Connect With Us

The 2009 Highway Africa conference and the Digital Citizen Indaba (DCI) are quickly approaching!

Highway Africa (HA) is the world’s largest gathering of African journalists, and for 13 years it has been at the centre of Africa’s debates on journalism and new media. The Digital Citizen Indaba (DCI) was established after it was recognised that – given its focus on new media and journalism, (HA) could do more to encourage new media take-up by non-journalists, thereby ensuring that citizens have a digital voice too.

The theme of this year’s HA conference will be 2010, Development & Democracy and it will offer journalists a reflection on 2010 in the new media environment. 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. The 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 working theme of the DCI will be ‘digital civil society and journalism in Africa’, focusing on the complex interaction between the mainstream media and civil society.

With only three weeks before all these exciting conversations take place in Grahamstown, we would like to encourage you to connect online with other participants and speakers via our various social media networks. You can share your ideas, expectations, projects or general feedback so that the event is even a bigger success in 2009. We would love to hear from YOU!

• Highway Africa’s official website is: http://www.highwayafrica.com/
• The Digital Citizen Indaba’s website and blog can be found at: http://www.digitalcitizenindaba.com/
• You can also follow us on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/highwayafrica09 and http://www.twitter.com/dcindaba
• Or chat with us on Facebook at the following page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101725407267&ref=nf

Looking forward to meeting you all soon!

–

Levi Kabwato & Elia Varela Serra

HA Social media team

Comments on the proposal for a Pan-African Media Observatory

Highway Africa Chair of Media and the Information Society, Jane Duncan has just released some

Highway Africa Chair for Media & Information Society: Jane Duncan

comments on the proposal for a Pan-African Media Observatory set forth by the African Union Commission and the European Commission. Below are the comments.

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Highway Africa (HA) 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, promoting the use of appropriate technology by journalists. 2009 sees the 13th conference being hosted in Grahamstown with a record attendance of 735 persons in 2008 and offers 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. HA has established a Chair in Media and the Information Society, which is responsible for the encouragement of research, teaching on information society issues, management of the Highway Africa conference and advocacy work, particularly on media freedom issues.

1. Comments on proposals

HA does not intend to re-hash points that have already been made in other submissions; suffice to say that HA associates itself with the basic principles to guide media development in the African Forum for Media Development (AFMD) and Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) submission. We also associate ourselves with their comments on the project. Our position is informed by our view of what preconditions are required for an African information society, and these intrinsically include an environment that is conducive to media freedom and growth. Our view further focuses on the interconnection between the information and communication spheres of society, and therefore on telecoms/internet and media. Our specific comments are as follows: