Reflection, celebration expected at Highway Africa

Reflection, celebration expected at Highway Africa

By Margaret Maluleka
Reflections, celebrations and future directions, this is the theme which is expected to navigate the direction for the 10th gathering of media practitioners, private companies and NGOs in Grahamstown from September 11-13. More than 500 media practitioners from across the continent are expected to make their way to the Highway Africa Conferencewww.highwayafrica.ru.ac.za/, which is the biggest gathering of African journalist in the world.

Speaking at the media launch of the Highway Africa programme, Guy Berger, the head of School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, says: "Journalists with diverse experiences will convene at Rhodes University, in Grahamstown to discuss issues relating to the impact of technology on news coverage and society."

The conference, which enhances media growth within African democratic spheres, has made remarkable strides in contributing to African Renaissance since it's inception 10 years ago. Private companies, NGOs and media practitioners will use the conference to critically reflect of on the role of African media particularly in matters related to Information Communication Technology (ICT). "The seminar aims to stimulate academic reflection on the various aspects of of linkage between African media and the construction of a digital public sphere," says Chris Kabwato, the conference director.

African academics to train journalists
Speakers to the seminar will include Dr Fredrick Madhai, a Kenyan academic based at UK Coventry University, Professor Jimi Adesina, head of Rhodes sociology department and Professor Keyan Tomaselli, the director of the Centre for Cultural and Media studies at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Annelisa Burgee, a producer for SABC's Special Assignment and Dr. Peter Verweij, a Dutch new media expert.

Reporting on ICTs and Investigative Video Journalism workshops will take place between September 4-13. Meanwhile conference participants will not only be equipped with knowledge, they will also be actively involved in producing multimedia products due to be published on the web and in the conference newspaper.

Declaration expected to wrap up the conference
To wrap up the conference, different role players will put together a statement on the 50 years of journalism and media in Africa. However the conference statement will only be made public next year to coincide with Ghana's 50 years of independence

Sabc.com

Ghana ICT Journalists Mailing list

Description
This is the group that aims to unite Ghanaian journalists who take a keen interest in ICT issues...with a view to building a functioning, proactive, useful Association of ICT Journalist
vist the list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ghajict2006/

Haayo-Mediatic project : Call for Papers

This project is being implemented notably in partnership of the Mediatic project www.panos-ao.org/mediatic of PIWA. The Haayo-Mediatic project will be implemented for one year first, as an experimental initiative.



The aims of the project are to:



1. consolidate the works of media reporting in West Africa
2. consolidate the role of medias as an enabler of good governance
for the advent of open and developed societies in West Africa
3. bringing into limelight some of the issues, constraints,
difficulties and solutions that exist for ICT and medias issues in
West Africa
4. bringing into limelight community and innovative media and ICT news
5. enhance the sharing of good practices and experiences in the media
and ICT sectors


So the portal that will be launched soon will be dedicated to (1) media and ICTs and (2) innovative uses ICT in communities (rural, peri-urban mainly).



In order to populate regularly the website and to contribute to the animation of the network that we are thus trying to reinforce, we will order articles *_monthly _*_or* bimonthly*_ on the 2 main issues covered by the project. Articles ordered and selected will be rewarded. *BUT* this is not the only means by which the website will be populated. *We also encourage you to propose articles to be published on the website pro bono, on a voluntary basis*, anytime that you can. Your commitment in the project will be recognized one way or the other.




*FIRST CALL FOR ARTICLES*:



We have the pleasure to launch this first call for articles that will be published on the website www.haayo.com (new website under construction). For this first call for articles, the theme
is: "*Innovative use of ICTs in rural areas*". This first call is restricted to you who participated in the J'burg meeting and to other few selected journalists.



Therefore, could you please send one or two new article(s) that should contain between 5, 000 and 6, 000 characters/letters on this theme ("*Innovative use of ICTs in rural areas*")? Your articles must be sent by electronic mail to klohento@panos-ao.org and to contact@cipaco.org no later than 4 September, 2006. Each selected article will be granted FCFA 50,000 (about USD 100, the reference currency being F CFA). Your article should be original (not already published).



This is the first of a series of calls for articles that will frequently (on a monthly or bi-monthly basis) be issued so that to update this site and to promote Media production on the above mentioned issues.



For more information, please send an electronic message to atounkara@panos-ao.org or klohento@panos-ao.org .





