Rwanda’s capital market regulator approved the listing of shares in Nation Media Group Ltd., East Africa’s biggest media company, on the country’s over-the- counter market. “We approved on condition of fulfilling pending things like submitting an information-disclosure document,” Robert Mathu, executive director of the Capital Market Advisory Council, or CMAC, said in a phone interview today from Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya. “They could cross-list toward the end of this month.” [more]

WINDHOEK – Two journalists were briefly held at the recently concluded National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) congress over the weekend. The two journalists from the New Era newspaper and an intern at the Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) were caught outside the hall where the congress was taking place.[more]

MAPUTO — Deadly protests that paralysed Mozambique's capital last week were spurred by a text message that went viral on Maputo's cell phones, signalling the power of new technology in the hands of the poor.[more]

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika is under fire from media organizations globally over a threat to close down media houses that report negatively on his administration, writes Dennis Ithumbu for journalism.co.za. The head of state told newspapers and other media outlets to either report positively or “leave blank pages, rather than say anything negative.” Mutharika suggested that if the media could not report positively they should rather fill their pages with “pictures of hyenas, cows and dogs.”[more]

Much like the soap operas and dramas it screens, the saga of South Africa’s public broadcaster, the SABC, has been filled with dramatic twists and turns over the last three years. But a broken public broadcaster is more than just an entertaining story for South Africans. Jackie Bischof of journalism.co.za charts the latest episode and asks: Where did things go wrong and what is the way forward for the embattled broadcaster?[more]

African journalists have gathered in the Ethiopian capital at the African Union headquarters to discuss possibilities of engaging their governments to support a resolution for the safety and protection of African media workers.In his opening remarks in the plenary hall, International Federation of Journalists, IFJ, president, Jim Boumelha said African journalists were pursuing the advocacy strategy at a time when journalists and media workers continued to be targeted around the continent.[more]

We shall have heard all manner of statements by the time this electoral season is over and the reapers have reaped and the weepers have wept. It seems no one involved in the campaign can resist the itch to complain about something or the other. The recent catalogue of complaints has included such items as a leading opposition party blaming the ruling party for bribing its would-be candidates to entice them not to run.[more]

A Mombasa-based FM radio presenter’s wife has been picked up by police hours after her husband was arrested over the Kampala terrorist bombings on July 11. Police went to Mr Habib Suleiman’s house in Majengo, Mombasa, and seized his wife, Hawa Ibrahim. Mr Habib Suleiman is said to have been taken away by detectives on Saturday in Nairobi as he travelled to the coastal city by bus. [more]

If it bleeds, it leads - Ask any journalist and he’ll tell you of how the old cliché has taken control of newsrooms from time memorial. If a news story contains tragedy, property loss, or - best of all - gory detail, you can bet that the story will take on the following morning headlines or kick-off the evening news casts. Predictably, the false reports seeking to portray “bleeding” in Rwanda have masked so many of the positive things that are happening in the country. Too often, we only hear what is, supposedly, going wrong. [more]

THE Government ban on The Namibian was no longer defensible, said Speaker of Parliament Theo-Ben Gurirab, speaking at the 25th anniversary function of the newspaper on Saturday night. Addressing a group of several hundred attendees at the event, the Speaker said that "whatever the reason was or who did what, when, how and why, the ban is no longer defensible".[more]