About Penplusbytes www.penplusbytes.org is a registered non profit since 18th July 2001. Vision "To be the leading institution for promoting effective governance using technology in Africa".
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are of fundamental importance in reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, as well as in helping countries everywhere adapt to climate change and to deal with its sometimes catastrophic effects. This is the message of a report launched on 6th December 2010 by ITU and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) on Using ICTs in tackling climate change.
The report describes, with concrete examples, how ICTs can achieve these goals in three main ways:
• By driving down emissions in the ICT sector itself • By cutting emissions and raising energy efficiency in other sectors • By using ICT-based systems to monitor weather and the environment worldwide, as well as to swiftly transmit data, analysis and alerts.
The environmental impact of ICTs is being tackled through the introduction of more efficient equipment and networks, alongside better waste management through the entire lifecycle of electronic devices, according to the report. It notes that for every watt of energy saved by a billion end users of ICT equipment, a whole power plant is no longer required. And all sectors of the economy can significantly reduce their energy needs (and thus GHG emissions) through ICTs, which, for example, can maximize the efficiency of power systems in "smart" grids that distribute electricity with much less wastage and can harness effectively the power from renewable resources.
The report also highlights the crucial importance of ICTs in keeping watch over the Earth's climate and weather, and in warning of impending natural disasters. Thousands of lives are saved every year through monitoring systems that use data from satellites as well as sensors on land and sea. To ensure that these operations can be undertaken without interference, ITU, as the international steward of the limited resource of radio-frequency spectrum, allocates the necessary frequencies and approves technical standards.
Computing power and broadband networks are essential in analyzing these monitoring data and transmitting the results. In addition, notes the report, ICTs – and especially broadband Internet access – are playing an increasing role in delivering services that help to create and support a sustainable future. These include online access to education and medical services, even in remote communities, as well as information that helps protect food security. Within the next ten years, up to 250 million people living in Africa will experience increased water stress, and crop yields in some African countries are expected to drop by half, according to the report. ICTs can systematically monitor world supplies and shortages of water and food crops, as well as delivering advice to farmers on how to improve yields.
"Actual implementation of sustainable ICTs is a critical step in achieving sustainable development. ICTs can have a net enabling effect that contributes to a low carbon economy, starting with the supply chain, energy efficiency in the use phase all the way through end of life management. When ICTs are applied, measurement of this net effect compared to business as usual is possible. GeSI members are fully committed to raises awareness by engaging with other stakeholders so we can fully realize the benefits of ICTs" stated GeSI Chair, Luis Neves.
In order to fully appreciate the impact of ICTs in meeting the challenge of climate change, it is necessary to see trustworthy statistics. Using ICTs in tackling climate change notes that Study Group 5 in ITU's Standardization Sector (ITU-T) is in the process of approving a standard that presents the general principles on how to assess the environmental impact of ICTs and outlines the various methodologies that are being developed by ITU, in cooperation with UNFCCC and other bodies, including GeSI. These will allow fair comparisons to be made among projects, communities and even countries as a whole, when it comes to using ICTs to reduce emissions.
On 17 November 2010, an agreement was concluded by ITU and GeSI to formalize their cooperation in the area of measuring the impact of ICTs. It was signed by Malcolm Johnson, Director of ITU's Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, and by Luis Neves, Chairman of the Board of GeSI, and has the objective of developing a standardized common methodology which will be recognized globally for the measurement of the GHG emissions of ICTs themselves and the reduction of emissions enabled by ICTs in other sectors.
To download a copy of "Because Accountability Counts: A Journalist's Guide to Post Elections in Ghana" please click here
Accra, Dec. 1, GNA - The authorities of Penplusbytes, (International Institute of ICT Journalism) in partnership with coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSO), has launched the Ghana Post Elections Intervention Project to hold elected officials accountable to their campaign promises. The project is to overcome the challenges and problems affecting citizens and the media's ability to hold elected representatives accountable for the promises made during elections.
It began in March 2010 and expected to end in March 2011. Its objective is to promote a culture of political accountability by strengthening processes that lead to fulfilment of electoral promises and the delivery of visible and impact-driven dividends of democracy. Members of the CSOs include Centre for Democratic Development, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), Edge Cube, technology firms and academia.
Dr Kwabena Riverson, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Penplusbytes, who launched the project in Accra on Wednesday, said "this is a pioneering project to focus on how the media can become more effective in holding elected officials accountable". He said it would be piloted in two geographical areas: Accra Metropolitan Assembly and Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Assembly in the Western Region.
It will allow the tracking of local government political performance because both assemblies presented different sets of demands and placed complete and diverse challenges on the government both in its promises and attainment of national and local government development agenda. Dr Riverson said it would use various sources of information in tracking developmental issues as promised by elected officials during their campaigns: President's sessional address, budget statements and Parliamentary question time.
The rest include statements by the President and Sector Ministries as captured by the press, statements and publications by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund including field officers who would furnish the project with research work undertaken in the various government agencies. The Project is part of the broader African Elections Project, established in 2008 and co-ordinated by the International Institute of ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes) working with OSIWA as its main sponsor. Meanwhile, the group has launched a book titled "Because Accountability Counts: A Journalist's Guide to Post Elections in Ghana", which provides a unique insight into how journalists can effectively cover post elections issues in Ghana.
