanef) and the SA Police Service said in a joint statement on Wednesday.[more]

South Africa’s Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has said that it would push for legislation to protect the confidentiality of journalist’s sources, APA has learnt here.[more]

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha has described as erroneous a political a statement by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the current Government has lost credibility that late president Levy Mwanawasa garnered as champion of press freedom.[more]

The unity government has been criticised for failing to fulfill its promise of media reform, in a press report that has detailed how Zimbabwe has the most exiled journalists in Africa over the past decade. [more]

The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, says it sanctioned about 35 broadcast stations for various breaches of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code in January 2010.[more]

Media owners on Monday raised the alarm over attempts to derail the search for a new constitution.[more]

Maputo — Lucia Afate, a parliamentary deputy for Mozambique's main opposition party, the former rebel movement Renamo, is suing journalist Jose Vasco da Gama over a story that appeared in the weekly paper "Magazine Independente" (MI) last year, which claimed that Afate had secretly married Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama in a traditional ceremony in the northern province of Nampula.[more]

Recent events in the country have prompted me to publish this piece I originally authored for a youth conference in 2008 in Abuja that did not hold. I feel it is pertinent to draw the attention of media professionals to the dangerous trend and dimension media coverage of the Jos crises have assumed.[more]

Lesotho is migrating to a new digital broadcasting platform for both television and radio, writes Mzimkhulu Sithetho for journalism.co.za.[more]

Julius Malema has blamed the government companies register, a smear campaign run by leftist ANC officials and "unethical" journalists for "unfounded" media reports that he says have placed his life and that of his family in danger.[more]

Abuja —National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has sanctioned 35 broadcast stations across Nigeria in January 2010.[more]

Fresh from his initial triumph in a libel case against this paper as lawyer for one of former President Charles Taylor's organized and leftover companies, Consolidated Group Inc. Cllr. Marcus Jones has files another libel case the Front Page newspaper as lawyer for the auditing firm Voscom.[more]

The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has suspended the broadcast license of Communication Trends Limited with effect from February 8, 2010. The suspension of the broadcast license followed a continued breach of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code by the broadcasting organisation[more]

Harare — President Mugabe has formally appointed former ZBC newscaster Mr Godfrey Majonga to chair the new Zimbabwe Media Commission, a body whose creation is mandated by the Global Political Agreement and Constitution.[more]

Human rights activists want the central government to reopen the closed Central Broadcasting Service saying its continued closure is an infringement on the rights and freedom of expression media.[more]

Media educators and professionals, as well as representatives of intergovernmental organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on Friday highlighted the need for the establishment of a training programme for local radio and television presenters.[more]

Some light filtered into the country’s battered media landscape on Friday with the gazetting of the new Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), but players in the media industry are not celebrating yet. The Minister of Media, Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu on Friday announced that the ZMC members had been appointed with effect from February 11, in accordance with section 100N of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.[more]

Liberia, located on the west coast of Africa, was founded in 1822 by the American Colonization Society (ACS) in an effort to find a home for black slaves who had gained their freedom in America following the American War of Independence. The settlement also founded, with the assistance of the American government, to abolish slavery and to spread Christianity in Africa.[more]

The present crop of Nigerian radio broadcasters have fallen short of and diminished the glory days of broadcasting in Nigeria. Before you accuse of hasty generalisation and of being fixated on the past, let me add that there are a few exceptions to this fact and also advice you to read this piece to the end.[more]

The Buganda kingdom has run broke and implementation of its flagship development projects have stalled.[more]

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Africa programme research associate Mohamed Keita has said the MMD government has lost much of the credibility that late president Levy Mwanawasa earned as a champion of press freedom.[more]

Loyal Radio Wave listeners, who tuned in yesterday morning to listen to their favourite ‘shock-jock’ duo – the Waking Crew’s Jarret Loubser and Christine ‘Mossie’ Mostert – were instead met with a sombre announcement from station manager Margaret Loubser stating that the Waking Crew had been suspended pending an internal investigation. It has been difficult to get an official version of events, but The Namibian has managed to piece together yesterday’s events from sources close to Radio Wave.[more]

Abuja — The minister of information and communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili has commended the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, and the Nigerian Military for exhibiting a high degree of patriotism in the defence of democracy in Nigeria.[more]

The Government is to investigate allegetions that opposition politicians are being denied air time on private television and radio stations, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Chief Whip in Parliament, Daudi Migereko has said. [more]

A 2009 model of youth media consumption indicates that traditional media, such as television, catalogues and magazines generally have a stronger influence on purchase decisions of secondary education learners than new media, such as cellphones and the Internet.[more]

A media watchdog , Reporters Without Borders, says the authorities in Eritrea have been holding in solitary confinement journalist and essayist, Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu, for one year.[more]

The Government wants CBS, the Buganda kingdom radio, to pay compensation for inciting the public to rise against lawful authority. [more]

Godfrey Mutabazi, the chairman of the Uganda Broadcasting Council, has been summoned to court on April 20 to explain the ban on open-air radio talk-shows popularly called bimeeza. [more]

London — Duncan Irvine originally worked as a contactor for MNet in South Africa doing on-air promotions but in 1993 he was behind a management buy-out of the company. However, since that point he has shifted the company from this type of work to producing global TV formats including Got Talent, Strictly Come Dancing, Who Do You Think You Are?, It's A Knockout and So You Think You Can Dance.[more]

To report on the World Cup without putting Fifa before it, is not only incorrect — Fifa owns the event and its trademarked title — but is likely to have Sepp Blatter red-carding any media outlet stupid enough to perpetrate such a foul. They have put millions into the event, the least we can do is call it by its proper name.[more]

Information reaching this reporter has it that Mr. Lamin Njie and Saikou Ceesay of the Daily News were arrested on Tuesday 16th February 2010 prompting Foroyaa to investigate the matter.[more]

Tamale — Barely a month after The Chronicle challenged the National Media Commission (NMC) to keep an eagle eye on, and closely monitor the activities of Radio Presenters in the Tamale Metropolis before they throw the area into uncontrollable pandemonium, the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) has also registered its dissatisfaction about the work of radio stations in Tamale.[more]

High Court judge Vincent Zehurikize has put on hold the case of CBS employees against the Government over the closure of the radio station, asking the lawyers to find an out-of-court settlement.[more]

The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) yesterday called for Government to introduce a “Citizens’ Budget”, a simplified document that would spell out what Government is trying to do with the taxpayer’s billions in laymen’s terms.[more]

The Civil Society Organisations have commended the media for coming up with a self regulatory body. The Media Liaison Committee last week announced that it will officially launch its self-regulatory Zambia Media Council (ZAMEC) by 3rd May 2010.[more]

