PenPlusBytes

One year of ghanabusinessnews.com

2009-11-29T05:33:00.001-08:00

On December 6, 2008 a Ghanaian journalist, Emmanuel K. Dogbevi started the first online business news source on Ghana, ghanabusinessnews.com. And come December 2009, the site will be one year old.

Mr. Dogbevi, an award winning journalist who also writes business plans found the need for a business news website following disappointing experiences in finding valuable and relevant information on businesses in Ghana. This disappointment led to the development of the website to meet the growing need for high quality business news and information on Ghana.

An experienced journalist himself with a background in web development and online journalism he took off hoping to grow the site into a viable business within two years. But within its first year since going online, ghanabusinessnews.com has become the business news source of choice on Ghana all over the world.

The website covers general news, investment, ICT news, tourism, insurance, politics, sports and entertainment. It also has pages for editorials/opinion, feature articles and news from Africa and other parts of the world.

Apart from generating content, the website is also an aggregator of news and information from other sources.

"The entrance of ghanabusinessnews.com into the online media scene in Ghana has certainly raised the stakes higher, because the news and information that we put up meet the highest standards in journalism anywhere," Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, who is also the Managing Online Editor of the site said.

"The website is barely one year old and yet we have received overwhelming feedback from all over the world. We have once received a phone call from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, an enquiry from a unit of the United Nations and commendation letters from some individuals we do not even know both in Ghana and abroad. And for us, these are indicators that we are meeting the needs of the global online news market," he said.

"This worldwide recognition also places on us a greater responsibility to do more, and we do hope to live up to expectations as we pursue the highest professional standards possible in meeting the needs of our visitors," he added.
For more information, contact:

Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
Email: info@ghanabusinessnews.com
Tel: 233-244 699845

http://ghanabusinessnews.com/2009/11/29/press-release-one-year-of-ghanabusinessnews-com/

African Elections Project to Cover Namibia Elections 2009

2009-11-27T05:02:00.001-08:00

African Elections Project to Cover Namibia Elections 2009

Press Release

For immediate release

WINDHOEK, Namibia 26 November 2009 -

African Elections Project to Cover Namibia Elections 2009.

The African Elections Project (AEP) www.africanelections.org/namibia will be covering Namibia 's 4^th general election, taking place on November 27^th and 28th 2009, to elect a president and parliamentary representatives. AEP in conjunction with its partners, Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) www.misa.org held a two-day workshop aimed at equipping journalists with cutting edge Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) skills in elections coverage in Namibia on 28-29 September 2009.

AEP was established in 2008 to empower journalists to cover elections using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) across the continent. After a successful take-off in Ghana, Cote d' Ivoire, Mozambique, Malawi and Guinea.

In Southern Africa, AEP is covering Botswana www.africanelections.org/bostwana elections which took place on 16th October 2009, Mozambique's elections www.africanelections.org/mozambique) which took place on 28th October 2009 and Namibia's elections www.africanelections.org/namibia taking place from 27th to 28th November 2009. The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africawww.osisa.org is providing funding for these countries coverage.

The role of the media in ensuring free and fair elections is indispensable. All over the world the media is playing this important role of ensuring free and fair elections by working with all stakeholders across board.

The media can strengthen the electoral process by providing independent information through impartial coverage. Three important focal issues come into play: access to information on the political process, ability to undertake investigative journalism and documentation of lessons and experiences from the electioneering process.

The African Elections Project is coordinated by Ghana based International Institute for ICT Journalism (www.penplusbytes.org) working hand in hand with key partners.

Signed

Levi Kabwato

Legal aid scheme for online journalists launched in US

2009-11-24T11:45:00.001-08:00

A scheme providing free legal assistance to online journalists was launched in the US last week.

The Online Media Legal Network (OMLN), which has been set up by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society's Citizen Media Law Project (CMLP), will offer pro bono and reduced fee advice on issues faced by online journalists and digital media creators.

OMLN will deal with queries including copyright licensing and fair use, freelancer agreements and pre-publication review of content, it is explained in a press release.

Publications and journalists applying for legal advice from OMLN will have to meet the network's criteria, which includes original reporting and work in the public interest.

The network, which received its initial funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, has been trialled on journalism projects that have received grants through the foundation's Knight News Challenge competition.

"Unlike established media organisations that have the resources to pursue important reporting in the face of legal challenges, many online ventures lack the expertise and financial resources to protect themselves and thrive in an uncertain legal environment," said David Ardia, director and co-founder of the CMLP, in the release.

"In order for these new media ventures to survive and flourish, they need a legal safety net, and OMLN aims to provide that safety net with the help of lawyers interested in promoting a vibrant online media environment."

The network has also created an online database to match publishers with legal queries with lawyers and law schools from across the US interested in taking on the work.

http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/536636.php

How Demand Media's Business Model Can be Applied to Niche Sites

2009-11-24T11:36:00.001-08:00

Demand Media has advertising-driven content down to a science. Instead of creating content for the Web and hoping that it generates revenue, the company works backwards by determining how much revenue each piece will generate before anything is produced.

The company uses a series of algorithms to pick through keywords that people are searching for on the Web and aims to create content unique enough to rank highly in those search results. It also determines how much advertisers would pay to be next to that content.

This is much different than simply using analytics to shift stories around on a home page or testing which headline will draw more readers. Demand is all about the dollars.

News organizations looking to create profitable content on the Web can see that Demand Media's model does make money -- although it forgoes editorial judgment and a journalism process. Yet news organizations could apply lessons from Demand's approach to their own companies, not for standard news operations, but for niche sites that are focused on reader demand and generating revenue.

Demand Media is focused on "service journalism," said Adam Weinroth, the company's vice president of strategic marketing. "This is the kind of content that is evergreen, and includes formats like guides, how-to's and tips."

