If you think Africa's media are under threat you're wrong. The Third African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF) was recently held in Yaoundé, Cameroon and by all accounts the African media industry is growing in leaps and bounds, albeit hampered by a lack of funding. The forum, themed "Funding Africa media in an Age of Uncertain Business Models", was attended by 271 of the continent's media leaders and banking representatives. The aim was to find ways to develop funding and business platforms in the industry.
Many people would be surprised to learn that Cameroon is a beacon for press freedom in Africa and sets an example to which all other African countries, including South Africa, should aspire. What is even more hopeful is that Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Cameroon's Minister of Communications, has also pledged to his government's full support of AMLF's common purpose, which is to create a networking opportunity to uphold the highest standards of ethics, fairness and objectivity.
In a possible dig at South Africa, AllAfrica.com reports that one of the speakers, Alfred E. Opubor, Secretary General of the West African New Media and Development Centre, said that African media is theoretically free based on the constitutions of most countries but lack reality because of the immaturity of political leadership. "Ministers and politicians should not see the press as an enemy to progress but as partners. The struggle in Africa today for freedom of expression is to get our politicians and even our business people to understand that a free environment for communication is a good thing for economic development."
When it comes to funding, Eric Chinje, head of global media development at World Bank Institute, said that most media in Africa get their funding from governments and businesses. This is a bad thing because it hampers transparency and honest journalism. Private media enterprises, which are dependent on advertising, struggle to compete with the nearly bottomless government coffers, and it can be difficult to operate when you don't toe the government line.
One of the solutions, according to Chinje, is funding from banks, financial institutions, development agencies and fund managers. "That is where the real money is. If you look at the figures, the amount of media funding coming from banks, financial institutions and development agencies remains negligible."
It's essential that this extra funding is found because, according to Hunter Gault, an award-winning SA-base journalist, "Media can help accelerate Africa's economic and social advance... Africa needs a strong media to record these changes and to help its people understand and be a part of what could finally result in an African Renaissance."
Now, if only the South African government would pay attention to its other African counterparts, we could stop pointing fingers and start moving forward as a nation.
Phil writes about Advertising rate cards for the leading resource for media, marketing and advertising professionals in South Africa, SARAD.
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