Because Accountability Counts – A Journalist guide for covering post-elections in Ghana is one of the key building blocks for Ghana Post-elections Intervention Project whose main objective is to help overcome the challenges and problems affecting citizens' ability to hold elected representatives accountable for promises they make during pre-election campaigns. The guide's main objective is to empower journalists and other stakeholders with an information and knowledge resource for playing the watch and guide dog role in holding elected officers accountable. It provides an overview of post-elections landscape of Ghana, covering governance, legislative issues, political parties and their manifestoes,ruling party, opposition and governing after an election and provides guides for covering: 1. Parliament, Political Parties, Ruling Government (mapping campaign promises & manifesto), Opposition and Key Governance Issues 2. Investigative journalism and post-elections coverage 3. ICTs and Covering Post-Elections 4. Covering Budget and Extractive Industries and 5. Lessons to be learned from the post 2007 election crisis in Kenya
WHAT does the extraordinary release over the last few weeks by WikiLeaks of reams and reams of confidential information—the latest is a batch released today of around 250,000 United States diplomatic cables—mean for the media? Embarrassed governments will no doubt level accusations of irresponsible, even dangerous, headline-grabbing. Ordinary citizens will probably react with a mix of cynicism and amazement. But the commercial question is whether the forest of newsprint devoted to the WikiLeaks' revelations will actually lead to a sustained increase in circulation for the five newspapers given privileged access to the material: the New York Times in America, the Guardian in Britain, Le Monde in France, El Pais in Spain and Der Spiegel in Germany.
Sadly for print journalism, Cassandra suspects any boost in sales will be temporary. The trend, especially among the young, is for news increasingly to be delivered by the computer and smart-phone screen rather than by the printed page. Already Americans use the internet more than newspapers to get their news. So how will the newspapers stay in business? The answer in 2011 is not just that they will smarten up their websites but also that more and more will put those sites—or part of them—behind a paywall. By January or February, even the "gray lady" herself, the New York Times, will be behind a paywall. The question then will be how many will continue, like the Guardian, to resist this "user pays" trend.
The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas has just completed an online course as part of an agreement with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to help journalism professors in Africa with training on digital media.
All the 23 professors enrolled in this online course are from schools included in UNESCO's list of potential Centers of Excellence in Journalism Education in Africa. The professors were from nine countries, including Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
"The Knight Center has a very specific mandate to help journalists and journalism educators in Latin America and the Caribbean, but this was an exceptional case," said professor Rosental Alves, director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas based at the University of Texas at Austin. "We were delighted to cooperate with UNESCO in this pilot project in Africa, as a contribution to our colleagues there."
"Besides the opportunity to have Prof. McAdams, one of the best experts in online journalism training, to teach our African colleagues, we thought this was an opportunity to show a cost-effective model developed by the Knight Center to train journalists and journalism educators via the Internet," Alves added.
The training was part of UNESCO's long-standing commitment to uplifting the standards of journalism education in Africa, by developing global educational partnerships in support of the 20 centers of excellence in journalism education spread across the African continent.
"We were delighted that the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas agreed to provide the training requested for by the centers themselves, as part of their institutional capacity-strengthening efforts," says Jayaweera Wijayananda, director of UNESCO's Division for Communication Development. "We will continue to explore more training opportunities for the centers, bearing in mind that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) are reshaping the way journalism education is delivered. We need a new skills set that responds to the changing technological context in Africa."
Prof. McAdams said the "course ran smoothly."
"Teaching journalism educators about online journalism is not very different from teaching journalists about it," she said. "The difference in emphasis, I felt, was that I needed to persuade them that their students need to know about these techniques and skills now, today."
Prof. Nancy A. Booker, from Kenya, was excited to be involved in her first online learning experience
"The most interesting thing that I learned in the course is how one can use Moodle (the course management system used by the Knight Center in its online courses) without necessarily being in the class room physically. I think that was really fascinating and I hope that I can suggest to the Department of Communication where I teach this approach since it can save us huge costs instead of running satellite campuses the way that we do."
Prof. Booker, who teaches broadcast writing, has also already applied what she learned through the UNESCO course in her classroom.
"For example, just last week I showed my media writing class how to create blogs and they were able to post at least two of their assignments onto their blogs."
The course "Teaching Online Journalism" has inspired Prof. Gideon Tehwui Lambiv to help fellow Cameroonian journalists create original content for online news outlets.
"I shall be proposing to UNESCO-Cameroon Regional Office to organize or sponsor a seminar/workshop in online journalism where media professionals and the media can get some training in online journalism," he said. "This could be an opportunity for me to share the knowledge I have acquired from the course beyond the university and the classroom.
Since 2003, the Knight Center has been training journalists with a pioneering and innovative platform based on Moodle, an open-source course management system. More than 4,400 journalists have participated in the Knight Center's online training programs in a variety of topics.
"I think this successful course taught in collaboration with UNESCO shows that a similar program can be established in Africa and help the current efforts to improve journalism education in many countries on that continent," said Alves. "There are many things that we, who are involved in journalism training in the Americas can learn from our colleagues and Africa, and vice-versa. We should have more of this kind of inter-regional collaborations."