Besides the company's method of choosing stories, the other part of Demand's strategy is in how it gets its content. Rather than try sell ads to support content that costs a particular amount, the company has dropped the cost of production to make sure it can be supported by what advertisers are willing to pay.

For a company that relies on more than 10,000 freelancers that crank out some 4,000 videos and articles a day on the cheap, the formula works. Demand is expected to bring in $200 million in revenue this year, paying out $17 million to its Demand Studios content producers. Of course when content producers are being paid $15 an article and $20 per video and scrambling to create multiple pieces a day, the quality of the content will likely suffer.

Demand's content goes up on one of its brand or partner sites, like eHow.com or The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's site. It uses sites like YouTube, for which Demand Media is top producer, to share and spread its content, getting 2 million impressions a day with video titles such as "How to change golf spikes" or "How to build a robot our of a box." And its YouTube channels are popular. Expert Village, the most popular, has 448,000 subscribers, with some 14 million channel views.

Ken Doctor, a news industry analyst and author, said Demand's approach is similar to what newspapers and other publishers have done before, creating ad-friendly content such as bridal sections that they know advertisers will pay well to be in. Demand Media has taken that up a few notches. "I give them a lot of credit for developing a very good technology," Doctor said.

News organizations could employ a strategy like Demand's on their subject-oriented niche sites, using the revenue to support other news efforts (just like they do with bridal sections). The niche sites would have to focus on topics such as travel, health and personal finance, which support high-dollar ads, Doctor said.

News organizations already know what content on niche sites such as Gannett's Momslikeme does well, who the audience is, and what ads are sold for those sites. The idea would be to produce more content that advertisers would like.

But, Doctor said, it's a slippery slope because it removes editorial judgment. News publishers should use such formulas as a guideline, a way to understand the marketplace, Doctor said.

"They don't claim to be a journalism company -- they are a content company and that's fine. But it's not journalism," he said. "Journalism creates things that editors believe readers want and need to know about, some of which is commercially viable, some of which is not."

Using analytics or an algorithm as a guideline is something that's been taking shape for years. With the likes of The Huffington Post and the BBC experimenting with alternative headlines for stories and observing real-time traffic stats to determine story placement, content producers and editors are beginning to be more conscious of the demand from their audience. They rely less on instinct and more on hard numbers.

Demand Media realized that human instinct isn't always enough and that an algorithm can produce 4.9 times more revenue for each piece of content. This is why news organizations must use analytics to help shape their content plans, said Mark Briggs, CEO of Serra Media and author of Journalism 2.0.

"The ability to know what your audience is reading is powerful, and a news organization would be foolish to operate in the echo chamber of previous generations when top editors assumed what the audience wanted," Briggs said. That said, he doesn't believe in solely relying on analytics and said editorial judgment must be part of content decisions.

The shift toward demand-driven content illustrates how the Internet has shifted power to users, said Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University. "Demand-driven means not editor-driven, after all," Rosen said.

And though the model doesn't seem applicable for news content yet, Weinroth said he thinks it is possible that shift will happen. News organizations could look at real-time trends on social sites like Twitter to guide their coverage, which can be used to drive traffic and support ads.

Of course, a news organization that produces content solely based on its profitability breaks a trust with the audience that expects the news organization to provide information they need to know.

Jim Spanfeller, a former CEO of Forbes.com who plans to start a firm to help media with their digital businesses, said people come to a site because they have an established trust with that publisher and have certain expectations of how the editorial process works. Demand Media, on the other hand, shapes its content based on how users will respond.

"It's very different from news organizations that simply cover the news and then try to get their stuff out there more and have it be more visible through SEO," Spanfeller said.

Yet there's a difference, Rosen pointed out, between being guided by analytics and being obedient to analytics. "If people want to be informed by news providers they trust, the Demand Media way cannot be the way," Rosen said. "Neither the gods of click rates nor the priests of news should guide us.http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31&aid=173972"

EXPERTS GATHER IN GHANA TO DEVELOP IMPROVED STANDARDS FOR AFRICAN ELECTIONS

2009-11-11T23:14:00.001-08:00

ACCRA, GHANA – More than 100 practitioners and experts on elections from 25 African countries will convene in Accra Nov. 12-14, to assess recent elections across the continent and develop recommendations for standards that could mitigate conflict and improve election processes. Recommendations from the colloquium will be aimed at enhancing prospects for credible elections in Africa by heightening standards of professionalism among election administration officials, political parties, civic groups, security services and the media.
The Colloquium on African Elections: Best Practices and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration will focus on Ghana's 2008 elections, which were universally viewed as credible despite heated political tensions and a razor-thin margin between the candidates. Participants hope to draw on lessons from the experience in Ghana, where for the second time in less than a decade, political power has
changed hands from the ruling to an opposition party through the ballot box.
Effective collaboration among all sectors of the electoral process helped ease tensions, enhanced transparency and built voter confidence in the election results.
Participants will also explore the differences between the Ghanaian experience and elections in other countries such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, which experienced gross irregularities, fraud and conflict. They will identify the factors that contributed to different outcomes in each of these cases and discuss how to foster credible elections on the continent based on these case studies.
"This is an opportunity for Africans to reflect on our own experiences and build upon our successes. As a regional initiative, this conference will bolster electoral reformers, and civic and political stakeholders on the continent," said Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, chair of the Electoral Commission in Ghana.
At the conclusion of the colloquium, participants will release a communiqué summarizing their discussions and sharing their recommendations for election standards in Africa.
Co-organizers of the colloquium include the National Democratic Institute, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, Open Society Initiative for West Africa and United Nations Development Programme.

Contact: Brittany Danisch, bdanisch@ndi.org, +223 (0) 54 303 6951

COLLOQUIUM ON AFRICAN ELECTIONS: BEST PRACTICES AND CROSS SECTORAL COLLABORATION

2009-11-09T02:23:00.001-08:00

November 11-14, 2009

Accra, Ghana

The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD), Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will co-sponsor a Colloquium on African Elections from 12‐14 November 2009 in Accra, Ghana.

