APO Announces Finalists for the 2014 APO Media Award

APO Media Award celebrates brilliant and inspiring stories about Africa

DAKAR, Senegal, September 15, 2014/ -- Ten African journalists, including three in Kenya, two in Ethiopia, two in South Africa, one  in Burkina Faso, one in Ghana, and one in Rwanda, have been selected as finalists in the 2014 APO Media Award (#APOMediaAward) 

2014 APO Media Award Finalists are:

Aimable Twahirwa (@atwahirwa) - Rwanda
"Tech Entrepreneur Encourages Rwanda’s Young Women to Venture into ICT" (http://bit.ly/1ogmYkJ)

Andualem Sisay Gessesse (@andualemsisay ) - Ethiopia
"The new face of agriculture in arid Ethiopia?" (http://bit.ly/1pALjMX) 

Claire Muthinji (@cmuthinji) - Kenya
"Maintaining a strong saving culture in Africa" (http://bit.ly/Wpv6mE)

Elias Gebreselassie Woldegebriel (@EliasGebre) - Ethiopia
"For Ethiopia, wildlife protection makes economic and climate sense" (http://tmsnrt.rs/ZcpUEK)

Félix Dela Klutse (@felixklutse) - Ghana
"Unlocking the potential of agribusiness in Africa" (http://bit.ly/1pAM60f)

Inoussa Maiga (@MaigaInou) - Burkina Faso
"La révolution mobile au Sahel" (http://bit.ly/1AiJRF2)

Kristia Van Heerden (@k_r_isis) - South Africa
"How the poor can make you rich" (http://bit.ly/ZcqRgm)

Peter Kahare (@PeterKahare) - Kenya
"In Saving a Forest, Kenyans Find a Better Quality of Life " (http://bit.ly/1qp3PJh)

Pius Sawa (@kharunda) - Kenya
"Cheap, green solar bottles light up Kenyan slum" (http://tmsnrt.rs/1rNAlco)

Sumitra Nydoo (@sumitranydoo) - South Africa
"South Africa's Wonderbag Revolutionizes Cooking" (http://bit.ly/1qvB9SW)

The three winners will be announced on 29 September 2014.

The first-place winner will be presented with $500 a month for one year, one laptop and one intercontinental flight ticket to a destination of his or her choice as well as one year of access to over 600 airport VIP lounges worldwide.

The second-place winner will be awarded $300 a month for one year.

The third-place winner will receive $200 a month for one year.

"Free the Press”: Leadership for the Future

(Editorial by D. Bruce Wharton, Deputy Assistant Secretary, AF)

Information is life. People cannot make a living, hold their governments accountable, or educate their children without a healthy supply of free- flowing information. Citizens need accurate, timely, independent news they can trust. So do businesses and markets…and governments.

Media freedom keeps societies and economies vibrant, energetic, and healthy. When the free flow of news and information is cut off, individuals suffer. Societies and economies suffer. Media freedom is enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Leadership of the media – whether for print, broadcast, internet or social media – is critical to the development of a free press. It provides the vision and ethical framework for reporting and journalism that earns and maintains public trust. The true leaders of the media industry in Africa are those who mentor and inspire the next generation of journalists to overcome the challenges they face – lack of access to information, censorship, personal threats, and even attacks in some places. They serve as the moral compass that leads by example to enable the media to play its role in the consolidation of democratic governance.

We’re watching enormous changes taking place on the African continent, and the United States is proud to work with African partners to support those changes. Through democratic elections and new constitutions, economic growth led by innovation and entrepreneurship, renewed focus on education, and the inclusion of women and young people in decision-making, the progress is tremendous. The implementation of a Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria is a great example of how access to information is strengthening democratic governance.

There are many examples of emerging best practices that demonstrate how the media is changing, too, to keep up with political and economic developments. Collaborating with local organizations, the U.S. Embassy in Harare created a mentoring program for women journalists, giving them the tools and resources to contribute to the public conversation in that country. The African Media Initiative, with its African and international partners, launched the African News Innovation Challenge, a comprehensive and long-term program to support professional development and leadership in journalism, expanding networks across the continent and internationally.

The media's continued develop of leadership and professional standards will help safeguard and advance progress in other spheres. Transparency, accountability, and integrity are fundamental concepts that apply to all sectors, including journalism, and media leaders should model that behavior and mentor it in others. Too many challenges remain in Africa - in human rights, hunger, disease, war and conflict. As in business, media entrepreneurship requires thinking big and taking risks to address those problems. Owners and directors must be prepared to take risks, supporting journalists who are taking them day in and out.

As World Press Freedom Day approaches, the United States calls on all governments to take the steps necessary to create space for independent journalists to do their work without fear of violence or persecution. We pay special tribute to those courageous journalists, bloggers, and citizens who have sacrificed their lives, health, or freedom so that others could know the truth. And we honor the role of free and independent media in creating sustainable democracies and open, healthy societies.