I read with interest Anton Harber’s column (Up to editors to inspire despondent newsrooms, February 17), where he laments that “reporters feel disempowered working at the mercy of complacent editors” and criticises editors who forever chant the mantra: “We are a business, we are about making money”. He then goes on to say that good editors should “motivate a team of people to sense the zeitgeist, find the stories that capture it and process them”. [more]

If the Central Broadcasting Service had a case to answer, the government should have taken the radio station to court as soon as the September city riots ended. Instead President Museveni chose dialogue that initially came as a meeting with the Kabaka of Buganda after the September 11 riots. Majority of Baganda in the villages thought that the CBS fate would be resolved immediately after the Kabaka-Museveni meeting. But the elite Baganda rightly remained sceptical about the whole meeting.[more]

Editing a newspaper is about motivating a teacm of people to give of their best, and produce gritty, powerful journalism, writes Anton Harber in Business Day. Judging by the air of depression that seems to be pervasive in many newsrooms, too few editors are succeeding in doing that. [more]

Botswana Television (Btv) looks set to adopt the latest broadcast digital technology, known as the ISDB, popularised by Japan and Brazil.[more]

Windhoek – Politicians and experts on gender-based violence should make themselves available and take part in discussions and debates to create awareness among the public. [more]

Media in Sub-Saharan Africa are ill-prepared to cover and report on conflict, a top panelist argued during the launch of a report looking at the state of media globally, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.[more]

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day… Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.[more]

The arrest of a foreign journalist in Masvingo last week has prompted an angry reaction from press freedom groups and the government, with Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi lashing out at the police.[more]

The migration from analogue to digital TV broadcasting by 2015 will not be easy for East African countries. [more]

The sub-regional rights watchdog, Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has called for the repeal of all 'laws which restrict media freedom' in Mauritania while condemning the recent two-year imprisonment handed down to Hanevi Ould Dahah, publisher of the online paper (www.tagadoumy.com), PANA reported Monday.[more]

Kampala: Yonas Embye talks without pause for breath. His ideas are fired scattergun-style, revealing insights from his multiple personalities – journalist, torture victim, humanitarian worker, escapee extraordinaire. But his message is clear. “I must express myself,” he says, shifting restlessly. “Sometimes I cannot sleep because I have to get the word out about my colleagues back home.”[more]

The Fifa show is rolling into SA, bringing the promise of World Cup excitement, crowds and other benefits, writes Franz Kruger, the Mail & Guardian's ombud. But it also brings media restrictions that are completely unacceptable.[more]

Struggle for the soul of journalism is taking place in various forms all over Africa. While in many countries, the battle to install transparency, probity and accountability in public service is breaking barriers and boundaries there is the attempt to raise the welfare of practising journalists in others.[more]

Freetown — The Independent Media Commission (IMC) has turned down a Freetown City Council (FCC) application for a license to establish a radio station in the municipality.[more]

Abuja council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) on Tuesday tasked acting President Goodluck Jonathan and the Inspector General of Police, Ogbonna Onovo, to leave nothing to chance in ensuring that the killers of Efenji Efenji, an ex-reporter of the Africa Independent Television (AIT), are brought to justice.[more]

The importance of the media in any society cannot be over-emphasised, and through the advent of technology, the world has become a global village. The media perform the role of teaching, informing, educating and entertaining the public, in addition to encouraging socio-economic and political development in nations of the world, Nigeria inclusive. [more]

Over 40 journalists from different media houses in the country on Friday concluded a training workshop on the new media laws, which were recently gazetted.[more]

Many observers believe that the imminent closure of Femina magazine - and possibly of more titles in the near future - is a clear indication that South African magazines are in deep trouble. Bizcommunity.com sought comment from analysts to clarify the issue.[more]

Media groups have described the arrest last week of distributors of The Zimbabwean newspaper as demonstration of the unity government’s insincerity about media reforms.[more]

Information and technology minister Aggrey Awori has said a Government team is scheduled to meet the board of directors and shareholders of the CBS radio next week to iron out issues. [more]

Botswana Television may be blocked from transmitting its signal,s allegedly for failure to pay rental arrears for use of satellite space.[more]

Borno is tension-soaked after Al-Jazeera released a video showing persons in police uniforms ordering the killings of unarmed civilians in the Boko Haram sectarian crisis. Over 1,000 people were believed to have died and properties destroyed.[more]

The American government has strongly condemned Gambian authorities over the tiny West African country's anti-media laws, arguing that such repressive laws are not in line with democracy and they "should never be used to suppress'' democratic rights of the people, PANA reported Saturday.[more]

In The New Vision editorial of February 9, the newspaper joined the chorus of government officials in condemning CBS FM for allegedly calling upon Baganda to take action against people with long noses who threaten to take away their land and the Government which has a hidden agenda to kill Baganda. [more]

Cairo- Not long ago an editorial like the one that appeared in the independent Al- Dustour newspaper this week might never have made it into print.[more]

The South African National Editors Forum (Sanef) has resolved to revive its discussions with senior police leaders to secure the media’s right to report crime stories.[more]

Mengo remains adamant on the issue of CBS. Buganda’s attorney general, Apollo Makubuya, does not see any wrong committed by the Buganda-kingdom owned radio station. Instead, he wants the Government to apologise for what he calls breach of the Constitution and the loss of lives. [more]

Fort Portal: The government is blocking the Forum for Democratic Change from appearing on radio because it wants to keep rural residents in the dark about their current problems, the party’s leader has said. [more]

Erongo’s Police Chief, Commissioner Festus Shilongo, says the media misinterpreted the Police’s recent announcement that they won’t release regular crime bulletins any longer.[more]

Former Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) acting Director General Matthew //Gowaseb decided to exit public life after his NBC ordeal.[more]

Nairobi — Access to information is one of the biggest challenges facing the media in Africa. And although leaders in the continent often underscore the importance of freedom of information in development, only five countries in sub-Saharan Africa have passed laws allowing freedom of information.[more]

The staff of the UK based The Zimbabwean newspaper responsible for the local distribution of the paper in Zimbabwe were on Thursday charged under the Criminal Law Codification & Reform Act for publishing falsehoods prejudicial to the State.[more]

Maputo — Mozambique has a political and legal framework that is generally favourable to freedom of expression, and to pluralism and diversity in the media, although constraints still persist in the practical application of media-friendly laws and policies.[more]

A three-member cabinet team led by Vice-President John Nkomo has been tasked to summon editors from the state and independent media to discuss as a matter of urgency ‘hate speech’ in the media.[more]

Former South African President Thambo Mbeki will lead a galaxy of global personalities to Kenya next month and will preside over a Pan African Media Conference that will seek a path for traditional media in the face of rising citizen journalism, writes Dennis itumbi for journalism.co.za.[more]