The colloquium will review the challenges and best practices in the conduct of elections in Africa, with a particular focus on lessons that could be shared from Ghana's 2008 electoral process.

Approximately 100 participants from 25 African countries will attend the colloquium. Participants will include elections commissioners, political party leaders, civic advocates, leaders of elections monitoring groups, journalists and high level officials of security services that oversee peace building and law enforcement missions around elections.

The Colloquium on African Elections: Best Practices and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration will seek to address two critical points:

1) the effective performance of entities involved in the electoral process and

2) the linkages that should exist among stakeholders, and how to foster cross-sectoral collaboration during elections.

Examining the strengths and weaknesses of the Ghanaian electoral process and how it compares with other African countries will facilitate sharing knowledge and strengthening linkages among different sectors of the electoral process. The anticipated outcome of discussions at the colloquium will be to identify guidelines on how to conduct credible elections, ease political tensions, enhance transparency, and facilitate the acceptance of genuine election results by political contestants and their supporters. Sharing best practices among African practitioners will enhance prospects for democratic elections across the continent and inspire professional conduct among various stakeholders in countries preparing for upcoming elections. The Consortium of organizers are hoping to compile the cases of best practices in elections in Africa and publish on a book form.

African Media Leaders Meet in Lagos

2009-11-09T01:42:00.001-08:00

African Media Leaders Meet in Lagos

Focus on Harnessing Power of New Technologies for Media Development

LAGOS, Nigeria, November 6, 2009 – Over 185 African media owners' participated in a two-day "African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF)" to discuss practical ways for strengthening Africa's media development and agreed on a charter for the African Media Initiative (AMI), a parent body that is working to improve the media sector across Africa.

"Media have a central role to play in nurturing democracy on the African continent," said Nduka Obaigbena, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY, one of Africa's leading newspapers. "The African Media Leaders Forum is committed to improving the business environment for media and to strengthening skills of African journalists. The Lagos meeting will serve as a launch pad for concerted, collective actions to promote African media development for the benefit of all." Mr. Nduka is the founding chairman of the AMLF which held its first meeting in Dakar, Senegal, one year ago.

The AMLF is the single-largest annual gathering of media owners coming together to discuss development in Africa and the range of cutting-edge issues affecting Africa's media industries, just as the African continent is being buffeted by the global financial crisis, deepening recessionary trends, and the advent of new, social media technologies that are fundamentally altering existing media business models all across the globe.

"The African Media Leaders Forum is a nascent body with an ambitious agenda," said Amadou Mahtar Ba, Acting Executive Director of the African Media Initiative (AMI). "By convening the Forum in Nigeria, Africa's most populous democracy, we are sending a message that the strengthening of mass media systems is an urgent imperative for societal advancement, and needs the support of governments, business leaders, and civil society."

Headlined speakers at the Lagos meeting represented a Who's Who of top print, broadcast, and online journalists, including Sam Amuka (Vanguard, Nigeria), Oh Yeon Ho (Ohmynews, South Korea), Arianna Huffington (The Huffington Post), Charlayne Hunter-Gault (US National Public Radio), Ted Koppel (former anchor, ABC's Nightline news), Tumi Magkabo (of Tumi & Co, formerly with CNN), Trevor Ncube (South Africa's Mail & Guardian), Dele Olojede (Pulitzer Prize winner), and others.

"We have urgent business, and that business is development," said Trevor Ncube, Deputy Executive Chairman, Mail & Guardian, addressing his peers. "Our role is to ensure that we participate in creating a marketplace of ideas and that media is perceived as an integral partner of the development process."

The Lagos meeting focused on six critical areas with a view to developing shared literacy of the issues, and spurring collective action:

Impact of new media technologies on the practice of journalism across Africa drawing on lessons of experience from other parts of the world;
Need for new business models that are necessary to grow and sustain Africa's media industries;
Finance for African media development including access to venture capital, mitigating political risk through innovative guarantee mechanisms, and creating capacity so that media industries have broader access to various sources of capital;
Lining mass media to the overall governance agenda in Africa and exploring ways in which the functioning of the fourth estate can be improved;
Monetizing media content for the development agenda, and exploring the challenges and opportunities for creating a value-added, sustainable source of revenue, and
Positioning the African Media Initiative (parent body of the AMLF) as a broad-based partnership for improving the African media sector and landscape.

An overarching objective of the Lagos meeting was to explore ways in which the voices of the vast majority of Africans can be better mobilized to create a new narrative that is centered on wealth creation, away from the stereotypical view that emphasizes problems and deficiencies at the expense of opportunity. The AMLF participants, representing the continent's influential thinkers and doers, have a key role to play in transforming the one-dimensional image that shortchanges Africa into the more complex image that the continent deserves.

"New media are opening up new opportunities to expand the dialogue on the role of media in sustainable development across Africa," said Eric Chinje, Manager, Africa Region External Affairs, The World Bank. "Now, more than ever before, is the time to create a new wealth narrative that can help improve the everyday lives of millions of Africans who yearn for economic opportunity, knowledge, and cultural expression."

In keeping with the times, the proceedings and discussions of the AMLF meeting in Lagos were tweeted, twittered, and broadcast live on social media websites including www.twitter.com/allafrica.

The full proceedings, including the charter of the African Media Initiative, is available on www.amlf2009.org

Media contact: Tendai Mhizha, AMLF Forum Director, +234 70 693 81691, +27 82 9001 204, tendai@africanmediainitiative.org

Additional Press Links:

http://www.infosplusgabon.com/article.php3?id_article=4076

http://www.infosplusgabon.com/article.php3?id_article=4075

Africa Media Leaders Forum(AMLF) Lagos, Nigeria 4-6 November 2009

2009-10-29T01:28:00.001-07:00

2009 AMLF Agenda

Africa Media Leaders Forum(AMLF) Lagos, Nigeria 4-6 November 2009, http://www.amlf2009.org

Introduction and Objectives

Welcome to the second African Media leaders Forum. This second Forum builds on the outcomes of the first Forum including the Dakar Declaration that, among other things, called for the development and adoption of a charter to structure and guide the work of the African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF). This particular Forum reflects an ongoing commitment by media owners to critically reflect and seek common ground on the problems and prospects that the media industry in Africa is facing.

