Media & the Africa Promise

Media & The Africa Promise Pan Africa Media Conference 2010 IMAGE & CULTURE > PARTICIPATION & INTERACTION > GOVERNANCE & DEMOCRACY > CHANGE & CRISIS > FREEDOM & RESPONSIBILITY > First published in Kenya in 2011 By Nation Media Group Acknowledgements 18-20 Kimathi Street P.O. Box 49010, Nairobi-00100 In compiling this book, I called upon the resources and talents of a number Nairobi, Kenya of close ertake this project, and his entire board directors for supporting it. I www.nationmedia.com wish to thank also Joan Pereruan, the Nation’s picture editor, for getting all the photographs together, and corporate a!airs manager David Maingi, for All rights reserved. coordinating the book’s production and printing. I must also acknowledge the No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or immeasurable input of the extremely talented Kelly Frankeny, the American transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in designer who first came to the Nation’s stable to help redesign NMG’s print writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or products. Without her deft touch, the book would have been just another run- cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition of-mill product. I must not forget the constant friendly needling of colleagues including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Charles Onyango-Obbo, Joseph Odindo and Mwikali Muthiani, to expedite the book. To all who helped in one way or another, I owe you a debt of Editors: Wangethi Mwangi assisted by Wanjiru Waithaka gratitude. Design and Layout: Kelly Frankeny, Kelly Frankeny Design – Wangethi Mwangi Photographs: Joan Pereruan, Fredrick Onyango & Elizabeth Muthoni, Nation Files, AFP, Getty Images Text copyright Nation Media Group The Conference What’s Africa famous, or, to put it more bluntly, notorious for? There is no shortage of vocabulary to describe the brand that is Africa, ranging from the “dark continent”, characterised by a history of savage internecine warfare and deep- rooted corruption, to the deprived continent whose “resource curse” undermines its ability to feed its people or guarantee them a decent standard of living. In short, Africa is largely all about doom and gloom, that is, if you narrow your field of vision. But there is another more pleasant and inspiring image of Africa, rooted, yes, you guessed it, in its incredibly enormous wealth of resources. The bountiful and spectacular wildlife immortalised on film by such dramatic events as the annual wildebeests migration of Kenya, exotic cultures, art, music and dance, the awesomely breathtaking geographical formation that’s the Great Rift Valley, and the surprising warmth of its people. Which of this is the authentic reality of Africa depends, essentially, on two things – your knowledge of Africa on the one hand, and particular persuasion, or bent of mind, on the other. The challenge of depicting the true reality of Africa is one that the Nation Media Group has wrestled with since its inception some 50 years ago. So when the planning for the Group’s 50th anniversary celebrations started eight months earlier, the possibility of generating an insightful and exploratory conversation on the enigma of that’s the continent at once became obvious. A few months earlier, the Africa Media Initiative steered by Amadou Mahta Ba, had hosted a media leaders forum in Senegal. He was looking for a follow-up session in Nairobi and o!ered to incorporate the Nation’s anniversary in the AMI agenda. The Nation had a more grandiose plan, though, and invited Amadou to co-host a Pan Africa Media Conference with the Group. A conference team was quickly put together with Charles Onyango-Obbo and Wangethi Mwangi at the helm and with representation from the NMG board, marketing, corporate a!airs, HR and finance departments, AMI. Its brief was tight and concise – the conference must be truly representative of the continent’s five geographical regions – North, South, East, West and Central Africa -- in both form and content. The team’s first task was to agree on a theme, date and duration of the conference; then came the arduous task of crafting the programme, identifying the various talking points and sourcing speakers, panellists and moderators. For the theme we settled on Media and the Promise of Africa to help focus the conversation of the contradictory perceptions of the continent. An earlier proposal to incorporate a presidential roundtable in the opening session was abandoned for logistical reasons. Gradually it all came together and after numerous programme drafts and months of lengthy meetings it was time to start conversation and, hopefully, agree on the true reality of Africa. 