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). The conference will be one of the events to mark Nation Media Group’s 50th anniversary.What interests us is the conference theme: “Media And The Africa Promise: Reflections On The Past, Present, And Prospects For The Future”. How will the media in Kenya, or the wider Africa, look like by 2020? One place to begin finding answers is the Internet edition of the Daily Nation (www.nation.co.ke). The Nation website is the most read news and current affairs site in eastern Africa, and when I last checked, the seventh highest ranked in that category in Africa. [ read more  on http://fesmedia.org/african-media-news/detail/datum/2010/03/11/kenya-why-editors-might-soon-be-farming-goats-and-yams-opinion/]

Only 24% of persons seen, heard, or read about in the news are female. This is one of the key findings of the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP). The preliminary report is being released on 2 March 2010 at a panel discussion and debate on the occasion of the 54th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. 10 November 2009 was an ordinary day at work for newsroom staff around the world. It was, however, a special day for volunteer groups in 130 countries across the world who were poring over their national newspapers, listening intently to radio newscasts and closely watching local television. Pencils and coding grids in hand, their objective was to observe, analyze and record their findings on selected indicators of gender in the news for the Global Media Monitoring Project - the world's largest research and action initiative on gender in the news media. The project's overarching purpose is to bring about fair and balanced gender representation in and through the news media.   [Read more  on http://fesmedia.org/statements-and-reports/detail/datum/2010/03/02/who-makes-the-news-2010-global-media-monitoring-project-preliminary-report-2/]

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... The impact of social media is increasing daily. Whenever people turn on their computers, they're likely to receive a message that could change their thinking on a particular issue or make them aware of a new product. In other words, a blurring of the lines between public relations, advertising and straightforward news and editorial. [ Read more]

Traditional media - mainly newspapers - still generate the bulk of the information that reaches the public, according to a research report by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism. A study into the 'news ecology' in Baltimore, US, found that new media platforms and services like Twitter mainly repeat information generated elsewhere. An overview of the research on the Pew Research Center's website reads: Where does the news come from in today's changing media?Who really reports the news that most people get about their communities? What role do new media, blogs and specialty news websites now play?How, in other words, does the modern news "ecosystem" of a large American city work? And if newspapers were to die -- to the extent that we can infer from the current landscape -- what would that imply for what citizens would know and not know about where they live?The questions are becoming increasingly urgent. As the economic model that has subsidized professional journalism collapses, the number of people gathering news in traditional television, print and radio organizations is shrinking markedly. What, if anything, is taking up that slack? [read more]

After setting up an Nairobi office in early 2008, Article 19 now issued the first newsletter of a monthly newsletter series on media developments and freedom of expression in East Africa. Article19 Newsletter

This month has certainly been busy for the staff at A19 in Nairobi, Kenya. At the forefront of the month’s agenda has been the implementation of The Kenya Communications (Amendment) Act1. Where does A19 come in? Well, in Kenya there are between four and six dominant media groups which hold most of the broadcast frequencies and radio stations posing a threat to the plurality and diversity of Kenyan voices and opinions heard over our airwaves. The Kenya Communications (Amendment) Act aims at tackling this problem as well as the issue of lack of regulation of the ICT sector. [read more]

A new report entitled: Public Broadcast Services in Africa Series has urged the government of Zimbabwe to commit to media reforms. Citing the highly controversial Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which established the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Commission, a body that has immense power to make or break all media in the country; the report, launched in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, urges the government to place top priority in ensuring that: ‘Laws inhibiting the free operations of the media are repealed without delay.’ [read more]

Governments and development agencies have devoted many years and hundreds of millions of dollars developing democratic governance in countries around the world. The idea of creating democracies is still the primary driver of many governance improvement agendas. Clearly, democratic systems often bring with them improvements in governance and economic development, but simply putting a democracy into place is not enough. [more]