More than two million Kenyans are on Facebook, with new research indicating that the popular social networking website is slowly edging out the e-mail as the preferred mode of electronic communication.[more]

The other day I got a call from a student of media studies at Ryerson University in Toronto. She wanted to know my opinion on how Western media cover Africa. What bias do I see in the way Africa is written and reported about in the Canadian media, for example, she asked.[more]

Journalists in Akwa Ibom State have threatened to boycott activities of an American oil exploration and exploitation firm, ExxonMobil, saying the mode of operation of the oil giant in the state does not add value to the socio-economic well being of the state.[more]

Harare — Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri has rebuked privately-owned newspapers and online news agencies for tarnishing the force's image by reporting falsehoods.[more]

The Japanese government has given Rwanda Television (RTV) a grant of 46.1 million Japanese Yen today (approx $0.5m).[more]

In her recent presentation to delegates at the SAARF/AMF TV Information Forum, independent media consultant Lorna Long from Media Spice called 2010 a watershed year for TV planning. She predicts that by 2014, the South African TV arena could be radically changed.[more]

A seven-member team has taken office as new board members of the Media High Council (MHC), a public institution charged with regulating the sector.[more]

The House of Representatives yesterday mandated its committees on Human Rights, Police Affairs and Justice to investigate a video clip that has been airing on Al-Jazeera, an international news station which showed extra judicial killings of defenceless cripples and underage citizens by men of the Nigeria Police Force, during the Boko Haram sectarian violence in Borno State, last year.[more]

New Board members of the Media High Council (MHC) yesterday assumed office after a handover ceremony witnessed by the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, also current overseer of the information docket, Protais Musoni. [more]

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has complained that some rural FM radio stations have declined to host party president Dr. Kizza Besigye, reports Andante Okanya.[more]

Journalist Jerry Muro is led to the courtroom at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court in Dar es Salaam.[more]

People who really care about the situation of the media industry in Rwanda and have been craving for a chance to make constructive contribution now can do so. [more]

President Yoweri Museveni met European Union ambassadors on Wednesday to discuss issues concerning democracy, corruption and press freedom in Uganda.[more]

Dakar – There is something dismally familiar about the tide of news reports concerning Africa’s increased suffering – more poverty, malnutrition, civil strife, and death – in the face of the recent global financial crisis. Almost everywhere, the media translates academic conclusions into graphic illustrations of brutality and despair in places such as Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo.[more]

Let me preface this column by stating that I have always had a modicum of respect for Minister Joel Kaapanda. I have written articles commending the diligent manner in which he acquainted himself with his ministerial duties, first at regional government and later at the works ministry.[more]

The recent decision by the Namibian Police to release only “selective data” on crime is “a clear denial of the people’s right to access information”, the Namibian chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa said this week.[more]

People who really care about the situation of the media industry in Rwanda and have been craving for a chance to make constructive contribution now can do so. The Press Bill, which seeks to put in place a new media-governing law, is currently under debate in parliament.[more]

The Nigeria Guild of Editors ended its one-day Standing Committee Meeting in Lagos, yesterday, with an outright rejection of any effort to have a government-regulated Press Council, although it admitted the need for a regulation.[more]

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is collaborating with the media in West Africa to establish minimum standards for media practice in conflict prevention, deepening democracy and good governance, and promoting interaction and cooperation among journalists and media practitioners in the sub-region.[more]

A Deloitte media and technology expert has warned that good content in newspapers is the only way to keep readers from migrating to the internet.[more]

Government at all levels have been called upon to abolish ministries of information, as they are outdated and have become centres of disinformation, obstruction, suppression and oppression.[more]

The campaign to elect new leadership for the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) is gathering momentum ahead of polling day in three weeks time.[more]

The Constitutional Parliamentary Committee (Copac)’s sub-committee on information and publicity has lodged a complaint with Media, Information and Publicity minister Webster Shamu regarding alleged biased state-controlled media coverage of the constitution-making process.[more]

Maputo — The Mozambican government's "Made in Mozambique" campaign took an ambitious step forward on Friday with the announcement that "Made in Mozambique" will soon launch an Internet television channel.[more]

If CBS have got a case to answer then the government should have taken them to court as soon as the riots ended. Instead president Museveni opted for dialogue that initially came as a meeting with the Kabaka of Buganda after the Sep 11th riots.[more]

A little over a year ago, award-winning British reporter Nick Davies turned his investigative skills on his colleagues in the media and produced a book called Flat Earth News. It shook up British journalism.[more]

A team of western journalists has produced a series on life in Liberia, depicting the country as chaotic, corrupt and savage.[more]

After criticising the ruling party the daily paper close to the opposition party Rassemblement des Republicains (RDR) has been suspended for three days. The national press council accused the newspaper of incitement to tribalism, to xenophobia and to revolution. Read the full story from "jeune Afrique" in French.[more]

A Ghana High Court, sitting in Accra, has dropped a four-year-old defamation suit brought against 'Akosua', a cartoonist with the privately-owned Accra-based Daily Guide newspaper, PANA reported Tuesday.[more]

General David Tinyefunza’s missive to General Salim Saleh of January 12 and General Y. K Museveni’s demands for the owners of CBS to apologise for the September 2009 riots, as a precondition to re-open CBS Radio, must be puzzling and disturbing to many. In particular, one wonders why the Army Generals and the Cabinet are at the forefront of the CBS closure/negotiations and not the Statutory Broadcasting Council.[more]

Fifa on Monday issued a press release which seeks to reassure the media that the purpose of accreditation terms is "not, and has never been, to restrict press freedom". [more]

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has asked the Government to allow the opposition access to the public and private media without interference. [more]

"Yes, they are a group of bullies and dictators - that is what I call them. These infringements simply amount to censorship and are meant to bring us back to the dirty tricks of the old political dispensation," one angry journalist told Bizcommunity.com yesterday, Sunday 30 January 2010.[more]

Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Jessie Majome has said the country’s efforts to craft a new constitution are being hampered by negative and partisan media coverage from the state media. Speaking on our Rules for our Rulers constitutional programme Majome said the state media was failing to appreciate that a tripartite government was in place and their coverage was not reflecting this.[more]

Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs Jessie Majome has said the country's efforts to craft a new constitution are being hampered by negative and partisan media coverage from the state media. Speaking on our Rules for our Rulers constitutional programme Majome said the state media was failing to appreciate that a tripartite government was in place and their coverage was not reflecting this. [more]

Kampala — Buganda's attorney general Apolo Makubuya wants the Uganda Broadcasting Council to accord CBS radio a public hearing that will determine whether its owners should apologise or not. He also dismissed the Government's other conditions for re-opening the radio station.[more]