7 Forward ifty glorious years – from 1960 to 2010 – of a news corpora- tion Media Group’s CEO Linus Gitahi and Amadou providing the initial tion’s history. Starting out as a single print title publishing thinking and support, we obtained critical support from the NMG Fhouse, the Nation Media Group has over the past 50 years board and quickly constituted a committee to plan the Pan African transformed itself into a formidable multi-media powerhouse, tow- Media Conference. We reached out to the rest of the media in East ering over the East African landscape like a colossus. It is, in every Africa for support and harried our contacts to help us gather a galaxy sense of the word, a titan of African media, extending its influence of top speakers. My friend and journalistic soul mate Charles Onyan- beyond its mother country, Kenya, with its ubiquitous print titles, go-Obbo was particularly resourceful in this respect. With a weekly television and radio stations. schedule of meetings, there was little time to indulge in niceties and From a narrowly focused and inward looking agenda in the early tempers occasionally ran high as the NMG board representatives sixties, the Nation Media Group has progressively broadened its vi- on the committee insisted on a strict regimen of detailed presenta- sion and rightly positioned itself as the media of Africa for Africa. It tions of the nuts and bolts of the agreed course of action. As we the is that Pan Africanist agenda that defined the key activity of the com- weeks and months went by, the conference programme came neatly pany’s 50th anniversary celebrations in March 2010. together, its choice of speakers and topics a ringing testimony of A few years earlier, the company had been co-opted into discus- the intensely reflective conversations that had been going on about sions whose singular objective was to explore opportunities for help- Africa and its media, and their place in the world. And it was not just ing African media companies develop into more stable and enduring about how it was being reported, but, more importantly, how it was entities. This e!ort was a direct outgrowth of the Blair Commission reporting itself. on Africa, which had a significant accent on the media in the form of This book is a compilation of the papers and ideas generated at the African Media Development Initiative (AMDI). It was one AMDI’s that conference, which was held on March 18-19 and aptly branded formative meetings that the Nation hosted at its headquarters at as the Media and the Africa Promise: Reflections of the Past, Present Nation Centre in Nairobi. Soon, out of AMDI came Africa Media Initia- and Prospects for the Future. I had the privilege of editing the book, tive, the brainchild of Amadou Mahta Ba, who, jointly with American with the able assistance of Wanjiru Waithaka, a former colleague at Reed Kramer and other entrepreneurs, had many years earlier dem- the Nation Media Group (now a budding writer) and sincerely hope onstrated remarkable foresight when they founded AllAfrica.com, that it will provide a valuable reference for continued discussion on an Africa news and information aggregation website. It added to the Africa and its media. Most of the papers have been edited for brevity, growing e!ort of focusing attention on the kind of news and informa- style and clarity with great care taken not to alter the original mean- tion themes that were resonating with international audiences at the ing or argument. time. Today, the proliferation of news aggregator sites has, inevita- bly, significantly diminished the value of that business model, but not the interest in news from and about Africa. Wangethi Mwangi It is this agenda – media and the Africa promise – that we wanted Pan African Media Conference Thought Leader to bring to the core of NMG’s 50th anniversary celebrations. With Na- 9 Contents MEDIA AND EXPANDING FIXING THE THE CHANGING CULTURE AND NEW MEDIA: REPORTING ENVIRONMENT, MAKING OF THE EXPANDING MEDIA AND MEDIA FREEDOM: THE AFRICA POLITICAL REALITY THAT’S PERSPECTIVES OPEN DOORS: The possibilities, CHANGE AND MEDIA AND JOURNALIST THE PEOPLE’S CONFLICT: A balance sheet – a PROMISE: PARTICIPATION: AFRICA: OF GOVERNANCE HOW CAN AFRICA limits and risks are CRISIS IN AFRICA: AFRICA’S IN THE NEXT VOICE AND Countering long walk to the A continent A collaborative The continent’s AND DEMOCRACY: EXPORT ITS massive, pointing It’s no longer the RESPONSIBILITY: DECADE: INTERACTION: propagandists, promised land of coming into its agenda driven by the image is the sum of Focusing on CULTURE? to a new world of same superficial Declining fish Critical thinking The right mix of dishonest press freedom, own in the new need to give citizens all the things that citizens and their A film industry is communication and and biased story. stocks paints a will make a world information for journalists and but there’s some century. a better deal.

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