Join us on Wednesday 1st of December, 2010 @ Ghana Journalists Association - Press Center,Accra Ghana For the launch of -Ghana Post Elections Project and Online Coverage of parliament -A new publication - Because Accountability Counts - A Journalist guide for covering post elections in Ghana Time : 12.00pm. prompt
The project seeks to overcome the challenges and problems affecting citizen's ability to hold elected representatives accountable for promises made during elections by matching the ruling government's action and inaction against their manifesto and campaign promises.
If you are in Accra, Ghana and able to join us for this launch send a mail to ghana@africanelections.org or call 0302 2234015 / Mob: 0241995737
Deadline is Dec 1 for Knight News Challenge media innovation contest ==============================
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If you have an innovative media technology idea, you might be able to get funding from the Knight News Challenge contest.
Run by the Knight Foundation, the grant competition awards up to $5 million annually for innovative projects that use digital technology to transform the way communities send, receive and make use of news and information.
More info can be found here: http://newschallenge.org. The site includes application information, as well as details about past winners.
This year's application deadline is December 1. The News Challenge is looking for applications in four categories: mobile, authenticity, sustainability and community. All projects must make use of digital technology to distribute news in the public interest.
The contest is open to anyone in the world.
A simple description of the project is all you need to apply. Submit a brief pitch to http://newschallenge.org. If the reviewers like it, you'll be asked to submit a full proposal later.
Service to provide fast, easy, reliable remittances to MTN MobileMoney users anytime, anywhere
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., and JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov. 10, 2010 – MTN Group, (JSE: MTN), the leading mobile operator in Africa and the Middle East, and Western Union, (NYSE: WU) a leader in global payment services, today announced a commercial agreement to introduce international mobile remittance services in the 21 countries where MTN operates.
Once introduced, the service will allow MTN subscribers to conveniently send and receive Western Union Money Transfer® transactions using their MTN MobileMoney accounts.
The service will first be introduced in Uganda, where MTN's MobileMoney service already boasts over 1 million registered users, making it one of the most successful mobile wallet deployments in the world. According to the World Bank, Uganda receives nearly US$500 million in remittances every year, making up 3% of the country's GDP.
When the new international remittance service is activated, MTN subscribers registered for MobileMoney will be able to receive Western Union Money Transfer transactions in their mobile accounts. In addition, MobileMoney users in certain countries will be able to send Western Union Money Transfer transactions directly from their mobile phones for payout at one of Western Union's 386,000 Agent locations in 200 countries and territories around the world.
An MTN subscriber who receives a Western Union Money Transfer transaction in his MobileMoney account will be able to use the funds to pay bills, top-up airtime, send money domestically and internationally, or withdraw cash at MobileMoney Agents or any participating ATM.
"The Western Union Mobile Money Transfer service is a key part of our multi-channel strategy to offer our consumers numerous ways to send and receive money," said Khalid Fellahi, Western Union's Head of Mobile Transaction Services. "This alliance with MTN – one of the world's most successful mobile operators – will introduce cross-border remittances to an entirely new segment of customers by allowing them to send and receive money using just their mobile phones."
Pieter Verkade, MTN Executive of MobileMoney, said, "After bringing domestic financial services to many of our customers, we will now enable customers to receive money from abroad on their mobile phones to take out at their convenience with their local merchant, send it to family or pay a bill."
MTN's MobileMoney service is currently available in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, with pilots underway in several other markets. The service offers consumers a convenient, secure and affordable way to send money within the same country (domestically), buy airtime and make basic utility payments using their MTN mobile phones. MTN offers the service in partnership with local banks.
Western Union offers the Mobile Money Transfer service in the Philippines with Smart Communications and Globe Telecom; in Kenya with Safaricom; and in Malaysia with Maxis. The company also recently announced an agreement with EnStream in Canada and State Bank of India in India and has other agreements for Mobile Money Transfer with banks in Tunisia, Libya and South Africa.
Ends
- Issued by MTN Group Corporate Affairs
ABOUT MTN GROUP
Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: "MTN." As of 30 September 2010, MTN recorded 134.4 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. Visit us at www.mtn.com and www.mtnfootball.com.
ABOUT WESTERN UNION
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, as well as send payments and purchase money orders. The Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services are offered through a combined network of approximately 435,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In 2009, The Western Union Company completed 196 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $71 billion of principal between consumers, and 415 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
The African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF) - the continent's only gathering of top media owners and operators across all platforms: print, broadcast, online and new media - is the flagship programme of the African Media Initiative (AMI), a Pan-African Initiative to promote democratic governance, social development and economic growth by strengthening the continent's media sector. It does so through a strategic set of activities aimed at transforming the sector to become more professional, financially sustainable and socially responsible.
A key characteristic of media development in Africa has been the heavy concentration on journalism support at the expense of addressing the business aspects of media. Experience throughout the continent has shown that many of the constraints regularly identified in the emergence of a professional, financially sustainable and socially responsible media can only be addressed at the owner and operator level.