Finally, we recognize that, as agents of change, media leaders serve good governance and economic development by raising their voices and building the platform for open societies to grow. Strong leadership that values and supports ethics in reporting and journalism will help shape this new conversation across Africa.

AMI-SPI partnership boosts bid for strong, diverse African media

AMI-SPI partnership boosts bid for strong, diverse African media

NAIROBI and GRAHAMSTOWN – Rhodes University’s Sol Plaatje Institute (SPI) for Media Leadership, the convener of the Africa Media Leadership Conference (AMLC) in the past nine years, has teamed

up with the African Media Initiative (AMI) to strengthen their common goals of working to create sustainable, diverse and pluralistic African media.

The two organisations also seek to provide a range of platforms and learning initiatives so that African media become “learning institutions which continuously seek to improve their performance

to audiences and markets by providing high quality and ethical management and management systems and editorial and advertising content”, AMI and the SPI announced today.

They will work to create and promote “greater collaboration among African media” and with other news organisations across the world that share their vision and goals. They will also collaborate on a

range of programmes, including media management and leadership research and training.

The SPI, the only university-level institution in Africa and the developing world offering high level editorial and business management training programmes, has hosted the annual, pan-African AMLC

in the past nine years, providing a critical platform to African media leaders to network and discuss key common challenges facing their companies at a time of rapid change brought by digital channels

such as the internet, mobile phones and social media networks. For nine successful years, the AMLC has been funded and organized in close partnership between SPI and KAS Media Africa, the sub-

Saharan media programme of the German Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

AMI seeks to strengthen the media, from an owner and operator perspective, so that the media can play its full role in promoting social development, economic growth and in empowering citizens to

hold governments and other institutions to account. Since 2008, AMI has organised every year the African Media Leaders’ Forum (AMLF), the largest gathering of African media owners and operators,

to discuss and seek practical solutions to issues of common concern among themselves. Earlier this year, KAS Media Africa and AMI announced a strategic partnership beginning with the hosting of a

joint annual media conference on the African continent later this year - under the banner of the African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF).

“Given that both the AMLC and the AMLF were focusing on similar issues, it made better sense that both organisations joined hands, strengthened their reach and impact and leveraged on their

combined economies of scope and scale,” SPI Director Francis Mdlongwa said.

“We at the SPI are delighted to see the birth of this common-sense partnership, which will make it possible for Africa to speak with one voice on common issues.”

AMI Chief Executive Officer Amadou Mahtar Ba said: AMI is delighted to enter into this partnership with a leading learning African institution. The media community on the continent at large and

African media owners and operators in particular will directly benefit from this new endeavour. In a context marked by serious challenges to the media industry worldwide, AMI and the SPI will work

together to help African media leaders to seize the real opportunities in this digital age.”

The joint efforts of AMI, SPI and KAS media Africa mean that from this year onwards there will only be one pan-African media leadership conference, which will be hosted under the aegis of the AMLF.

This year’s summit will be held in the Tunisian capital Tunis on 10 and 11 November.

Sample Code Of Ethics for Citizen Journalists/ Bloggers

The following is a draft code of Ethics formulated at  a workshop in Beirut organised by the National Democratic Institute, and the Lebanese NGO ASWAT on "Citizen Journalism, Professionalism, and Ethics". The code was derived by young citizen journalists from the Middle East and North African (MENA) region, and Iran, along with traditional journalists, namely Kelli Arena [a former CNN journalist] and Magda Abu-Fadil [former editor at AFP].

Guidelines for Good Citizen Journalistic Practices

-Be accurate.

-Be transparent about who you are/your role in the story, your methodology, any conflicts of interest.

-Be fair.

-Disclose any funding.

-Be careful posting developments that not have not been confirmed or that you have not witnessed yourself.

-Do not distribute copyrighted material or plagiarize.

-Always link to original sources.

-Do not post anything that will endanger someone's life.

-Do not sell information about your subscribers or followers’ list. 

-Do not fabricate stories, or digitally alter pictures or video.

-Avoid profanity.

-Put a disclaimer before especially disturbing post.

The code is also available in Arabic & French Languages  
https://www.aswat.com/en/node/5698

I am certain that many of you who write content online will find this pretty useful!

KTN'S John Allan Namu Bags CNN Awards

The eloquent Kenyan " KTN's " tv news anchor "John Allan Namu" bagged the covetous CNN African Journalist of the Year Award for 2009 in Durban South Africa on Saturday night at the awards ceremony.

And i must say deservedly so for his piece on Mungiki dubbed"In the Shadows of Mungiki". Without doubt that was a risky assignment but he covered it with wit and confidence. Kudos John !Indeed his efforts are an inspiration to many upcoming young journalist.Here at Nairobians perspective we continue to recognize home grown talent Congratulations John Alan Namu for your mean fete and thats a nice photo.



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