As a platform aimed at critical reflection and common problem-solving, along with concerted high-profile advocacy for an enabling macro-economic and socio-political environment in which media institutions can thrive, this particular Forum has set itself six specific tasks, all of which are intertwined. Therefore, this Forum aims to:

Analyse and articulate the possible futures of the practice of journalism in Africa in an age of radical new-media and technological change, drawing on examples from other parts of the world;
Based upon the analysis above, envision and pinpoint new media business models;
Consider the evolving media development sector and the possibilities for financing the media ventures that it engenders;
Critically relate media to the overall governance agenda in Africa, including debating the merits and demerits of media as a 'fourth estate';
Analyse the implications of monetizing content for the development agenda; and
Explore the African Media Initiative (AMI) as a strategy for an improved media landscape.

A related objective as signalled above, is the presentation of the draft AMLF charter, with a view to endorsing it for immediate implementation.

Wednesday, November 4th
12h00 - 19h00	Registration

19h00	Welcome Reception - Hosted by the Lagos State Government
Speakers	Nduka Obaigbena - Founding Chairman: AMLF and CEO THISDAY
	Eric Chinje - Co-President AMLF, Manager External Relations, World Bank, African Region
	Amadou Mahtar Ba – Co-President AMLF, AMI Acting Executive, Director and President AllAfrica Global Media
	His Excellency Babatunde Fashola - Executive Governor of Lagos State

Thursday, November 5th
07h30	Registration

08h30 - 09h45	Opening Ceremony
Chair	His Excellency, Jonathan Goodluck - Vice President: Federal Republic of Nigeria
Speakers	Nduka Obaigbena - Founding Chairman: AMLF and CEO THISDAY
	Amadou Mahtar Ba – Co-President AMLF, AMI Acting Executive Director and President AllAfrica Global Media
	Eric Chinje - Co-President AMLF, Manager External Relations, World Bank Africa Region
	Chief Ajibola Ogunshola – President: Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria
	Alhaji Abubakar Jijiwa – Chairman: Broadcasting Association of Nigeria
	His Excellency, Jonathan Goodluck - Vice President: Federal Republic of Nigeria

09h45 - 10-00	Coffee Break

10h00 - 10h10	Forum overview: Prof Fackson Banda – Forum General Co-ordinator
10h10 - 12h00	Plenary - WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE FUTURES OF JOURNALISM WITH THE EMERGENCE OF NEW MEDIA?
Keynote Speech	Ted Koppel - Journalist,Former ABC`s Nightline Anchor, Former Managing Editor at Discovery Channel and currently NPR and BBC Senior news analyst
Panel	Oh Yeon Ho - Founder and CEO: Ohmynews Co, South Korea
	Dr Tamela Hultman - Co-founder and Chief Content Officer: AllAfrica Global Media (AllAfrica.com) and Founding Director Centre for Africa and the Media at Duke University
	Dele Olojede – Journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner
	Prof. John Lavine – Dean: Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University
Moderator	Nduka Obaigbena – CEO: THISDAY and Founding Chairman AMLF

12h00 - 14h00	Networking Lunch

14h00 - 16h00	Plenary - MEDIA AND GOVERNANCE: MYTHS AND REALITIES OF A FOURTH ESTATE
Keynote Speech	Arianna Huffington – Journalist and co-founder: The Huffington Post, USA
Panel	Pius Njawe - CEO and Founder: Le Messager, Cameroon
	Omar Ben Yedder - Associate Group Publisher , IC Publications
	Robert Kabushenga – CEO: New Vision, Uganda
	Trevor Ncube - CEO: Mail & Guardian, South Africa
	Prof Kwame Karakari - Executive Director: Media Foundation of West Africa, Ghana
Moderator	Charlayne Hunter Gault - Co-Chair: Board of Trustees, AMI

16h00 - 16h15	Coffee Break

16h15 - 18h00	Plenary - MEDIA DEVELOPMEN: FINANCING MEDIA VENTURES
Panel	Tayo Aderinokun - Group Managing Director: Guarantee Trust Bank, Nigeria
	Trevor Ncube – CEO: Mail & Guardian, South Africa
	George Twumasi – CEO: African Broadcasting Network, UK
	Kate Senye – CEO: Southern Africa Media Development Fund, Namibia
Moderator	Marie Roger Biloa – CEO: Africa International, France

19h30	Gala Dinner

Friday, November 6th
08h30 - 10h30	Plenary - CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN A DIGITAL WORLD: ENVISIONING NEW MEDIA BUSINESS MODELS
Keynote Speech	Prof. John Lavine – Dean: Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University
Panel	Charlie Beckett – Director: POLIS, London School of Economics, UK
	Cristiana Falcone - World Economic Forum, Director Media, Entertainment and Information Industries
	Reed Kramer – Co-Founder and CEO: AllAfrica Global Media (AllAfrica.com)
	Chris Kabwato - Director: Highway Africa, South Africa
Moderator	Linus Gitahi – CEO: Nation Media Group, Kenya