Yet for too long, owners and operators have sat on the sidelines of media development debates focused mainly on freedom of expression. AMLF was created to address this core issue by involving a diverse and representative group of owners and operators in the development of solutions, reforms and resources to strengthen the media sector so that it can play a meaningful role in the continent's development agenda.
The theme of the 2010 AMLF is: "Funding African Media in an Age of Uncertain Business Models". All our teams are hard at work to bring the best African and international expertise to discuss the items in our agenda.
AMLF 2010 Co-Chairs are: Joyce Barnathan, President of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), USA Papa Madiaw Ndiaye, CEO, Advanced Finance & Investment Group (AFIG), USA and Salim Amin, Chairman Camerapix and A24, Kenya.
The African Elections Project (AEP) http://www.africanelections.org/coted'ivoire/ will be covering Cote d'Ivoire general election, taking place on Sunday 31st October 2010 to elect a president out of the 14 candidates. AEP was established in 2008 to empower journalists to cover elections using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) across the continent. AEP has successfully covered elections in Botswana, Namibia, Ghana, Mauritania, Mozambique, Malawi, Togo and with plans are far advanced to cover Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Uganda, Cameroon and Niger.
According to Kofi Mangesi who is leading a team of journalists to cover the elections said "African Elections Project is excited that Cote d'Ivoire is finally taking place after years of delay. He added that AEP is committed to contribute to a better election by working with the media and civil society organizations through the provision of independent information and impartial coverage using ICTs".
The African Elections Project is coordinated by Ghana based International Institute for ICT Journalism (www.penplusbytes.org) working hand in hand with other key partners across the continent. The Open Society Initiative for West Africa www.osiwa.org is the main strategic and funding partner for AEP project in Cote d'Iovire.
OpenPublish is a packaged distribution of the popular open source social publishing platform, Drupal, that has been tailored to the needs of today's online publishers.
OpenPublish is ideal for the implementation of a variety of media outlets sites including magazines, newspapers, journals, trade publications, broadcast, wire service, multimedia sites and membership publications.
Who Created OpenPublish
Developed by Phase2 Technology with the support of Thomson Reuters, OpenPublish is designed to leverage Drupal as a social publishing platform, integrate semantic web technologies, and incorporate best practices from other publishing sites. OpenPublish features a semantic metadata engine that uses Thomson Reuter's Calais Web Service to provide contextual metadata.
why use openPublish
OpenPublish provides a solution for publishers struggling to keep up with rapidly expanding technology and user expectations. Features support everything from basic news coverage needs to Web 2.0 trends, social publishing and topic hubs. OpenPublish has a starting kit of modules and configurations that support the needs of online publishing. Each component bundled in the distribution is well supported, documented and modularly designed according to Drupal's architecture. OpenPublish now comes bundled with Aqcuia's full range of managed support services and other professional services.
Who should Howard Kurtz thank for his new job at The Daily Beast? Tina Brown, his new boss? Barry Diller, the head of the site's parent company?
How about Josh Marshall, who over 10 years has built a small liberal political blog into a self-sustaining network of news and opinion sites?
How about the proprietors of hyperlocal news sites, who devoted 12-hour-days to their self-funded sites, hoping that if they could find the right mix of content, they could figure out a way to support it?
Or the hundreds of fresh-faced college grads who, when presented with a virtual lockout at newspapers around the country, figured they could do worse than to gamble on a little-known website that didn't exist when they were in high school?
Tuesday's news was about how Kurtz was leaving one of the most venerable papers in the country for a two-year-old website -- yet another example of old media losing talent to new media.
But if you take the long view, you see that this trail has already been blazed. Rather than being a story of how online media has taken something from legacy media, this is a story of how online media is now mature enough, editorially and financially, that people like Kurtz or Howard Fineman consider it a real option.
Kurtz's move isn't risky or edgy; it's well-reasoned and practical -- which says more about the state of online media than it does about his own career path.
Nothing to lose
In "The Innovator's Dilemma," Clayton M. Christensen writes that the people who shake up an industry are the ones who have the least to lose. They're willing to try techniques or technology ignored by industry stalwarts. And in doing so, those upstarts sometimes end up undermining the existing industry.
At some point, those stalwarts realize that they're not in the industry they thought they were in. You thought you were in the railroad business? You're in the transportation business. You thought you worked in newspapers? You work in media.
People like Marshall disrupted the news business by capitalizing on the Web's low barrier to publishing, building a community around his content, and redefining online media.
I think we can trace this change in the media industry by tracing the shift in the types of people who have been attracted to online media startups and thrived -- from visionaries like Marshall to media figures like Kurtz.
The Web's Oregon Trail
In this first stage -- along with the people who "got" the Web -- I would put the people who, for one reason or another, hadn't found their place in media.
Perhaps they didn't share the values of legacy news organizations. Maybe they didn't have the right credentials. Maybe they didn't look like others in journalism. Maybe they consciously were trying to reshape media, and they had never wanted to be part of those creaky behemoths.
The Web was the place where these people could figure this out.
When the economy crashed and worsened the structural challenges at news orgs, these people were joined by the laid-off and bought-out -- the second stage.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, more journalists took similar paths. Some of them had been able to ignore the changes in media because they were still employed. Even if they contributed to their websites, the organizations were still organized around and dependent on their presses.
