African Media: AllAfrica Founder Cites Explosion of Independent Media in Africa

Washington — Africa’s independent media is becoming a driving force for greater political and economic openness, with mobile phones potentially playing an important role in the process, says Reed Kramer, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Africa News Service.

 

Despite assassinations and political repression that resulted in the deaths of 160 journalists in Africa during the past two decades, Kramer said, “The good news is that we see an explosion of private media on the continent … that includes a huge expansion in cellular” mobile phone use that could be harnessed to access news from the Internet.

 

Kramer whose website, allAfrica.com, has become the world’s largest provider of African news, discussed “Supporting Independent Media in Africa” on an April 29 panel sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA), two nongovernmental organizations that operate governance and media-assistance programs in Africa.

 

The discussion took place the week before World Press Freedom Day May 3, an annual event sponsored by the United Nations to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of information and expression.

 

Since media is a prime promoter of democracy and a “cornerstone of economic progress,” Kramer told his audience, “Whatever can be done to make it more competent, professional and stable makes a vital contribution to Africa’s future.”

 

At allAfrica.com, he said, “We use next-generation [information] technology to pull, tag, index, deliver and archive large amounts of content. Through revenue-sharing arrangements we are also generating resources needed to bolster media performance in Africa.” The end result is a better spotlight on political transparency, health and educational concerns as well as environmental protection and good governance.

 

Kramer said, “Most countries in Africa with reasonably strong economies now have a variety of publications available … and there are at least about 250 dailies across the continent today.” However, he added, where political openness and stability lag, the media still suffers and journalists still face death and imprisonment.

 

On the positive side, television is growing and newspapers are getting stronger, he said, with dozens of daily papers now operating in Senegal and Nigeria. At the same time, Africa has the “world’s fastest growing rate of both mobile phone subscribers and Internet users, and that has a lot of implications” for news-gathering and readership in the future.

 

Many websites now provide content specially formatted for “smart” mobile phones with Web browsers. The relative low cost of mobile phones versus computers in Africa suggests that the “mobile Web” could someday provide the majority of information access across the continent.

 

But for the time being, Kramer noted, most phones in Africa cannot yet access the Web, though they remain the principal device for communications. “What we’re doing is trying to figure out how to effectively deliver information via SMS text messaging and we’re trying to get some technology partners to make that happen as quickly as possible.”

 

Eric Chinje, who runs the global media program at the World Bank Institute and who participated on the panel with Kramer, told America.gov that “mobiles are of critical importance” to democracy promotion in Africa. “But we’ve got to figure out how to leverage the technology so it fits a more holistic approach to the work of media.

 

“There a number initiatives involving mobiles that we’re looking at,” Chinje said. “For example, we’re talking to ICFJ [International Center for Journalists] about the citizen journalists program” to develop a network of citizen reporters who could use mobiles to phone in or do text SMS (short messaging service) reports for media outlets.

 

Chinje said that while the digital revolution in broadband and mobile phones offered opportunities for media development, new investments and new business models were needed. And a contributor to thinking along those lines is the African Media Initiative (AMI), on whose board Chinje sits.

 

Established in 2009 as a collaborative effort to unite and advocate for African journalists, AMI’s CEO, Amadou Mahtar Ba, who also participated on the CIMA/NED panel, helped organize the first Pan African Media Conference held in Nairobi March 18–19.

 

He said AMI’s goal was to work “as a catalyst for transformational change within the continent’s media sector” and become “a powerful advocate among key regional institutions, development partners, funders and civil society groups that recognize the critical role media play in governance and development across the continent.”

 

Over a 10-year period, Ba said, “AMI will help create and support lasting African media institutions committed to the public interest and operating with the highest standards of ethics.”

 

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: www.america.gov)

 

- May 03, 2010 by Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State

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Source: www.america.gov/st/democracyhr-english/2010/May/201004301204281ejrehsiF0.8207209.html (accessed on 04.05.2010)