10h30 - 10h45	Coffee Break

10h45 - 12h30	Plenary - MONETIZATION OF CONTENT AND THE IMPERATIF DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
	Introductory remarks Dr Akinwumi Adesina - VP Alliance: A Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)
Panel	John Lavine – Dean: Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University
	Ramanou Kouferidji – CEO: Imanle Radio and TV, Benin
	Alhadji Abubakar Jijiwa – Chairman: Broadcasting Association of Nigeria
	Andrew Mwenda - CEO, The Independent Magazine, Uganda
Moderator	Collin Mukete – CEO: Spectrum Media Group, Cameroon
12h30 - 13h30	Plenary - STRATEGY FOR AN IMPROVED MEDIA LANDSCAPE: THE AFRICAN MEDIA INITIATIVE (AMI)
	Amadou Mahtar Ba - Acting Executive Director: AMI
	Eric Chinje – Trustee: AMI
Chair	Charlayne Hunter Gault - Co-Chair: Board of Trustees, AMI
	Trevor Ncube - Co-Chair: Board of Trustees, AMI

13h30 - 14h30	Lunch

14h30 - 15h30	DISCUSSION AND ADOPTION OF A CHARTER FOR THE AFRICAN MEDIA LEADERS FORUM
Presenter	Presenter: Prof Fackson Banda - SAB LTD-UNESCO Chair of Media & Democracy, School of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University
Chair	Boureima Jeremie Sigue - Directeur General: des Edition "Le Pays"

15h30 - 15h45	Coffee Break

15h45 - 16h30	ADOPTION OF THE LAGOS DECLARATION AND CLOSING CEREMONY
Chair	Sam Amuka – Publisher: Vanguard Newspaper, Nigeria
	Nduka Obaigbena – CEO: THISDAY, AMLF Founding Chairman

	FORUM CLOSES

Using ICTs To Cover Mozambique Elections 2009 - African Elections Project leads the way

2009-10-28T00:31:00.001-07:00

Press Release

For immediate release

Maputo, Mozambique, October 28^th 2009

As Mozambicans heads to the polls today Wednesday 28^th October to elect president, legislators and provincials leaders, African Elections Project (AEP) is covering this election at its flagship website: www.africanelections.org/mozambique , via twitter at http://twitter.com/mozambiquevotos, providing SMS service powered by frontlinesms and also watching the media through its media monitoring system. Mozambique coverage comes after AEP's successful coverage of Botswana's 10^th general election which took place October 16 2009. In Southern Africa, AEP is also scheduled to cover Namibia's elections www.africanelections.org/namibia from 28th to 29th November 2009 as well. The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa www.osisa.org is providing funding for these countries coverage.

Ruling party, Frenmte de Libertação de Moçambique FRELIMO (the Liberation Front of Mozambique) candidate and sitting President Armando Guebuza is running for a second term and is highly expected to win. FRELIMO since the country independence in 1975 has dominated Mozambican political space. For the opposition parties, longtime opposition leader Afonso Dhlakama from Resistência Nacional de Moçambique(RENAMO) Mozambican National Resistance, is a strong contender in this race. The third largest opposition party Movimento Democrático de Moçambique(MDM) Mozambique Democratic Movement is also contesting the polls with Davis Simango as its presidential candidate.

Prior to the elections coverage, AEP in conjunction with its partners, Media Institute For Southern Africa (MISA) www.misa.org Mozambique held a two-day workshop aimed at equipping journalists with cutting edge Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) skills in elections coverage in Maputo from 6-8 October 2009.

The African Elections Project is coordinated by Ghana based International Institute for ICT Journalism (www.penplusbytes.org) working hand in hand with key partners.

Signed

Egidio Vaz Raposo

Associate Editor

Namibia Elections 2009 : Introducing Namibia election bloggers

2009-10-22T04:07:00.001-07:00

Namibia will hold presidential and national assembly elections on 27 and 28 Novermber, 2009. A number of Namibian journalists will use blogs to report and monitor the elections. The journalists attended a two-day ICT workshop organised by African Elections Project in collaboration with the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in Windhoek, Namibia. We are introducing these new bloggers to you.

Martha Matongo's blog goes by her name, Marth Matongo. She notes that members of the main opposition, RDP, want Namibia to learn some lessons from Zimbabwe:

Most of the SWAPO members who stays in Ovambo Location and Oshandumbala of Katutura (Windhoek) expect that RDP loose and not get even a seat in Parliament. Approached by Mrs Emilia Tuhadeleni the heard person of Oshandumbala convienced me to get a ticket of SWAPO and encouraged me to go to her house to fill inn the forms.

Being not in the mood, i said i would come any time. Rally for Democracy supporters who are mostly not Oshiwambo speaking expect that their party gets some seats and they will totally support it as they want what happened to Mr Mugabe of Zimbabwe come to their country also.

"We have been in SWAPO for such a long time but but no change come to our region" they say.

Mulolani discusses the controversy surrounding the tender to print ballot papers. The tender was awarded to Namprint, a company owned by the ruling party, Swapo:

The withdrawal of the NamPrint tender by the Electoral Commission of Nambia(ECN) is a welcome move.
Th fact that the tender has been withdrawn after pressure from various political parties that are contesting the elections is a sure sign that the credibility of elections was going to be questioned.
The other important aspect to consider is that the political parties did well in threatening to boycott the elections because obviously they were expressing their democratic right and it was definitely an irregularity to award Namprint the tender given that its a SWAPO owned company.The award was simply going to jeopardise the whole electoral process which ws not going to be a good thing for the country's democracy,even Namibia is still a growing democracy.

Ndahafa reports that two opposition parties, DTA and MAG, plan to take legal actions against the Electoral Commission in Namibia because the tender that was given to Namprint:

The opposition DTA and MAG will take lagal actions against the Electoral commision in Namibia because of the tender that was awarded to the SWAPO party company "NAMPRINT" to print ballot papers for the upcoming elections in November. The two oppositions has refused to accept the awarding of the tender and want it to be awarded to a company that is not linked to the ruling party. They have given the commission until 17h00 yesterday to rescind the decision. The opposition will meet today to consult a way forward if they do not receive any reaction by 17h00.

Pedro discusses the political environment in Namibia:

The Republic of Namibia is known as one of the most peaceful and democratic countries in Africa but the recent happenings has proven how dangerous politics can be when diagnosed with election fever.