Controversial Zimbabwean investor, Oscar Kubara has failed to dribble with the National Broadcasting Board (NBB) like he did with the Botswana football authorities.[more]

Maputo, 29 Jan (AIM) - Hopes have been raised that this year the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, will finally pass freedom of information legislation, that will grant citizens access to information held by public bodies.[more]

Calabar — The case of the alleged unconstitutional dissolution of the Cross River State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) held August 13, 2009 is billed for hearing again at the Federal High Court, Calabar on February 3, 2010.[more]

Nairobi — Western Ugandans have a fascinating fable about the cost of unbridled greed: With his usual opportunism, Mr Hyena raided somebody's fireplace and made off with a piece of roasting meat. Unfortunately, in his haste, he also ate a piece of red hot charcoal, and remained dancing in agony, unable to spit out the mouthful for fear of surrendering the meat, nor to swallow it for fear of ingesting the fire.[more]

South Africa faces a challenging year as far as media freedom is concerned.[more]

President Yoweri Museveni wants the Central Broadcasting Services (CBS), the Buganda kingdom owned radio station, to apologise before it is reopened. CBS was shut down by the Broadcasting Council on September 11, shortly after violent riots erupted in parts of Buganda, over sectarianism and promoting hatred.[more]

The Right to Information Coalition and its allies have called on Parliament to review the Right to Information (RTI) Bill, bring it in line with international standards and best practices and pass it into law in the shortest possible time. The call came at a public march organized by the Coalition, in collaboration with Publish What You Pay-Ghana (PWYP-Ghana) in Accra on Wednesday to increase awareness on the Bill, mobilize support for its passage into law, and ensure its effective implementation.[more]

Johannesburg — The commitment of e.tv to the public interest is unparalleled and unrivalled. Or, to put it delicately, eNews has taken the journalistic commitment to the public interest and freedom of the media to new heights, or depths, depending on your vantage point, of course.[more]

Task team report finds several irregularities. The Minister of Communications, Siphiwe Nyanda, is to sack the entire Sentech board - including its chief executive, Sebiletso Mokone-Matabane - on Thursday, according to a reliable source.[more]

WINDHOEK – Government has come to the defence of former President and Founding Father of the Namibian Nation, Dr Sam Nujoma, who has allegedly become a victim of covert but malicious propaganda by a section of the opposition that has allegedly accused him of smuggling weapons into the country from Asia.[more]

Some people would probably remember Sam Nujoma as the Founding President of the Republic only. Because they might have already forgotten that Nujoma once appointed himself Minister of Information and Broadcasting in 2002, saying he wanted to tackle‘problems’ at the NBC.[more]

The government is willing and ready to renegotiate the new media regulations said Information PS Dr Bitange Ndemo during a meeting with industry stakeholders January 28 2010. [more]

While senior leaders in the African National Congress (ANC) are fighting among themselves over the spoils of the national democratic revolution, things are falling apart. They are not paying attention to issues that matter, and after 15 years of the ANC in office, education is worse than it was under apartheid. Proposed remedies are nothing but band- aids, which are bound to fail . Another example of this is the so-called transformation of the SABC.[more]

After chairing a stormy Cabinet meeting that discussed the re-opening of Buganda’s CBS radio, President Museveni met privately with Buganda elders last Friday and communicated the terms his ministers have pegged to getting the radio back on air.[more]

Isatou Davies-Ann commonly known as Aisha, the director of The Gambia Info has expressed satisfaction at the initiative taken by the Young Journalists' Association of The Gambia (YJAG) to meet the heads of media institutions and discuss the welfare of their reporters, as well as their mode of operation as far as journalism is concerned in The Gambia.[more]

Kampala — Radio and television presenters are to undergo training in preparation for the 2011 elections. "The training is aimed at equipping presenters with skills and knowledge to overcome the challenges that come with elections," the research officer for Deepening Democracy Programme, Gilbert Matabi, said.[more]

Fresh revelations about the government’s plan to amend the Press and Journalist Act (1995) ahead of the 2011 election have sent shockwaves throughout the journalism community. Many see it as an attempt to further curtail press freedoms.[more]

The National Chairperson of the Malawi Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Brian Ligomeka has asked government to lift the ban on advertisement which it has meted to Nation Publications Limited, writes Angella Phiri for the Malawi Tribune.[more]

My previous column was meant to be the last. But my sense of gratitude to Business Day got the better of me. I have been afforded the privilege of rebelling against mainstream thinking in the media. I was enriched by intelligent responses. Yes, sometimes I had to contend with insults. By allowing diversity of opinion, Business Day has displayed its commitment to democratic engagement.[more]

The Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ) is concerned with the depreciating level of press freedom in Uganda. It cites the Broadcasting Council and the Uganda Police Force as the biggest threats to the media and the right to freedom of expression in the country. [more]

The Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency (ERTA) requested an additional budget of 280 million Br from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED) for ongoing projects including the digitisation of television broadcasts. [more]

Some have called it the triumph of populism. From New York to London, Nairobi to Johannesburg, on-screen female TV talent is getting younger, leaner, some say even prettier. It is a development that has left many nonplussed. Many see it as a new form of discrimination and now mourn the invasion of the newsroom by the tyranny of youth and the ‘good looks syndrome’. Neither talent nor qualifications can guarantee older female presenters a job in a newsroom today.[more]

Lagos — "What is going on really is a process of democracy. The Freedom of Information Bill is not dead yet, and it would not die. It is important to note that this House went to the United States to seek capacity on what we call accountability in office. So we are not against ensuring transparency and accountability through access to information." [more]

THE subpoena hearing of eNews journalists Mpho Lakaje and Ben Said was postponed in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday by agreement so an alternative process could be used to resolve the channel’s standoff with the police.[more]

THE Ugandan cabinet has set out twelve tough demands, before the Central Broadcasting Station (CBS) can be allowed back on air, among them that it changes its physical location and dissociates itself from the traditional king, the Kabaka, writes Dennis Itumbi for jocoza.[more]

MEMBERS of the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) have no idea how they are going to operate because they have not been formally informed of their appointment, making it impossible for them to start formal engagements.[more]

TENSION between the government on one side and the media and opposition politicians on the other remains high in the Seychelles after the state fired teargas and rubber bullets, injuring and arresting scores of protesters in the county’s capital Victoria, earlier this month, writes Dennis Itumbi for journlism.co.za. [more]

The subpoenas were served to force e.tv to provide unedited footage of the interview of the men. [more]

THE government has set tough conditions for the re-opening of Central Broadcasting Services (CBS) radio, including moving out of Bulange, the seat for the Mengo government.[more]

