LAGOS, Nigeria, November 9, 2009 - Over 185 African media owners'
participated in a two-day "African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF)" to discuss
practical ways for strengthening Africa's media development and agreed on a
charter for the African Media Initiative (AMI), a parent body that is
working to improve the media sector across Africa.
"Media have a central role to play in nurturing democracy on the African
continent," said Nduka Obaigbena, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY, one of
Africa's leading newspapers. "The African Media Leaders Forum is committed
to improving the business environment for media and to strengthening skills
of African journalists. The Lagos meeting will serve as a launch pad for
concerted, collective actions to promote African media development for the
benefit of all." Mr. Nduka is the founding chairman of the AMLF which held
its first meeting in Dakar, Senegal, one year ago.
The AMLF is the single-largest annual gathering of media owners coming
together to discuss development in Africa and the range of cutting-edge
issues affecting Africa's media industries, just as the African continent is
being buffeted by the global financial crisis, deepening recessionary
trends, and the advent of new, social media technologies that are
fundamentally altering existing media business models all across the globe.
"The African Media Leaders Forum is a nascent body with an ambitious
agenda," said Amadou Mahtar Ba, Acting Executive Director of the African
Media Initiative (AMI). "By convening the Forum in Nigeria, Africa's most
populous democracy, we are sending a message that the strengthening of mass
media systems is an urgent imperative for societal advancement, and needs
the support of governments, business leaders, and civil society."
Headlined speakers at the Lagos meeting represented a Who's Who of top
print, broadcast, and online journalists, including Sam Amuka (Vanguard,
Nigeria), Oh Yeon Ho (Ohmynews, South Korea), Arianna Huffington (The
Huffington Post), Charlayne Hunter-Gault (US National Public Radio), Ted
Koppel (former anchor, ABC's Nightline news), Tumi Magkabo (of Tumi & Co,
formerly with CNN), Trevor Ncube (South Africa's Mail & Guardian), Dele
Olojede (Pulitzer Prize winner), and others.
"We have urgent business, and that business is development," said Trevor
Ncube, Deputy Executive Chairman, Mail & Guardian, addressing his peers.
"Our role is to ensure that we participate in creating a marketplace of
ideas and that media is perceived as an integral partner of the development
process."
The Lagos meeting focused on six critical areas with a view to developing
shared literacy of the issues, and spurring collective action:
Impact of new media technologies on the practice of journalism across Africa
drawing on lessons of experience from other parts of the world;
Need for new business models that are necessary to grow and sustain Africa's
media industries;
Finance for African media development including access to venture capital,
mitigating political risk through innovative guarantee mechanisms, and
creating capacity so that media industries have broader access to various
sources of capital;
Lining mass media to the overall governance agenda in Africa and exploring
ways in which the functioning of the fourth estate can be improved;
Monetizing media content for the development agenda, and exploring the
challenges and opportunities for creating a value-added, sustainable source
of revenue, and
Positioning the African Media Initiative (parent body of the AMLF) as a
broad-based partnership for improving the African media sector and
landscape.
An overarching objective of the Lagos meeting was to explore ways in which
the voices of the vast majority of Africans can be better mobilized to
create a new narrative that is centered on wealth creation, away from the
stereotypical view that emphasizes problems and deficiencies at the expense
of opportunity. The AMLF participants, representing the continent's
influential thinkers and doers, have a key role to play in transforming the
one-dimensional image that shortchanges Africa into the more complex image
that the continent deserves.
"New media are opening up new opportunities to expand the dialogue on the
role of media in sustainable development across Africa," said Eric Chinje,
Manager, Africa Region External Affairs, The World Bank. "Now, more than
ever before, is the time to create a new wealth narrative that can help
improve the everyday lives of millions of Africans who yearn for economic
opportunity, knowledge, and cultural expression."
In keeping with the times, the proceedings and discussions of the AMLF
meeting in Lagos were tweeted, twittered, and broadcast live on social media
websites including www.twitter.com/allafrica.
The full proceedings, including the charter of the African Media Initiative,
is available on www.amlf2009.org
Media contact: Tendai Mhizha, AMLF Forum Director, +234 70 693 81691 +234 70 693 81691, +27 82
9001 204, [email protected]
Development / Ghana / Africa / Modernghana.com
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