Election is the key element or ingredient of a democratic country, therefore, as a Journalism student, living and studying in Namibia for almost three years, I could not let the general elections passby without expressing my humble opinion in the matter as an international observer.

Just like in many African countries, the pre-election stage was marked by a lack of effectiveness from the Electoral Commission when it comes to the delivery of voters registration materials. Unfortunate or fortunately there is always someone to be blamed for mistakes, and this time the Electoral Commision allegedly blamed the Government for not making the vehicles available on time.

There is also a critical element that became a culture, especially in SADC region, where the ruling political parties always have more broadcasting airtime and coverage compared to other parties, and Namibia is no exception.

Consequently, the other political parties criticised the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) for unfair election campaign coverage towards the other political parties

Vikitoria writes about hate speech in political campaigns in the country:

As the country leads up to its National and Presidential elections in November this year, political parties campaigning to get 'the vote' have left nothing unearthed, blame and derogatory comments about each other has become the order of the day.

At a recent Swapo Party rally in the Omungwelume constituency in Northern Namibia, Secretary General of Swapo, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana in what can only be regarded as promoting xenophobic behaviour amongst the Namibian population, referred to the Editor of the Namibian daily newspaper, Gwen Lister as a 'big snake in Namibia.'

Iivula -Itana further warned lister that if she is not careful about what she writes about when it comes to Swapo leaders and other Namibians, she will be taken to task for the wrong doings committed by her white ancestors.

Some politica parties are conducting campaigns at the University of Namibia contrary to university regulations, writes Etuna:

Some political parties in Namibia conducted campaign at the University of Namibia (UNAM)'s hostels. The UNAM's SRC president Job Amupada told local media on Tuesday that the Rally for Democratic Party (RDP) members are campaigning door to door at the insititution on Monday.
Amupada said this is prohibited at the institution and it disturbed students as they are preparing for November examinations.
"Political parties are not allowed to conduct campaigns or rallies in the institutions," he said.

Mervin: http://africanelections.org/namibia/blogs/?archive&blog=Election In Namibia

The Electoran Commission has started the exercise of entering statistical data from voters' roll:

The Electoral Commssion of was during the past days busy with entering the statistical data and information gained from the registration of voters activity which ended last week. The Electoral Commission therefore hired additional staff in order to carry this excercise, the activity is expected to be completed in the next two weeks.

The data will help the Commission in recording the number of registered voters per region and constitituency, and thus will make the voting processs at the end of the year much easier.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/10/21/namibia-introducing-namibia-election-bloggers/

Botswana Elections 2009 : Monitoring Elections Using Blogs, SMS and Twitter

2009-10-16T06:55:00.001-07:00

Parliamentary and council representative elections are taking place in Botswana today, October 16, 2009.

A number of journalists are using new media tools to report and monitor the elections. The team attended a two-day workshop organised by African Elections Project and Media Institute of Southern Africa (Botswana Chapter) in Gaborone on 28-29 September 2009.

All African Elections Project bloggers are first time bloggers. Blogging has not yet become popular in Botswana as in other African countries such as Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Liberia and South Africa.

Filling The Gap is an interactive blog by Ephraim Keoreng, a Botswana based socio-political journalist.

His latest post is titled, Five Foreign Judges Sit On Motswaledi Appeal:

Five judges from South Africa today sat over an appeal by suspended ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) secretary general Gomolemo Motswaledi.

Motswaledi had sought the courts to seek redress over the president's decision to suspend him from the party. the 60 day suspension has made it impossible for the secretary geenral who was expected to represent the party at the Gaborone Central constituency as MP candidate, to be nominated to IEC as the deadline has since passed (whilst he was still under suspension).

Kutlwano Tina Mosime blogs at Free & Fair is Straight Up!

We believe in a free and fair electoral system and don't condone vote rigging. We are Watching: Botswana General Elections, 16 October 2009.

Kutlwano posts a press release from the Botswana Team of the African Elections Project:

The African Elections Project (AEP) www.africanelections.org will be covering Botswana's 10th general election, taking place on October 16 2009, to elect parliamentary and council representatives. AEP in conjunction with its partners, Media Institute For Southern Africa (MISA) www.misa.org held a two-day workshop aimed at equipping journalists with cutting edge Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) skills in elections coverage in Gaborone on 28-29 September 2009.

Keeping an Eye on 2009 Botswana General Elections is written by Tshiamo Tabane:

This blog will give readers such as reseachers, analysts and other interested readers imperative information concerning, Botswana 2009 General elections. This blog will also highlight on controversial issues associated with elections.

His latest entry is about election related court cases:

The 2009 Botswana General elections are surronded by court cases including the president of the president of the ruling party Ian Khama suspending the seccretary general of the party Gomolemo Motswaledi.

Kaombona is a senior reporter with Echo Newspaper. He blogs at Talking Elections 2009.

He writes about financial problems facing local observers:

Local election observer mission Botswana Electoral Support Network (BESnet) which is made up of non governmental organisations say they are faced with financial limitations which will compel them not to observe elections in all the polling stations around the country.

The Elections Bug blog is written by Jowawa Mothusi, a 2nd year Journalism student at Limkokwing University and a freelance journalist for Mmegi Youth News as well as Inner City News.

Soldiers encouraged to vote, he writes:

The Commander of the Botswana Defence Force Army Commander General Tebogo Masire has taken to the road on an end of year mission aimed at addressing all the army officers in the country…The address to the soldiers encouraged them to go out and exercise their democratic right by voting for their preferred representatives. He however cautioned the army officers against taking any political affiliation and instead remain as neutral as they could possibly be. The soldiers are expected to be among the security eyes during and after the election process to guard against any infiltration of the Electoral Act.

Patricia Maganu blogs at The Observer 2009.