Nairobi — What passes for 'news' in this country? I want to put to you that what you are consuming is not news at all: it is pointless and irrelevant trivia. Let me start with an admission:[more]

THE Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s much hyped launch of TV2 has failed to take off. According to sources, ZBC which is struggling to attract viewers due to its archaic and partisan programming, delayed the launch due to “technical unpreparedness and lack of programmes to fill up the schedule”.[more]

Death threats allegedly made by a senior police officer to a journalist and the arrest of a photographer, all in the space of a few days, have heightened fears of a new onslaught on the country’s media.[more]

As the broadcasting regulations take effect, it is becoming increasingly clear that media owners and those advocating for self-regulation have squandered yet another opportunity to play a constructive role in creating the legal environment in which vibrant media thrive.[more]

As I drove to work yesterday morning, I chanced upon a discussion about US President Barak Obama’s first year in office on a local radio station popular with young people. The discussion revolved around whether President Obama, whose government has drawn criticism for opposing MP Bahati’s Anti-Gay Bill in Uganda, had somehow ‘betrayed’ those in Uganda who had supported his historic campaign, never mind that this was in thought, not in deed.[more]

Since the Minister of Communication announced the end of administrative tolerance on private audio-visual media, managers ponder over many issues.[more]

Freelance journalist Stanley Kwenda, who writes for the private weekly, The Zimbabwean, fled the country last Friday after he said he received a telephone threat from a high-ranking police officer, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said quoting the paper's editor, Wilf Mbanga. [more]

Last year witnessed a steep increase in number of journalists that lost their lives in the line of duty worldwide. According to a report released recently by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) media practitioners across the globe went through monumental challenges in discharging their duties.[more]

When I was asked to compile this column, I thought I had to be particularly careful not to overlap with other forecasters by talking about the interaction between social networking and media - but it's impossible. Social networking has impacted onto every form of communication, especially media. With just a cellphone you can be aware of what's happening anywhere in the world - virtually as it's happening...[more]

The visual broadcasting industry is set for radical changes over the next five years as policy and technology shifts drive new innovation in the sector, analysts say.[more]

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC party on Tuesday spoke out against harassment of journalists and said reports that a senior police officer had threatened a reporter with death – if true – were a violation of the 2008 power-sharing agreement that brought about the Harare unity government.[more]

The African National Congress (ANC) wants e.tv to help police arrest the criminals who threatened to rob Soccer World Cup tourists during interviews broadcast by the station recently.[more]

TALK or else” is how veteran journalist Harvey Tyson describes section 205 of the Criminal Procedure Act in his book Editors Under Fire — on the media’s fight against apartheid censorship.[more]

Two eNews journalists have been ordered to appear in court and reveal the identities of "criminals" featured in a report broadcast on eTV.[more]

Shortly after the BBC’s brief telephone interview with President Umaru Yar’Adua hit the airwaves last Tuesday, I got a call from an independent television station. The caller was inviting me to their studio in Lagos to comment on the use of a foreign medium by the presidency to dispel rumours about the president’s purported death. I apologized profusely stating I was indisposed and could not honour the invitation.[more]

UGANDAS Ssubi FM is back on air, four months after the government switched it off, over its alleged role in inciting the public to violence during riots that rocked Kampala City in September last year, writes Dennis Itumbi for jocoza.[more]

The Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) national executive committee has admitted that its mandate has expired but said it cannot immediately hold an annual general meeting (AGM) because of financial constraints.[more]

MEMBERS of the Zimbabwe Media Commission have now been named, but hopeful media entrepreneurs face further delays before the regulator begins operating and considering licence applications, writes a jocoza correspondent.[more]

HOME Affairs Minister Lameck Mangani has directed the registrar of societies to come up with details about the Press Association of Zambia (PAZA) executive committee to ascertain the leadership's legality.[more]

Namibia's national broadcaster's Director-General (DG) Mathew Gowaseb has quit his job, becoming the third DG to leave the public broadcaster in one year.[more]

The next six months are expected to see rapid change at the embattled SABC, including a review of its controversial content hub and the filling of vacant positions. This comes after the new board took over yesterday, alongside group CEO Solly Mokoetle.[more]

Nairobi — A State human rights watchdog on Tuesday criticised the government for introducing archaic, colonial, retrogressive and dictatorial regulations that were meant to undermine press freedom in the country.[more]

THE Kenyan government and media are headed for a showdown, over new broadcast regulations gazetted last week, writes Dennis Itumbi for jocoza.[more]

TANZANIAN journalists have elected a seven-member committee to revive the Tanzania Union of Journalists (TUJ), writes Dennis Itumbi for jocoza.[more]

The Kenya media suffered a severe body blow Friday after government published a new set of laws to regulate the industry.The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Communication Dr Bitange Ndemo announced that the Communication (Amendment) Act came into effect on January 1 and will among other things regulate broadcast content and curtail cross ownership.[more]

The Tanzanian government has banned two newspapers after accusing them of violating journalism ethics.[more]

THERE was much discussion in the government media over the holiday period of Nestlé’s decision to suspend operations in Zimbabwe. That decision has since been rescinded but we should not leave the subject before noting the following paragraph in the Herald of December 23.[more]

THE Zimbabwe Union of Journalists’ dirty linen will not be washed in the courts after an executive controversially elected in December opted to stand down, allowing for fresh elections to be held in February. The battle for control of the ZUJ spilled into the courts in December after some members who were prevented from taking part in the December 4 elections filed a High Court application seeking nullification of the polls.[more]

A legal battle between the Media Owners Association (MOA) and industry regulator Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) is simmering over contentious clauses in a new law that is due to be enforced by the end of this month.[more]

JOURNALISTS and media organisations have cautiously welcomed the announcement last month of members of the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC), saying “diametrically opposed viewpoints” could cause friction in the commission, rendering it difficult for it to make any impact.[more]

The news reporters made news themselves this year, with many journalists and editors feeling real heat. [more]

ZANU PF has moved with speed to bar journalists from the independent media from covering their congress, which is fast degenerating into a fiasco following an open rebellion against Robert Mugabe.[more]

Every citizen now has the right to access any information "held by another person" if he requires it to protect any right or fundamental freedom.[more]

Newspaper proprietor Trevor Ncube will launch his new Zimbabwean daily newspaper, NewsDay, on the Web six months before the print edition hits the streets. [more]

Journalists in Sierra Leone can still be arrested and jailed for writing material considered "libel" regardless if what they published is true or not.[more]

Dumisani Sibanda, the news editor of the state owned Sunday News newspaper, is the new president of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ). Foster Dongozi the Secretary General who was re-elected unopposed, and who is an independent journalist, told Newsreel the Friday congress in Bulawayo went ahead without incident despite reports suggesting otherwise. It was predicted the congress would be bitterly contested following allegations that the outgoing executive was trying to cherry pick its successors.[more]