As these journalists looked around them for the next job, they realized that the choice had been made for them -- if they wanted to do journalism, they would have to figure out how to do it online.
In the third stage are young people -- those with bachelor's and master's degrees -- who before the Web (and before the recession) would've walked the well-worn career paths of journalists before them. (This started happening before the layoffs, but that's when it became dire.)
The good and the lucky among them have been able to get traditional media jobs. Others saw the limited opportunity, the mixed signals about what the companies sought, and the antiquated business model and decided they may as well push into the underbrush to see what was growing there.
The next stage is made up of the established journalists who joined online startups such as California Watch, The Bay Citizen, Chicago News Cooperative and Texas Tribune. (Perhaps this stage started with the people who launched Politico and ProPublica.)
My colleague Mallary Tenore found that many of the new employees at Texas Tribune had left jobs with other major news outlets in Texas to join this new nonprofit news site. They were young and on the upswing of their careers. They had options; they just decided that the Tribune was a better one. So did their bosses, veterans who also left publications to do journalism online.
The new is old
This brings us to the people who seem like they'd have the most to lose by leaving established media companies with stellar brands, people like Kurtz and Fineman.
But what does Kurtz really stand to lose? Perhaps some income; we don't know if he'll make more or less money at The Daily Beast. But he won't lose his TV show on CNN. He won't lose his 40,000 Twitter followers. He'll keep his extensive list of contacts. And his fans (many of whom probably just Googled his name and clicked one of the first links) will be able to find him just as easily.
Most of the things that would've made someone like him reticent to make this move five years ago -- even two years ago -- are gone. It looks like you can make money online, though it involves many different types of revenue. Branding is more important. In his farewell note to his colleagues at the Post, Kurtz said his move shouldn't be read as a sign of the decline of the Post or of newspapers.
"Still, there's an awful lot of energy and excitement in the Web world," he wrote. "I could not have imagined doing this five years ago, as a guy who just plain likes paper. So a significant shift is underway. Somehow, I became a trending topic on Twitter -- and without even popping off, Rick Sanchez-style."
Preface : For the past three years, discussions about the future of the news media have centered on the decline of the so-called golden age of journalism and the descent into a chaos characterised by splintered audiences, decimated balance sheets, and the muscling-in of amateurs. Fearing that their halcyon days as the guardians of information are numbered,many editors and journalists have engaged in collective navel-gazing, askingthemselves: What went wrong? But is the future really so bleak? Is the decline a global phenomenon? Are we moving into a new 'golden age'? And what does it mean for press freedom? To find answers to these pressing questions, the International Press Institute (IPI) teamed up with the Poynter Institute, one of the premier journalism training centers in the world, to set out on a global investigation assembling an international group of editors, journalists, visionaries and sceptics to discover how the future of the news is developing around the world. The result is that after a 10-year absence, the IPI Report series has returned, revamped and reinvigorated with a new edition entitled "Brave News Worlds", a report that charts the exciting times ahead for the news media and uncovers the many different global perspectives thereof. Picking up where the IPI Report series left off in 2000, "Brave News Worlds" explores what the next 10 years hold for the news and journalism industry and offers insight into how journalists and non-journalists alike can take advantage of changes in the media and technology to make the future of news a bright one. Edited by Bill Mitchell, Head of the Poynter Institute's Entrepreneurial Journalism and International Programs, the report brings together the greatly diverse perspectives of 42 editors, journalists and media experts from over 20 countries to tackle issues such as regulation and control, emerging forms of journalism and the power of the public, along with the need to reframe traditional news models to better engage with audiences. With a focus on effective solutions and lessons learned, but also providing stimulus for debate, this report is not a definitive map, but instead a compass, pointing us, the global media, in the right direction: To a sustainable and successful future for journalism. Lauren Dolezal- Commissioning and Production Editor
Bertelsmann, Europe's largest media company, is founding an online journalism school to educate reporters internationally who face censorship and persecution. The company plans to offer 20 reporters online courses and seminars in Germany beginning in late 2011.
The International Academy of Journalism is not aimed at entry-level journalists, rather at those already working in the industry, Bertelsmann said. The project is to be overseen by European Union Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso with support from editors-in-chief of German media – Thomas Osterkorn of newsmagazine Stern, Georg Mascolo of Spiegel magazine, Giovanni di Lorenzo of Die Zeit and Peter Kloeppel of RTL television.The announcement corresponds with Bertelsmann's 175th anniversary celebrations.
The BBC has seen a letter apparently sent by Mozambique's authorities ordering mobile phone companies to block some text messages during recent food riots.
The protests were fuelled by text messages urging people to join in.
The letter, received by the newsletter Mediafax, is from the National Communications Institute or INCM.
The INCM has not commented, while the communications minister has denied any knowledge of such an order.
The country's two mobile phone companies - M-Cel and Vodacom - have also not reacted to the reports.
The BBC's Jose Tembe in the capital, Maputo, says the letter bears the INCM's logo, as well as an official signature and stamp.
He says Mediafax is a respected publication, originally set up by investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso, who was murdered in 2000.
The apparent ban only applied to pre-paid subscribers, not those on monthly contracts.
Those using pre-paid vouchers are generally poorer and so more likely to take part in protest over the cost of food, our reporter says.