While she was attending ICT training, she wrote about the importance of using new technologies to monitor elections in Africa:

I am about to complete the course on elections using ICTs and i muct say that i appreciate what PenPlusBytes and Africa Elections Project (AEP)is doing for African countries as far as this issue is concerned. God knows for how long African countries have been missing such tools to get information as instantly as possible to the people on the ground who really need it.

Bontle Tshukudu blogs at Battle Ground Open: Elections 2009. She writes about herself and her desire to see a free and fair elections in Botswana:

My name is Bontle Tshukudu, a reporter for UB Horizon newspaper.It covers news affecting students and staff in university of Botswana.Its a practice ground for young writers to polish their writing skills hence gain confidence.

i will be covering election process in Botswana and ensuring that they are free and fair. For the first time in history young Batswana have registered to vote in large numbers. Some may wonder what really urged them to register in large numbers? Is it the pintch of unempolyment, under or misemployment, lack of sponsership to further their studies, or is it that now they know its important to vote?

You can see the full list of bloggers expected to report and monitor the Botswana 2009 Elections here.

The bloggers are also sending text messages of what is happening in polling stations around the country. The messages are posted on African Elections Project Twitter page for Botswana.

They are also posting videos of events and incidents related to Elections 2009.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/10/16/botswana-monitoring-elections-using-blogs-sms-and-twitter/

African Elections Project to Cover Botswana Elections 2009

2009-10-15T14:06:00.001-07:00

Press Release

For immediate release

GABORONE Botswana, October 15 2009 –

African Elections Project To Cover Botswana Elections 2009.

The African Elections Project (AEP) www.africanelections.org/bostwana will be covering Botswana's 10^th general election, taking place on October 16 2009, to elect parliamentary and council representatives. AEP in conjunction with its partners, Media Institute For Southern Africa (MISA) www.misa.org held a two-day workshop aimed at equipping journalists with cutting edge Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) skills in elections coverage in Gaborone on 28-29 September 2009.

In Southern Africa, AEP is covering Botswana www.africanelections.org/botswana elections schedule to take place on 16th October 2009, Mozambique's elections www.africanelections.org/mozambique) taking place on 28th October 2009 and Namibia's elections www.africanelections.org/namibia taking place from 28th to 29th November 2009. The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa www.osisa.org is providing funding for these countries coverage.

The African Elections Project is coordinated by Ghana based International Institute for ICT Journalism (www.penplusbytes.org) working hand in hand with key partners.

AEP Botswana

Associate Editor

Bay Tsimane

African Elections Project launched in Namibia

2009-10-14T22:23:00.001-07:00

Press Release, for immediate release

Windhoek, Namibia 14th October 2009 - African Elections Project launched in Namibia

A two day workshop aimed at equipping journalists with cutting edge Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) skills in elections
coverage took place in Windhoek; recently as Namibia prepare to go the polls on 27-28 November 2009 to elect parliamentary representatives and president.

The workshop was organized by African Elections Project www.africanelections.org in conjunction with Media Institute for Southern
Africa (MISA) www.misa.org with funding from Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa. www.osisa.org

The role of the media in ensuring free and fair elections is indispensable. All over the world the media is playing this important role of ensuring free
and fair elections by working with all stakeholders across board. The media can strengthen the electoral process by providing independent information
through impartial coverage. Three important focal issues come into play: access to information on the political process, ability to undertake
investigative journalism and documentation of lessons and experiences from the electioneering process. To enable Journalists stay on top of these
issues, African Elections Project was established in year 2008 to empowered journalists to cover elections using Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) across the continent.

After a successful take-off in Ghana, Cote d' Ivoire, Mozambique, Botswana, Malawi and Guinea, the African Elections Project (AEP) launched its Namibia phase of the project in Windhoek on 13th October 2009. The Namibian project has the following key components: Training for journalists; development and dissemination of an election guide for the media, an SMS/Mobile application in election coverage and monitoring; information and knowledge Online Portal (www.africanelections.org/namibia ) and Knowledge products for the media and Media Content Monitoring. In Southern Africa, AEP is covering Botswana www.africanelections.org/botswana elections schedule to take place on 16th October 2009 and Mozambique's elections www.africanelections.org/mozambique taking place on 28th October 2009.

At the opening ceremony of Namibia's workshop, MISA's regional director, Kaitira Kandjii, said " we are excited to be part of this project since it will go a long way to provide capacity building for journalists in the use of ICTs tools in elections coverage thereby playing a contributory role in achieving free and fair elections"

The African Elections Project is coordinated by the International Institute for ICT Journalism (www.penplusbytes.org) working hand in hand with key partners.

Signed

AEP Communications Department

Prix Norbert zongo du Journalisme d'investigation

2009-09-20T12:44:00.000-07:00

Host:   Festival International de la Liberté d'Expression et de la Presse - FILEP
Date:  Saturday, November 7, 2009
Time:  7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location:  Ouagadougou
Email:  micailou@yahoo.fr

Le Prix Norbert Zongo de journalisme d'investigation est un prix d'excellence créé par le Centre National de presse Norbert ZONGO en mémoire du journaliste et directeur de publication de l'hebdomadaire « L'Indépendant », assassiné le 13 décembre 1998 sur la route de Sapouy, au Burkina Faso. Le but du prix est de rendre hommage à l'homme de presse et au journaliste d'investigation que Norbert Zongo a été.

OBJECTIFS

Il vise à promouvoir la pratique d'un journalisme d'investigation, de recherche, d'enquête, sur des sujets politiques, économiques, sociaux et culturels pertinents. Il s'agit de :

renforcer l'importance du rôle du journaliste.

reconnaître et cultiver le talent journalistique.

promouvoir un journalisme de recherche, d'enquête, de vérification des informations sur des sujets politiques, économiques, sociaux et culturels pertinents.

récompenser le courage, la détermination et le respect des principes déontologiques en matière de journalisme.