Two radio talk show hosts and moderators have dragged the chairman of broadcasting council and the Attorney General to court for having suspended them from broadcasting [more]

Zimbabwe’s three governing parties are close to reaching an agreement on a range of thorny disputes threatening their power sharing agreement, insiders revealed at the weekend. Sources close to the talks said negotiators from Zanu PF and the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations who have been meeting in secrecy since November 23 had agreed on a raft of media reforms.[more]

The Ethiopian government has re-opened the trial of four major newspaper publishers in connection with the 2005 post-election violence in the East African nation.[more]

Kampala — A new report released yesterday says Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) does not meet the standards of a true public broadcaster. The report, a result of research started in 2008, attempts to correct the misconception about public broadcasting in Uganda, revealing that while many may regard UBC as the country's sole public broadcaster, in reality, the media entity is simply a state broadcaster.[more]

The Nigerian Press and Practice of Journalism Council Bill 2009 is too fundamentally flawed and cannot be rescued even with the most diligent effort and best will in the world. The problems are too many and the errors are too far reaching to be remedied.[more]

The Ivorian National Press Council (CNP) has banned the publication of opinion polls conducted on presidential candidates for the forthcoming election.[more]

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has advised the executive to work with the National Assembly to ensure the immediate withdrawal of the anti-media bill recently initiated by Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa of the House of Representatives.[more]

A news report on Thursday quoted Welshman Ncube saying that the talks which began on Monday focused on “western sanctions against Zimbabwe, pirate radio stations and government appointments including those of the attorney general and reserve bank governor”. While another report said ZANU PF wants ‘the MDC to rein in its supporters in western capitals running “pirate” radio stations’.[more]

SUUBI FM, one of the four Ugandan FM stations closed during the September riots in the central region (Buganda), has sacked four presenters in an attempt to persuade the government to reopen it, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za. [more]

Last Wednesday, the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) disseminated the findings of its study titled Monitoring Media Reportage on Corruption. The study was conducted by the astute media lecturer, Dr Audrey S. Gadzekpo, Director, School of Communication, University of Ghana, Legon. [more]

Kampala — Over the last twenty years, President Yoweri Museveni has baffled observers with his relations with the Ugandan media. He has simultaneously been the strongest promoter of press freedom and its biggest threat. He has jailed and prosecuted as many journalists as he has dined with.[more]

The Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria has declared that the country is sliding back to the dark ages and an era of government control of the media with the proposed Press Council Bill.[more]

South African newspapers are showing the strain being experienced by media globally . Prof Anton Harber, head of the University of the Witwatersrand's department of journalism , described the figures as the worst he can remember.[more]

The report, titled 'Public Broadcast Services in Africa Series, On Air', the report highlights the problems caused by the state's stranglehold on broadcasting which has resulted in the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings (ZBH) enjoying a monopoly.[more]

The government should not control the media, Zimbabwean Prime Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai has said, adding that the media should regulate itself the same way other professions do.[more]

JUBA, South Sudan, Nov 19 (IPS) - The guns have gone silent – except for sporadic conflict in parts of the vast South Sudan region, such as the Eastern Equatoria State. It may not be the absolute end of the conflict in the region, but it is a reason for renewed hope.[more]

There was once upon a time in Liberia’s dark past when it was fashionable to silence the press by rounding up reporters and editors and incarcerating them for months without charge. There was also a time when anti-media cloak-and-dagger agents used the cover of darkness to raze media houses. [more]

MEDIA reform in the coming years needs to focus on the future of public broadcasting in Namibia and legislation on access to information. This was one of the findings of the Namibian edition of the 2009 African Media Barometer (AMB) report.[more]

A civil society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has petitioned Commissioner Pansy Tlakula, Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in Banjul, The Gambia, asking her to “urgently intervene to stop the Nigerian government from instigating the passage of a bill in the National Assembly, which aims to undermine the internationally recognised right to freedom of expression and press freedom in the country.”[more]

The government should immediately scrap laws criminalising media-related offences to allow citizens freely express themselves on governance of the country, the Uganda Human Rights Commission said yesterday.[more]

Local private television broadcasters are worried about the unfair competition that is likely to unfold from a move by the government to entrust Uganda Broadcasting Corporation rights to sell digital television signals.[more]

Voice of Nigeria (VON) has won this year’s global media excellence award, organised by the Association of International Broadcasting.[more]

Television set owners will have to procure new equipment to watch television programmes in 2013, under the digital broadcasting regime, Daily Monitor has learnt.[more]

NEWS coverage of political parties by the NBC is continuing to irk opposition parties in the run-up to next week’s elections. The Nudo Party Youth League Secretary, Pro Laste Ngueumenga, last week told The Namibian that the NBC has been unfair in its radio and television coverage, denying voters equitable access to what each party has to offer.[more]

The global economic crisis has cut a swath of destruction through the media in many countries. Hardest hit, perhaps, have been newspapers in the United States and Europe. Some newspapers have closed their doors; others have given up paper and ink versions for the lower costs of websites; yet others have laid off hundreds of staff. According to studies quoted in a recent Columbia University report titled The Reconstruction of American Journalism, the total number of editorial staffers employed on US newspapers has dropped from 60 000 in 1992 to about 40 000 -- a level previously seen in 1972.[more]

Abuja — THE Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, the Nigerian Press Council and other media stakeholders yesterday called for the urgent removal of some clauses seeking government control of the media through various means from a Bill for Amendment to the Nigerian Press Council Act.[more]

A LUSAKA magistrates’ court yesterday acquitted The Post newspapers news editor, Chansa Kabwela on charges of circulating obscene materials after finding her with no case to answer. Chief resident magistrate, Charles Kafunda said when the matter came up for ruling on whether Kabwela should be found with a case to answer or not that there was no evidence to show the said pictures were able to corrupt morals.[more]

Cartoonists play a unique role in the SA media, writes Glenda Daniels in the Weekender.THE extremely politically engaged cartooning in SA today demonstrates a high level of freedom of expression, says Andy Mason, veteran South African cartoonist and researcher, whose books What’s So Funny? Under the skin of South African Cartooning (Double Storey Books), and Don’t Joke: the Year in Cartoons (Jacana Media), are due for publication in time for Christmas. [more]

EIGHTY Seven upcountry journalists in Uganda are at the centre of a national debate on media ethics, after details emerged indicating that the government had been secretly given them military training at their request, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.Though media ethics are the principal axis of the debate, political science and media experts in the country argue that the move could be President Yoweri Museveni's political card for the upcoming general elections. [more]

