The African Editors Forum

Highway Africa 2010

The Themes : 2010, Development & Democracy

In 2010, South Africa hosts the FIFA World Football Cup. As we head for the world’s biggest spectacle, taking place in Africa for the very first time, it is imperative that African journalism and media prepare on how the 2010 Story will told. Highway Africa Conference 2009 will be both a celebration and an interrogation of journalism and media and their role in sport, identity and the African agenda.

The questions we would like to ask ourselves will include:

• How is Africa telling the story of the 2010 World Cup?
• What technology will the media deploy to report and deliver 2010?

What is Highway to Africa?
Highway Africa is a partnership between Rhodes University (School of Journalism and Media Studies) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with the support of several partners, development agencies and sponsors. 2009 sees the 13th edition being hosted in Grahamstown with a record attendance of 735 persons in 2008 and offers a journalists reflection on 2010 in the New Media environment. The Highway Africa annual Awards expand to over 5 categories in their ninth year, continuing to recognise excellence in ICT journalism in Africa.

Find out more at Highway Africa

World Press Freedom Day 2010

UNESCO’s World Press Freedom Day 2010 is coming to the South Pacific for the first time. It is being hosted at Australia’s University of Queensland. The university’s School of Journalism and Communication is organising the conference on May 2 and 3. The conference website, launched this week, says:

“Great is Truth, And Mighty Above All Things” is the wording above the main entrance to the Forgan Smith Building at the University of Queensland. These words fit well with the theme of this year’s conference, which is “Freedom of Information: the Right to Know”.

Access to a free press, the right of journalists to go about their work unhindered and the enjoyment of freedom of expression by the citizenry are all key elements of a democracy. Journalists and media professionals from around the world will come to Brisbane this May to discuss threats to the independence of the media and to celebrate the importance of free and fearless journalism.

For more information please visit the UNESCO Website

13th African Union Heads of State and Government Conference

The 13th African Union Conference of Heads of State and Government is holding from June 29-July 3, 2009, in Sirte, Libya. The conference is being held on the theme: “Investing in Agriculture for Food Self-sufficiency”. Like many other international organizations, the Bank Group is participating in the event. More than 80% of the continent’s population lives off agriculture, something which calls for a review of the sector’s financing modalities in order to make it more productive and to modernize the continent’s agri-food industry. At the African Union, the situation has been considered paradoxical given that the continent has great potential in this area, namely; land and water, but it lacks the strategies and means such as the mechanization of agriculture and infrastructure to exploit the water. According to an AU report, the crisis affecting the world, is also threatening global food security, and therefore AU member states must take into account these challenges and develop their water resources and the continent’s wildlife. It has also been pointed out that the continent’s agriculture does not earn enough investments, recommending therefore the need to implement the detailed programme on agricultural development in Africa.

Find out more at Africa-Union.org

2009 Bloodiest Year for African Journalists Since 2000

2009 has been the bloodiest year for media professionals killed in the line of duty worldwide since 1992, and has seen the highest death toll for journalists in Sub-Saharan Africa in this decade, according to an annual analysis of media fatalities worldwide released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

In a week marking the anniversaries of the unsolved murders of journalists Norbert Zongo of Burkina Faso and Gambian Deyda Hydara, the report denotes that none of the perpetrators of the 2009 journalist murder cases have been brought to justice.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, 12 journalists have been murdered in direct relation to their work this year, just one less loss of life than the heavy toll recorded in 1999, which was largely caused by Sierra Leone’s civil war. This time, Somalia’s ongoing conflict claimed the most victims, but other journalists were murdered while investigating local corruption in Nigeria and Kenya or covering the political crisis in Madagascar. CPJ is investigating the cases of two other journalists in Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo to determine whether their deaths were related to journalism.

Read the full article at allAfrica.com