Ken Lohento

ICT program Coordinator

PIWA

ends

WANTED: A PART-TIME EDITOR

IPS-Inter Press Service Africa news agency is looking for a
professional journalist to work part-time as editor.

The editor, on a part-time basis, will be responsible for
commissioning, editing and at times writing stories. The editor will
finalise stories produced by the journalists participating in the
project, before their distribution in the IPS world service and into
specific websites, as well as being ready for translation.

The part-time editor –to be located in the IPS Africa regional office
in Johannesburg­ will be responsible for fulfilling the target of
eight in-depth analyses and features per month, from Southern Africa,
Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Angola, DR Congo,
South Africa, Mauritius, Botswana, and Tanzania. The articles will
focus on vital development issues expressed as the eight MDGs and
other poverty reduction strategies, giving explicit emphasis to the
relevance, mobilisation towards and attainment of the goals, and to
whether promises are being kept.

The part-time editor will work in close cooperation with the Regional
Director of IPS Africa in her capacity as the project manager, and
under the journalistic supervision of the Regional Editor, Jackie
Hobbs. The part-time editor will be part of the editorial regional
team headed by the Regional Editor.

Deadline for applications is 15th August, 2006. Please email to: Farai
Samhungu farai@ips.org, Miren Gutierrez , and
Jackie Hobbs .
__._,_.___

Reuters drops Beirut photographer

Reuters drops Beirut photographer
The news agency Reuters has withdrawn from sale 920 pictures taken by a photographer after finding he had doctored two images taken in Lebanon.
Bloggers first spotted that smoke on Adnan Hajj's image of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike in Beirut appeared to have been made darker.

A Reuters investigation confirmed this and also found two flares had been added to an image of an Israeli jet.

Mr Hajj told the BBC he denied doctoring the content of the images.


He said had tried to clean dust off the first image, a shot of buildings in a suburb of Beirut, on which Reuters found smoke plumes had been darkened and expanded using computer software.

"It was so badly done - an amateur could have done better," Bob Bodman, picture editor at the Daily Telegraph newspaper, told the BBC.

Mr Hajj, a freelance photographer working for Reuters, denied altering the second photograph, an image of an Israeli F-16 fighter over Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon.

"There's no problem with it, not at all," he said in a BBC interview.

'Lapse'

Paul Holmes, editor of political and general news at Reuters, told the BBC that senior photographers at the agency "weren't convinced" that cleaning dust off the first image would result in the manipulation the image showed.

He said there had been a "lapse in our editing process", but stressed that Reuters had moved swiftly to address the issue and tighten editing procedures.

Global picture editor Tom Szlukovenyi said all of Adnan Hajj's images had been removed from the company's database.

He described it as a precautionary measure, but said the manipulation undermined trust in Mr Hajj's entire body of work.

"There is no graver breach of Reuters standards for our photographers than the deliberate manipulation of an image," Mr Szlukovenyi said in a statement.

Questions were raised about the accuracy of the image on Sunday in several weblogs - personal online diaries by writers known as "bloggers" - including ones which scrutinise media coverage of the Middle East for bias.

Mr Holmes said Reuters welcomed the growth of weblogs, which had made the media "much more accountable and more transparent".

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5254838.stm

Published: 2006/08/08 00:57:12 GMT

© BBC MMVI

First African citizen media and blogging conference on 14 and 15 September 2006

Africa's first blogging and citizen media Indaba - the Digital Citizen Indaba (DCI) on Blogging, has been officially announced and will take place in Grahamstown 14-15 September
What will follow in September are two days of informal discussions, excellent networking opportunities, active participation and skills-workshops run by experts from various fields including Ethan Zuckerman from Global Voices.
The event is hosted by the New Media Lab as part of Highway Africa 2006 and will take place in the Africa Media Matrix Building on Rhodes University Campus in Grahamstown, South Africa.
In true blogger style, attendance of the event is free, provided you can get here on your own steam and we are happy to help with travel arrangements.
If you would like to apply for sponsorship to attend the DCI and Highway Africa (this includes airfare, meals and accomodation), please fill in the scholarship application form.
There are a limited number of scholarships available for participation in the Highway Africa conference and the Digital Citizen Indaba. The scholarship is open to all African bloggers or citizen journalists. If you are selected for the scholarship, we will cover your airfare, accomodation, some of your meals and your conference fees. Application deadline: Tuesday 15 August 2006
Visit http://dci.ru.ac.za/ for more information

Ends