The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression of African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Madam Faith Pansy Tlakula, has called on the government of The Gambia to immediately decriminalize all repressive media laws in order to guarantee freedom of speech and freedom of expression in the country.[more]

The trial of a news editor in Zambia, accused of distributing obscene material, is coming to an end. Chansa Kabwela says she sent photos of a woman giving birth without medical help to senior government officials to highlight the effects of a nurses' strike. Jo Fidgen has watched the trial, and reflects on what it reveals about Zambian culture.[more]

Lagos — Ten years after the Nigerian mass media survived brutal military dictatorships, a bill is now before the House of Representatives seeking to curtail press freedom and teleguide the practice of journalism in the country. Legislators claim the bill would enhance the practice of journalism but it has been roundly condemned by the Nigerian Guild of Editors which described it as totally unnecessary for the profession and the Nigerian public.[more]

DETAILS of how a group of armed men loyal to the Al-Shabaab administration in Baidoa town, the regional headquarters of Bay region, stormed Warsan Radio compound and detained one of the reporters, are now being confirmed by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za. [more]

Lusaka, Nov 10 (IPS) - When journalists were beaten by political supporters for covering the president’s return trip from abroad, and cabinet ministers and police officers looked on without stopping it, it seemed to be the last straw in the victimisation of the media. But it was not.[more]

Despite pulling the plug on free airtime for political parties, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) is still giving Swapo red-carpet treatment. [more]

The new Public Broadcasting Bill is a seriously flawed document, and should not be rushed through without extensive further discussion, writes Tawana Kupe in The Weekender.[more]

Nairobi — Once again, a Nairobi-based publication has given us a trenchant cartoon on the Tanzanian political situation, although this time, mercifully, without arousing too much ire in Dar es Salaam.[more]

Kampala — Journalists in Uganda want a law that protects them from being compelled to reveal their sources of information. The Shield Law, as it is called, is a reporter's privilege, and also protects the identity of the source of information even when the State organs pile pressure for details to be divulged.[more]

The Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) have cancelled an earlier free airtime allocation to political parties contesting the upcoming election. The reaction by the national broadcaster was saved to counter act some opposition parties’ law suit to have the airtime revised equally among all political parties. [more]

UGANDA'S Broadcasting Council has opened the city-based Radio Two closed seven weeks ago for allegedly inciting the violent September riots, writes Tabyu Butagira in the Monitor. Mr Godfrey Mutabazi, chairman of the Broadcasting Council, says the management of the station acknowledges gravity of “the matter at hand and apologised for the misconduct of their staff”. [more]

ZIMBABWE'S leading independent publisher, Trevor Ncube, says the launch of his first ever daily paper - NewsDay - is on course despite the crisis in the government of unity which will have to license his project, writes a jocoza correspondent.[more]

The Department of Communications has submitted a draft bill to do away with TV licenses and change how public broadcasting is funded in South Africa. Earlier in 2009, Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda announced that the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) had gathered close to R1 billion in television license fees in 2008.[more]

With all hopes of a negotiated re-opening of Buganda Kingdom-owned Central Broadcasting Service (CBS) fading by the day, the Ugandan kingdom has given the radio station’s workers green light to sue government for damages, almost six weeks after the radio was closed, according to a report in the Observer.[more]

Reporters Without Borders has been given an assurance by Mauritanian president, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, elected on 4 August 2009, that freedom of the press will be one of his priorities. The head of state, on an official visit to Paris yesterday, met a delegation from the worldwide press freedom organisation and in a cordial meeting said he was determined to work to improve the state of press freedom in his country.[more]

Apparent foot-dragging prompts fears that role of army will not be properly investigated. A parliamentary committee of inquiry set up to investigate alleged abuses during September’s Kampala riots is yet to begin its work, prompting some to wonder if the truth behind the violence will ever be known.[more]

The Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa) has praised the Mozambican media for its coverage of the election campaign that ran from 13 September to last Sunday.[more]

The launch of the eagerly-awaited NewsDay has been marred by the controversial dismissal of the paper’s editor, Barnabas Thondlana, writes a jocoza correspondent. NewsDay is yet to be given an operating licence by the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) whose commissioners are yet to be named by President Robert Mugabe.[more]

Broadband services in South Africa are very poor as compared to other countries around the world, a new study by the University of Oviedo's Department of Applied Economics and the University of Oxford revealed.[more]

Bichachi is on police bond, which requires him to report to the Criminal Investigation Department every fortnight.[more]

Threats against Somali journalists have hit a new high, with all rebel groups now issuing death threats based on coverage. Hizbul Islam rebel - the only group that had not issued any threat - now says it will punish with death any journalist who writes any story about the government side, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.[more]

Stockholm — Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, says the lack of manpower development for media practitioners in developing countries has affected the media's ability to effectively perform its watchdog role. The media, the Liberian leader observed is also poorly equipped to meet the challenges of the new media landscape.[more]

On 25 October 2009 recorders from various media houses were confiscated by organized hooligans during the Newsmakers’ Forum that took place at Lusaka Play House which had featured George Mpombo a former Defence Minister.[more]

Namibia will hold presidential and national assembly elections on 27 and 28 Novermber, 2009. A number of Namibian journalists will use blogs to report and monitor the elections.[more]

Johannesburg — Simply for doing their work, journalists and their publications could face criminal charges or damage claims in terms of a new harassment bill approved by the Cabinet last week and due to go before Parliament.[more]

A new project dubbed Ujima,will use the Freedom of Information Act in developed countries to tap classified material in African countries especially on disbursement of donor funds, major grants and other information including purchase of weapons.[more]

MISA-Swaziland notes with great concern that the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT),[more]

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) is concerned about the shutdown of two media houses in Baidoa by Al-Shabaab administration. The closure of Warsan Radio and Jubba Radio comes after the Al-Shabab administration in Bay iyo Bakool regions issued today (21 October 2009) a decree ordering the closure of the radio stations for indefinite time.[more]

Privately-owned radio stations in Guinea have since September 28, 2009 suspended the broadcasts of all political programmes on their networks.[more]

Media owners have been urged to let editors work independently within parameters and confines of stipulated editorial policy of a given media house.[more]

Windhoek — Political parties seem to be too slow, if not altogether reluctant, to cash in on the space and airtime media houses provide and have been providing in the build-up to the November 27-28 Presidential and National Assembly elections.[more]

"Reporters Without Borders" launched its annual Press Freedom Index, which measures the state of media freedom in 169 countries worldwide. By using a methodology that focuses mainly on press freedom violations, the more structural limits of media freedom are not taken into account.[more]

Johannesburg — Radio must overcome a number of problems, including its funding model and competition from new media and among stations if it hopes to survive, said delegates at a radio conference at the University of the Witwatersrand.[more]

