By CHRISTOPHER KAYUMBA

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Debate about the importance of Africans telling their own stories and even starting a continental news network has been around for years especially at conferences.

Recently, this debate gained momentum after President Paul Kagame, who is also the Chairperson of the African Union, told the General Assembly of the African Union of Broadcasting, who met in Kigali in March, that Africans need to tell their own stories using their own media outlet.

Kagame informed broadcasters that, “We need our own content and our own way of transmitting it to the people of Africa and beyond. What we have had for far too long, is outsiders owning our ‘mouths.’ They end up telling our story the way they perceive it and not the way it is.”

Following Kagame’s counsel, calls for an “African CNN” or Al Jazeera is being debated particularly in Rwanda.

The idea of a continental news network is noble for Africa is not only the least reported continent but when it is reported on by western media, it is mainly about wars, hunger etc.

The question then isn’t whether such a network is necessary but how viable it is and who would start and operate it in a continent of 54 independent states.

African media

So far, individuals who have attempted to propose or write about forming such a network could be grouped into several categories.

The first is what I would refer to as the emotive and populist type. Individuals in this category tend to divide Africans into “real” and “fake”; absolve African leadership of any responsibility for their misery; while blaming the west and believe the solution is to find money and start the news network. Yet, starting a news network is one thing; sustaining it another.

The second is ideologically Pan-Africanist and still has faith in Africa’s leaders rising to the occasion and agreeing to fund such a network. What this group will not tell you is why the “Union des Agences d’information” that was started in 1963 didn’t work or why the Pan African News Agency (PANA) started in 1979 doesn’t work as it should.

But, the truth is that if post-independence Africa has taught us anything, it’s that governments are incompetent at running media outlets.

We learn this from the fact that in the period after independence up to the 1990s, state-owned media was the order of the day across Africa.

But, because their primary role was to do public relations for the regime in power, they collapsed especially after the liberalisation of the media in the 1990s.

Thus, to expect that 54 African leaders, many of whom don’t tolerate media freedom in their own countries can fund and run a vibrant media outlet able to tell the continent’s story is to expect too much.

The fourth view is for private investors, perhaps some rich Pan-Africanist investing in the network. The problem with this, some say, is that the kind of money needed to start such a network is colossal to be forked out by a single individual without the guarantee of returns on investment; at least in the short to medium-term.

My personal view is that while money is obviously important; the most critical ingredient is an enabling environment.

And by an “enabling environment,” I mean both internal environment to the media itself, including how it’s managed, the decision-making, the editorial principles and their enforcement, financial accountability as well as the external environment, including political and economic environments.

Good content

For while money can get the network off the ground, sustaining it requires an environment that assures a reliable stream of good content that is able to attract and retain viewers or readers; stable and independent management as well as financial sustainability.

With the increasing digitalisation and media convergence, methinks that, more than ever, a continental media outlet is viable and can take one of two forms.

The first is where a single country funds and offers a home for such a network with a clear understanding that while the network will not touch the controversial politics of that country, it will be independently run by professionals.

The second model is where a rich Pan-African investor partners with a single state to finance the network while giving it free administrative and editorial reign.

That said, what remains is for concerned individuals to form a team to explore possible options, documenting why this or that model would work as well as costing it. Such a proposal would then be presented to possible investors.

Christopher Kayumba, PhD. Senior Lecturer, School of Journalism and Communication, UR; Lead consultant, MGC Consult International Ltd. E-mail: [email protected]; twitter account: @Ckayumba Website:www.mgcconsult.com