At least 13 people died and 400 were arrested during the protests over a hike in the price of bread, as well as other basic goods.
The riots led the government to perform a U-turn and promise to subsidise the price of wheat.
The subsidy in effect reverses a 20% hike caused by rising global wheat prices and a drop in the value of the Mozambican currency against the South African rand.
Web hosting company Rackspace said Thursday that it had refused to host the Web site associated with the Dove World Outreach Center, run by a pastor who had said that he planned to stage an event to burn the Koran this Saturday.
The BBC reported that Terry Jones later canceled the event, claiming that it was "not the time" to burn the Islamic holy text. The Gainesville, Flor. site has less than 50 members, according to the BBC.
That didn't stop Rackspace, which said that the actions of Jones and the Dove World center had violated the company's acceptable use policy (AUP), which forbids hate speech.
That policy forbids content that "is excessively violent, incites violence, threatens violence, or contains harassing content or hate speech," Rackspace said.
"What we're focused on here is something that is narrow, abusive, hateful speech that does not advance any argument," said Dan Goodgame, a spokesman for Rackspace.
Goodgame said that the service continually receives complaints about customers violating the AUP. All are checked out, although some are dismissed as bogus. The complaints about Dove World were not. "This was pretty bad stuff," Goodgame said, and the decision to terminate the Dove World relationship was vetted by the Rackspace corporate counsel and other senior management.
Goodgame said that Rackspace held a brief conversation with Dove World on Wednesday afternoon, and that the Dove World staff made it clear that they could either remove the offending content, or move the site to another provider. Dove World refused, and Rackspace gave the church several hours to migrate the content.
"At this point, we've severed our relationship with them as a customer," Goodgame said. The church has not asked to come back, he added.
Claims that Rackspace has denied Dove World the right of free speech is an "absurd argument," Goodgame said. "We as a company believe strongly that an individual has the right to stand on a public street corner and to shout racial epithets if they wish," Goodgame said. "But if they were to walk into the Mark Hachman Hardware Store and shout racial epithets at the customers and employees, they would have the right to ban them."
The Dove World site returned a directory error on Thursday afternoon. A second site, named after Jones' book, was also offline.
Mobile phones turned citizens into election observers in Guinea's landmark presidential election. The technology will also be used to help voters in the upcoming September run-off poll.
On June 27, 2010, Guinea held what is widely being hailed as the nation's first freely run democratic election since gaining independence in 1958. A run-off between the two presidential candidates earning the most votes will take place on September 19, 2010. Another first in this landmark election process is the use of mobile phone technology.
Mobile phones have become a preferred means of communication in Africa because they are convenient and affordable relative to other methods. Most countries on the continent are now recording the use of mobile phones by all key stakeholders in their elections: from electoral officials, political parties and individual candidates, to electoral security agencies, civil society organizations, and local and international observers.
Candidates use mobile phones to raise funds and campaign. Voters can use mobile phones to verify their registration information and correct it if necessary before going to the polls. Mobile phones are also used to inform citizens about voter registration, and to inform registered voters about when, where and how to vote. And, in Guinea, phones have been used as a tool for election observation.
"If you have a problem during voting, send a text message to 8080." During the first round of elections in June, this was the message that Guineans around the country received at public forums, on the radio and in newspapers. The message advertised an election-monitoring service based on SMS text messages. The SMS service used a short code number, "8080," which enabled all mobile users in Guinea, regardless of their mobile operator, to send election-related queries, comments and report problems. The service was implemented by a coalition of government, private and business partners. These included the nonprofit group Alliance Guinea, the African Elections Project, Guinea's National Independent Election Commission (CENI), mobile operators (Areeba, Cellcom, Intercel Guinee, Orange or Sotelgui) and African Business Services.
Commenting on the SMS election-monitoring service, U.S. Ambassador Patricia Moller said at a briefing before the June election: "The United States is committed to ensuring that these are the freest and most transparent elections in Guinea's history. This innovative initiative will help to make this vision a reality…By providing voters with the means to protect their vote, we have helped to place the future of their country in the palm of their hands. This technology will allow CENI, local and international observers, and security forces to respond to incidents in real time."
After voters went to the polls, Alix Davilmar of the Guinea-based African Business Services, the providers of the short code service, declared the service a success. Davilmar said: "We received about 4,000 SMS [messages] before the day of election and on the day of elections there were approximately 8,000 SMS entries. After the Election Day, over 2,000 SMS entries also came in. These messages were all posted online and distributed as e-mail alerts to election administrators and observers, international media, civil society organizations or the general public."
The election did experience some glitches, according to the Carter Center, a U.S. NGO with expertise in observing elections which was on the ground in Guinea. In a statement, the Carter Center described some of the problems observed, "Confusion about several important aspects of voting and counting procedures, delay in allocation of polling stations, and late delivery of essential voting materials negatively affected the quality of polling."
Despite these difficulties, the period following the election has been calm and the results respected by all parties. The Carter Center itself declared the elections a success and noted, "the elections were marked by broad political participation, a spirit of open campaigning, and transparency."
Now all eyes are on the September poll, as Guineans prepare for the country's return to civilian rule.
