You read it here first!

A few days ago, I read a very interesting piece on al-Jazeera’s website about hate media in Ivory Coast.

It reminded me a lot of a piece I published over six years ago on the exact same topic.

The real Africa is hidden

The Columbia Journalism Review has a great piece on why non-governmental organizations prefer bad news about Africa and how that prevents westerners from getting a more nuanced picture about life on the continent.

CNN to re-air Black in America special this weekend

From a press release: In commemoration of the 41st anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, CNN (domestic) will be replaying Black in America – Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination. The special will re-air on April 4th and 5th at 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm ET and PT.

New media models for Africa

AllAfrica.com has a good article on new blueprints and models for the continent's media as discussed at the recent African Media Leaders’ Forum in Dakar, Senegal.

The chief executive officer of East Africa’s Nation Media Group urged African journalists take ownership of how the continent's stories are told. He said the African press should be less reliant on western media outlets and "to tell the African story in an African way."

He also called for African media leaders to pool resources for training and for more focus on bringing more radio broadcasters – who reached much bigger audiences than newspaper – to join other media leaders in planning for the future.

A Burkinabè publisher called for the establishment of training courses in skills such as media management for publishers in Africa. He also advocated collaboration among publishers so they could learn from one another about such practical issues as methods of distribution, and even share co-operatively-owned printing presses.