On 14 October, 2009, Editor in Chief of The Post Newspaper Fred M'membe appeared before Magistrate Simusamba to answer to a charge of Contempt of Court contrary to section 116 (1) (d) (i) of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the Laws of Zambia.[more]

Luanda — Angola will host in 2010 the 18th annual conference of the Southern African Broadcasting Association (SABA).[more]

Akuamoah — The former Ghana Ambassador to Japan in the Kufuor administration, Dr. Barfuor Adjei-Barwuah, is demanding the retraction of a story alleging a $125,000 scandal uncovered by the Ghana Audit Service against him, by two newspapers in the country.[more]

ERITREA still holds 15 journalists in detention, a new report released by the Horn of Africa Editors Forum says.[more]

South Africa's independent telecoms regulator, ICASA, has taken too long to force the cost of mobile services, prompting the government to get involved.[more]

The 2009 report of the Africa Media Barometer (AMB) has said the media in Botswana is skewed in favour of the elite. It faults the media for failing to give other sections of society, especially those in the lower social stratum, enough coverage.[more]

The Seychelles government is promising its journalists intensive consultations before setting up a media regulatory commission, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.[more]

Somali's extremist group Al-Shabaab, is taking the battle to media newsrooms, individual journalists, advertisers and even the airwaves, issuing what it calls new directives to govern what goes on air, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.[more]

Last month government’s media regulatory body, the Uganda Broadcasting Council, announced that it had indefinitely suspended the broadcast of Ebimeeza (plural for Ekimeeza) until an adequate legal and technical framework has been provided for them.[more]

In this edition we carry a story about the recently released African Media Barometer report on Botswana. The annual report is one of the incisive guides into media development in the country.[more]

The Chiadzwa diamond fields in Marange, Manicaland province are still off-limits for journalists working in the country.[more]

Kigali — Journalists from the EA member countries may soon work in Rwanda without paying accreditation fees.[more]

Harare – Tension is simmering within the ministry of information amid suggestions Webster Shamu, the minister, and permanent secretary George Charamba, have completely shut out Jameson Timba, the deputy minister, from decision-making.[more]

An unlit petrol bomb has been thrown into the home of the editor of an online newspaper devoted to reporting on political matters in Oudtshoorn and the Eden District municipality, writes Ella Smook in the Cape Argus.[more]

Freetown, Oct 9 (IPS) - Umaru Fofana looks dishevelled. His hair is overgrown and people who do not know him could be mistaken for thinking he just joined an Afro band. And his hanging beard will surely solicit suspicious glances.[more]

As the BBC prepares to broadcast a day of programmes from Zimbabwe for the first time since officials lifted a ban on foreign reporters, Zimbabwean journalist Brian Hungwe says he and his colleagues are still concerned about restrictions.[more]

A regional tribunal in Kaolack, a town in the western-central region of Senegal on September 30, 2009 released on bail Papa Samba Sene and Abou Dia journalists of privately-owned L’AS newspaper and a radio station Radio Futurs Médias (RFM) respectively.[more]

A number of journalists were on October 6, 2009 threatened with death by some Red Berets deployed at the Bellevue Presidential Resort in Conakry, the capital of Guinea.[more]

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe used an appearance at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) 'World 2009' meeting in Geneva, Switzerland to attack the West for what he called the continued violation of Zimbabwe's airwaves by foreign-based radio stations, writes Lance Guma for SW Radio Africa.[more]

Kismayo — Two of the journalists have fled to the self-governing State of Puntland, in northern Somalia, while the third reporter fled to neighboring Kenya.[more]

The licensing of private newspapers, television and radio stations may have to wait a long time after George Charamba, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Publicity, revealed on Tuesday that the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) will only be set up when all other commissions are formed.[more]

The Kenya High Court has delivered a judgment against Times News Service, owners of Kenya Times Newspapers that is likely to revive the debate on the validity of the country's defamation laws, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.[more]

Defiant... Information Minister Webster Shamu insists he has the right to appoint boards to parastatals falling under his portfolio.[more]

Shawn Kimuli joined Capital FM early this year to replace popular weekend DJ Hakeem but now finds himself sitting in for the more revered Capital FM DJ - the late Ronnie Ssempangi.[more]

Harare – Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Tuesday that new boards announced last week to supervise state-owned newspapers and oversee the airwaves would have to be revised, in what could mark the start of a fresh tug of war with President Robert Mugabe over senior appointments.[more]

Mozambique has begun accrediting journalists and foreign observers ahead of the October 28th combined multi-party general polls, writes Charles Mangwiro for journalism.co.za.[more]

Caracas, Oct 6 - Poverty, attacks on human rights and corporate fraud will be among the main news coverage focuses of a new regional public radio network, Radio del Sur, which will link stations from South America and Africa.[more]

In the wee hours of one Saturday morning, Mary Serumaga was woken up by a disturbing phone call. Her younger brother Robert Kalundi Serumaga had just been abducted by four unknown gun-wielding men the previous night.[more]

The staff of the SABC investigative unit, Special Assignment, are being subjected to office raids and are being demanded to take lie detector tests, as the public broadcaster continues its hunt for the person who leaked a programme on political satire it refused to air, according to a media release from the Media Institute of Southern Africa.[more]

The Kenyan government and media are locked in yet another showdown, this time round on the issue of frequencies and the role of the Media Council in self-regulation, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.[more]

Sudan says it is withdrawing official censorship of the media, writes Dennis Itumbi for journalism.co.za.[more]

The Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) has accused the Swedish national TV station (SVT) of violating filming conditions and “exploiting minority groups in Namibia” with its new reality show, ‘The Great Journey’.[more]

President Paul Kagame, has finally given his assent to the Media Law, after years of deliberations and consultations, within Parliament and the broader media fraternity, writes Edmund Kagire in The New Times.[more]

The Editors’ Forum of Namibia has appointed human rights lawyer Clement Daniels as Ombudsman to deal with public complaints against the media, according to a media release.[more]

Kigali — The Nyarugenge High Court on Friday sentenced a local journalist and publisher of a news paper called Rugari to two years of imprisonment after finding him guilty of extortion. Two co-accused, one also a journalist were acquitted and set free.[more]

The Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo on Tuesday sent the final list of applicants selected to sit on the new Zimbabwe Media Commission to Robert Mugabe for approval, writes Tichaona Sibanda for SW Radio Africa.[more]

Rwanda's Media High Council is currently drafting a new bill obliging public officials to release information to journalists.[more]

Bling, a new search engine by Microsoft. In this third attempt they have managed to show us a great search engine. It might be too little too late...[more]

Freetown - Two Sierra Leonean radio stations have been stripped of their licences.[more]