Google on Wednesday moved into direct competition with Skype, the internet telephony service, as it unveiled a feature that will enable its Gmail users to call landlines and mobile phones from their e-mail inbox.
The new feature broadens Google's growing array of communication products and creates a potent rival to Skype, which is preparing for an initial public offering.
Google faces an entrenched adversary. Last year, Skype became the leading carrier of international voice calls. In the year to June 30, Skype's registered users rose from 397m to 560m. Gmail has just over 200m users.
But just 8.1m of Skype's users pay for the service, and the company relies on these direct payments from these users for most of its revenues.
Google plans to undercut Skype's prices. In a price comparison chart that showed rates from Google and the "leading internet telephony provider", Google offered cheaper calls to landlines and mobile phones in the UK, Mexico and France.
In a promotion designed to attract new users, calls to the US and Canada will be free for at least the rest of the year. Calls to other countries will be as low as 2 cents per minute, and will not include a connection fee. The service will become available to US Gmail users in the coming days.
Google already offered Gmail users free voice and video calls to other Gmail users, and the company rolled out Google Voice, a call management programme, earlier this year.
"It was only a matter of time before Google moved to Skype-like features," said Mr Valdes.
In unveiling the feature, Google emphasised the ongoing convergence of traditional telecommunications and the web. "Given that most of us don't spend all day in front of our computers, we thought, 'wouldn't it be nice if you could call people directly on their phones,'" the company said in a blog post.
Analysts said it was too early to tell if low prices and the convenience of the inbox would allow Google to lure users away from Skype.
"Google has huge resources, both technical and financial," said Mr Valdes. "At the same time it's very, very early for this to be a significant threat. Skype users are tremendously loyal."
THE ACCRA TOUR - 19th AUGUST 2010 – TIME: 3.00pm – 5.00pm
THE ACCRA TOUR: Visit the Mausoleum of one of Africa's most influential political leaders and political philosophers in the 20th century, Osagyfou Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, first President of Ghana and principal advocate of Pan-Africanism. Take a trip to the Dubois Centre in memory of leading African – American scholar and major intellectual icon of the Africana World, then follow up to the George Padmore Library, dedicated to the memory of Dr. George Padmore, the West-Indian Pan-Africanist and special adviser to Ghana's first President. George Padmore greatly influenced Dr. Nkrumah's Pan-African project: The political liberation of Africa.
W.E.B DuBOIS CENTER: The W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture is a national historic monument of Ghana, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture. The final resting place of W.E.B. and Shirley Graham Du Bois, this major World tourist site houses the mausoleum, personal library, and museum of the Du Boises' rich lives as influential American and Pan-African thinkers and activists. The Centre was created, in 1985, as a research institution for Pan-African history and culture, and as a crucible for African/Diasporan creativity and promotion of the social, political, cultural, and intellectual legacy of Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois.
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF DR. W.E.B DUBIOS (1868 – 1963)
TIME: 10.00am -11.00am
CHAIRPERSON DR. GARETH STANTON, GOLDSMITH, UNIVERSITY OF LONDN
(12)FREDRICK OGENGA-Fast-Track programme, electoral land grabs or local South African press expressing fears of a Zimbabwe in South Africa? The representation of economic collapse in Zimbabwe. University of Witwatersrand.(SOUTH AFRICA)
(13) TAYE C. OBATERU- Ethnic in Media Coverage of Elections and the Electoral Process. University of JOS. (NIGERIA)
(14) AKPOJIVI UFUMA-The fairness clause: an examination of media freedom during electioneering period in Nigeria. (UK)
(15)JEFF JOHN KABONDO –The Media and Democracy in Malawi: Reflection on Malawi's Electoral Democracy. (MALAWI)
(16) JANICE WINTER, Mediating Polarities in South Africa's Defensive Democracy.Axes Programme on Journalism and Democracy - (UK)
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF DR.JOHN CLERKE(1915-1998)
TIME: 11.15am -12.45pm
CHAIRPERSON:PROF. KWESIYANKAH- PRO VICE CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITY OF GHANA.
(17)DR. SIMEON H.O. ALOZIEUWA-Media, Ownership Influence and Crisis\Conflict Situation in a Multi- Ethnic Society: Toward a Framework for Democratic Consolidation in Nigeria. (NIGERIA).
(18) UTULU, ANTHONY U & AWOPEJUAYO -The role of the Media in the Concept of good Governance in Nigeria. (NIGERIA)
(19) DANIEL NKRUMAH-Defying the odds: Ghanaian media thrive despite difficult challenges. (Daily Graphic – Accra) (GHANA)
(20)TIMOTHY QUIASHIGAH-From " Radioracy" to " Radiocrazy": The Evolution of (GHANA.)
