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PanAfrica: Plans On TV Channel for Africa Ready

The Nation (Nairobi)

April 7, 2006
Posted to the web April 7, 2006

Mugumo Munene
Nairobi

A Sh3.5 billion plan to launch a 24-hour pan-African TV news channel is nearing completion, the Nation has learnt.

The channel - to be known as A24 - was proposed to counter the negative coverage of Africa by Western media, who often paint the continent as backward and afflicted by poverty, disease, war and debt.

The channel will have bureaus in all of the 53 capital cities in Africa.

A master plan developed by Mr Salim Amin, son of photojournalist Mohammed Amin, proposes that the station will start off with two journalists in every bureau.

The first half of every hour will be dedicated to news from around the continent while the other half will consist of documentaries, features and talk shows. The channel will also exploit the latest technology by sending news through mobile telephones, Mr Salim Amin said.

He was addressing senior editors and media owners from eastern and southern Africa at a conference to discuss the challenges facing the media in Africa. The meeting was held at the Nairobi Safari Club.

"It will be very much along the lines of what Al-Jazeera is doing for the Arab world by telling their story the way they know it," Mr Amin said.

A24 will broadcast news and features on politics, travel and tourism, lifestyle and health, music and entertainment, science and technology, culture, sport, business and economics.

"It will be commercial, credible, independent and transparent in its operations and business management," he said, describing it as "an exciting venture" through which West Africa will get to hear about East Africa and Southern Africa "get to hear about the North through stories told by highly-trained journalists telling stories about their own countries".



He said the channel would present the real Africaas a place of good and bad, honesty and corruption, economic vibrancy and poverty, eager entrepreneurs as well as those who still rely on foreign aid, and truth about Africa to Africans and the world."


The three-day conference, which closes today, was sponsored by the Konrad Adenuer Foundation and the Sol Plaatje Media Leadership Institute.

Media personalities attending the conference were drawn from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Mr Amin said the initiative is seeking out an initial Sh72 million ($1 million) to hire a chief financial officer and lay the ground work for the Sh3.5 billion ($50 million) capitalisation of the programme.

Investors interested in the initial round of seed funding can buy a maximum of $50,000 (Sh3.6 million) worth of stock.

"There are many people who have expressed interest in making a contribution. The $50 million seed fund is meant to run the operations of A24 for two years during which time it will is expected to have brought in revenue through advertising," Mr Amin said. The management team will include international and African media leaders in the content creation, technology, distribution, finance, training and general management.

"Several of these world class candidates, currently working with some of the most important international media companies, have shown dedication to the project but cannot as yet be named," Mr Amin said.

In a separate presentation, the executive chairman of IPP Media, Mr Reginald Mengi, who runs an independent TV channel in Tanzania said: "Negative reporting of Africa is an impediment to the flow of foreign direct investment into the continent. Investors must be convinced by the Africa media that effective economic environments are sustainable and that the economic policies and reforms in place are credible."

Zimbabwean publisher Trevor Ncube said that poverty had hampered the growth of the media industry in Africa.

Restrictive laws

Mr Ncube, the chief executive of The Mail and Guardian, said restrictive laws had also been used by governments to muzzle the freedom of media houses perceived to be a nuisance or a hindrance to the governments' goals. Other impediments include restrictive licensing regimes, libel laws, registration of journalists and stringent licence renewal requirements.

Earlier on Wednesday evening, the media personalities were hosted to a dinner by Nation Media Group chief executive Wilfred Kiboro.

Mr Kiboro urged the editors and media owners to set their sight on achieving international standards if they wished to grow into influential national and regional media houses.

"The power of the pen is enormous and how you use it is important. The Nation Media Group has succeeded in the Kenyan market for about 45 years, 35 of which we have continuously posted profits," Mr Kiboro said.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200604070361.html
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