We The World: Africa

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Wilfred Kiboro spoke first after seeing images of Africa on the screen. He said he’s angry. “”Shame on Reuters”” for sharing images of Africa that reinforce stereotypes. He says that Sachs continues to stereotype as well. It isn’t one country, Kiboro says. “”I don’t know the Kenya he was describing,”” referring to Sachs. It takes 8 hours to fly from top to bottom. There are so many ethnic communities in different countries. African countries aren’t like European. MSM does a great disservice to Africa. Media is alive and well in Africa. “”We are not in the stone age.””

Rachel then asked the rest of the panel to introduce themselves.

Ory Okolloh is a Kenyan blogger in English and Swahili. She started blogging at Harvard while in Law School. She got involved in Global Voices as well. Her stories and others in Africa didn’t feel that their stories were being told locally or internationally. Rather than complain about the lack of coverage, cover it yourself! “”You tell them the real story.”” She is now focusing on “”citizen journalism”” even beyond hard news. She cites photos from flickr which covers many aspects of African life. She also spoke of the Kenyan blogosphere covering a recent corruption story.

Matthew Buckand, the publisher of the Mail and Guardian Online edition. This is a profitable website from online advertising. He also blogs. He also says that Africa is complicated. Northern, Central and Southern Africa are so different from each other. He also says that looking at positive stories is almost never done by MSM. The second privately funded trip into space was in South Africa! It isn’t all doom and gloom. His newspaper has a citizen journalism site. He also mentions Media24, an interactive TV channel. He is in conflict about citizen journalism. There is a problem with connectivity. 1/160 people have access. If no access to the internet exists, why talk about citizen journalism? But on the other hand, citizen journalism is perfect for Africa. Mobile phone penetration is important. It leapfrogged straight to GSM. Entrepreneurs have an opportunity to use moblogging.

Megan Knight also discussed mobile phone penetration. She believes that South Africa will build its own kind of technology based on what it uses. She has no doubt that Africa will invest something itself rather than wait around for someone to bring technology to them. She also sees citizen journalism as coming from a longer rebellious activism in Africa. Radio, for example, is still the most important technology in Africa. MDLF came out of radio. Why not pirate or community radio in Africa? She wants to utilize regular radio, rather than internet, to enable new community activity.

Kimboro discussed that satellite and other technologies are coming in. His site is extremely popular. Trying to balance commercial interests with reader interests.

Fred from Zambia spoke next. Fred has been at the Post Newspaper for over 15 years. He came into journalism from a political background. He was involved with a political party. His newspaper was the second online in Africa. Rachel mentioned that many people consider Zambia to be a “”basketcase,”” so this is impressive.

Okolloh mentioned that all African newspapers must be online. They need the diaspora and to reach others. Even though not a lot of people are blogging, a lot of the blogging posts are circulated via SMS or e-mail. They’re also looking to get blogs printed. There are people that want to hear the bloggers’ voices but can’t reach them. Young people can’t get published in the African MSM but can get published on blogs.

Rachel asked why the Mail and Guardian had political bloggers. Buckland said that they asked all the party leaders to blog the local elections. He said that it was really exciting even in stories about forgetting to brush one’s teeth. They didn’t want to include comments because they were afraid that politicians would be attacked. http://electionblogs.mg.co.za/ They also let users blog on their own Mail and Guardian sites.

Rachel asked about Zambia in contrast to Kenya and South Africa. Fred said he took the newspaper online because of the impact that a newspaper can have on poverty. The problems are so big. There is a legacy of problems. Since the slave trade, Africa has had involvement in the free market. Now they are still trying to go into the free market. Zambia and Maylasia were at the same economic level 25 years ago. Look at Malaysia now! Rachel asked friend who he wants to consume his news. Fred said that he wants to produce for humanity.

Rebecca brought up from the chat room that people liked Kiboro’s words then asked why connectivity is more important than basic needs like clean water? Okolloh said not to take money away from other problems, rather try to achieve a number of things at the same time. She says that it is crap to “”wait for internet access while we’re dying.”” She is tired of these arguments. “”This is a global information world.”” They are not mutually extensive.

Buckland agreed with Okolloh. He says that the Rwandan Genocide wouldn’t have happened with the internet. If there was an information flow through Africa, politicians wouldn’t allow these things to happen.

Knight said in Zimbabwe that things could be worse. Not everyone needs to read the blog – just one person to read it and can pass messages on.

Kiboro says that connectivity will happen in Africa but it is about business rather than development. Newspapers are limited to pages. The internet can go on indefinitely. “”There is so much to be said about Africa,”” that is why there is a blogging explosion. Africa can leap technologies easily.

David from viewma

gazine.tv, a vcast, discussed a project in Ghana taking journalists from South Africa. He says there are easy ways for people to get involved in Africa with affordable equipment. MSM could put these sort of things on television. Supply the funding and equipment and make someone a video journalist!

Rachel told Kiboro to do it. He said “”money’s not our problem.”” People with training are the real problem.

Put what Sachs said into a context. Western media “”never puts anything in a context.””

WeJay Jeff Jarvis was delighted to hear people say that it doesn’t take everyone to be online to get the value of technology. How it is spread and tied into other things is important too. Flexibility is key! Take advantage of opportunities.

A question from the audience emerged from a gentleman from USC. He told a story about how going on the internet was a political move for students.

A question from Michaela, a filmmaker, who asked about entertainment in Africa. Kiboro said that people are involved in some film productions, people engage in online chats.

What’s the best way that outsiders can help correct the stereotypes that the MSM perpetuates about Africa?

Ore said that technology facilitated newspapers online. She mentioned that in Kenya a site for subscribers with alternative media clips. The bandwidth issues are a big problem.

From the chat room: “”Well, people have chosen _one_ of the sessions to miss, and clearly this was it.””

TAG: wemedia ”

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