(21) DAN ELLA, Media truth and crisis management: The Jos Experience (NIGERIA)
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12.45pm– 1.45pm LUNCH
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1.45-2.45: CULTURAL PERFORMANCE BY THE GHANA DANCE EMSEMBLE@NIC
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MEDIA WORKSHOP PRORAMME-1
2.45 pm – 3.45pm
CHAIRPERSON:AMBASSADORKRABALBLAY-AMIHERE
(Chairman, National Media Commission, Ghana)
LEAD SPEAKER: ALOYS BATUNGWANAYO:
'THE BURUNDIAN EXPERIENCE' (LA BENEVOLENCIJA BURUNDI). The session is based on the research of 15 Journalists from different media houses currently implementing a media/election program in Burundi. Mbariza Ntore ("inform us so we can vote"): journalistic unity in the land of political pluralism. A media synergy project in Burundi to Improve Journalistic Reporting around the 2010 Elections. The presentation will be structured around two concepts: first, understanding the Burundian (central African) context and second, the explanation of a combined media synergy project that accompanies the elections of 2010.
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MEDIA WORKSHOP PRORAMME-2
3.45 – 4.45:
OVERVIEW: Informing responsibly: A National Duty? The focus of this programme is to provide participants with critical insight on the role, responsibility and pitfalls in covering/reporting elections. It is intended to provide participants with a legal, constitutional and ethical framework in a local context, but equally draws on diverse examples such as United Kingdom, U.S.A etc.
PANEL MEMBERS:
CHAIRPERSON:BOBBY W. LIVINGSTONE, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC INFORMATION NATIONAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION. (LIBERIA)
(a)Panel Member :BAFFOUR ANKOMAH, EDITOR - New African Magazine
(b)Panel Member : GABBY OTCHERE-DARKO,Director, - Danquah Institute
(c)PanelMember: PROF. KARIKARI ,Executive Director, -Media Foundation For West Africa.
(d)Panel Member : NANA SERWA ASAMOAH –(LLB, FC, LB)
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(e)4.45pm – 5.45pm - CUTULRAL PERFORMANCE BY GHANA DANCE ENSEMBLE
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF DR. PATRICE LUMUMBA(1925–1961)
TIME:12.00 -1.00
CHAIRPERSON : MRS. JEANNETTE QUARCOOPOME, MFW
(26)NICHOLAS A.BASTINE-The Role Of The Media In Protecting Womens and Children's Rights in Democratic Ghana- Lensing The Trokosi System In Ghana.Canada.
(27)AUGUSTIN-UFUA ENAHORO: Media, Gender And Democracy: The Nigerian VideoIndustry As A Paradigm.University of JOS, (NIGERIA)
(28) SAMUEL BENAGR—Vestiges of the Postcolonial in Ghanaian video film practice.University Of Bedfordshire.
PROF.KATE ADOO ADEKU AND AMIE JOOF, .Gender, Media and Governance : Experiences from some African countries. (GHANA/SENEGAL)
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OFCHEIKH ANTA DIOP(1923 -1986)
TIME:2.00-3.00
CHAIRPERSNON : MRS. JEANNETTE QUARCOOPOME
(29)BAMIDELE OLUWASEUN- Utilizing Informatioin Media To Revitalize The Political Education For Sustainable Democracy In Sub-Saharan Africa.Faith Acadamy,Ota.(NIGERIA)
(30)GODFREY DANAAN- Ethnic Conflicts And Media Interventions In A Democracy: The Jos Episode.University Of JOS.(NIGERIA)
(31) ELIJAH CHIWOTA: Doing Good Governance From The Grassroots- A Mwanachi Perspective.Zimbabwe.(ZIMBABWE)
5.00pm-6.00pmSESSION-2: PANEL DISCUSSION: 'Announcing of elections results' ahead of an Electoral Commission: When does 'announcing' become 'endorsement' of a particular political party contesting a democratic election?
The Panel aims to address and examine among others the location of such media practices, their constitutional legitimacy and their relevance to freedom of information in a democratic dispensation. It will seek to address media practises such as the 'announcing of elections results' ahead of an Electoral Commission or the 'deployment of Press Conferences' by political parties as political posturing during voting and ballot counting period of an election. The conference will address both the constitutional and ethical issues that arise from such practices and provide context for comparison, dialogue and analysis between media practices situated in different cultural-political environment. When does 'announcing' become 'endorsement' of a particular political party contesting a democratic election? What is the impact on the electorate of such early announcements of election results from electoral constituencies? What are the implications for social and national cohesion of such practice in fiercely contested elections? what is the way forward?
ThePanelis representedby the Four (4) major political parties in Ghanathat contested thelast (2008) General Elections.
CHAIRPERSON: DR. YAW BAODU-AYEBOAFOH (General Manager –Newspapers-Graphic Corporation)
Panel Member: MR. BERNARD MONAH- PNC ( General-Secretary)
Panel Member: MR. WLIIAM DOWOKPOR - (Communications Director) CPP
Panel Member: MR. ASIEDU-NKATIA- (General –Secretary) NDC
Panel Member: MR. AKOTO AMPAW - LLB ( Member Ghana Bar Association,& Coalition on the Rights of Information Bill) Ghana
Panel Member: MR.DAN BOTWE-NPP
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6.00pm-6.30pm: OFFICIAL CLOSING CEREMONY ………………………………………………………………………………………………
Candidates use mobile phones to raise funds and campaign. Voters can use mobile phones to verify their registration information and correct it if necessary before going to the polls. Mobile phones are also used to inform citizens about voter registration, and to inform registered voters about when, where and how to vote. And, in Guinea, phones have been used as a tool for election observation.