CONDITIONS DE PARTICIPATION

Le Prix Norbert ZONGO est ouvert à tous les journalistes professionnelles de la sous - région ouest - africaine (CEDEAO et Mauritanie) régulièrement employés dans un organe de presse ou collaborant avec les organes de presse de la sous - région ouest - africaine.

Les œuvres doivent avoir été publiées ou diffusées entre le 13 décembre 2005 et le 13 décembre 2006.

Trois catégories : Presse écrite, Radio et Télévision ont été retenues pour tenir compte de leur spécificité. Presse écrite- faire parvenir l'original et la photocopie de l'article soumis. Télévision - faire parvenir 2 copies VHS pour le sujet soumis. Radio - faire parvenir 2 cassettes audio ou 2 CD du sujet soumis.

La date limite pour la réception des candidatures est fixée au 29 décembre 2006.

LES PRIX NORBERT ZONGO

Le gagnant de chaque catégorie du Prix Norbert Zongo du Journalisme d'investigation recevra un diplôme, un trophée et une somme d'un montant de cinq cent mille francs CFA (500 OOO F. CFA).

Premier prix toute catégorie : le « SEBGO » 2006 Parmi les gagnants des 3 catégories, les juges attribueront le premier prix au journaliste dont le travail mérite d'être récompensé par le « SEBGO » 2006, qu'il s'agisse de la catégorie Presse, TV, ou Radio. Outre le prix qui lui sera remis pour sa catégorie, le journaliste qui remportera le « SEBGO » 2006 recevra une somme d'argent supplémentaire d'un montant de cinq cent mille francs CFA (500 OOO F. CFA), un diplôme et un trophée symbolisant le « SEBGO ».

LE JURY

Il sera choisi par le CNP-NZ parmi des professionnels émérites de la communication et des militants de défense de la presse et des droits de l'homme de renommée résidant dans la sous-région ouest - africaine. Il sera composé de 5 (cinq) personnes :

3 (trois) professionnels de la communication ;

1 (un) militant d'organisations de la presse

1 (un) militant des droits de l'Homme ;

CRITERES Le jury s'appuiera sur les critères suivants :

le professionnalisme de l'auteur (à travers le respect des exigences d'ordre éthique et déontologique) ;

la dimension « recherche d'informations » ;

la pertinence et l'originalité du sujet traité ; l'utilité ou l'intérêt social du thème abordé (au sens de l'« exploitabilité » du produit final livré) ;

la mesure des difficultés rencontrées par l'auteur attestée par le souci de vérification et de recoupement des différentes sources d'informations consultées pour des raisons de fiabilité ;

le style rédactionnel (forme et démarche adoptées), étant bien entendu que celui-ci gagnerait à être concret, vivant et accessible au plus grand public ;

etc.

Ces exigences pratiques, non exhaustives, seront complétées par la prise en compte d'autres considérations pour l'évaluation des œuvres produites dans les catégories « radio » et « télévision », comme le décorum, le maquillage, l'effort de restitution judicieuse du contexte ou de l'ambiance de l'événement couvert (musique d'accompagnement par exemple).

REGLEMENT DU PRIX NORBERT ZONGO DU JOURNALISME D'INVESTIGATION

TITRE I - CONSTITUTION ET OBJET

Article 01 : Il est institué un prix Norbert Zongo du Journalisme d'investigation, placée sous la responsabilité du CNP-NZ.

Article 02 : Le prix est décerné lors du Festival International de la liberté d'expression chaque année aux journalistes de la presse écrite, de la radio et de la télévision qui se seront illustrés dans le journalisme d'investigation.

Article 03 : Le prix Norbert Zongo vise à promouvoir un journalisme d'investigation, de recherche, d'enquête sur des sujets ayant trait à la vie politique, économique, sociale et culturelle du pays.

Article 04 : Le prix Norbert Zongo de journalisme récompense le professionnalisme, le respect des principes déontologiques en matière de journalisme.

TITRE II : DE LA PARTICIPATION

Article 05 : La participation au prix Norbert Zongo est ouverte à tous les journalistes établis sur le territoire ouest africain (CEDEAO et Mauritanie).

Article 06 : Tous les participants doivent être âgés d'au moins dix-huit ans.

Article 07 : Les candidats doivent être des journalistes ouest africains régulièrement employés dans un organe de presse ou collaborant régulièrement avec les organes de presse ouest africains.

Article 08 : Les œuvres doivent avoir été publiés entre le 13 décembre 2005 et le 13 décembre 2006, dans des organes de presse de la sous région et être de facture professionnelle.

Article 09 : Les candidatures au prix Norbert Zongo sont proposées par :

le journaliste, de sa propre initiative

l'organe au service duquel il est employé

Article 10 : Deux exemplaires des œuvres produites doivent parvenir au jury siégeant au Centre National de Presse Norbert Zongo 04 BP 8524 Ouagadougou 04 Burkina Faso Email : cnpress@cnpress-zongo.net - Télécopie : (226) 50 34 37 45 - Téléphone : 50 34 37 45 et 50 34 41 89 au plus tard le 29 décembre 2006.

Article 11 : Tout candidat ne peut proposer qu'une oeuvre dans une catégorie (Presse écrite, radio et télévision).

Article 12 : Les dossiers de candidature comportent :

une déclaration de candidature établie sur papier libre avec indication complète de l'identité du candidat (nom, prénoms, pseudonyme ou nom de plume utilisé) ;

une attestation de l'organe confirmant son appartenance ou sa collaboration à la rédaction de l'organe de presse ayant publié son œuvre

un C.V du candidat comportant sa photo

une déclaration écrite signé autorisant le Centre National de presse Norbert Zongo à utiliser son nom, sa voix, ses images et les éléments soumis s'il est primé, sans aucune compensation et sur tous supports médiatiques, à des fins publicitaires/dans le cadre des relations publiques ou d'information sur le Prix.

TITRE III - DU JURY

Article 13 : Un jury international de cinq membres désigne chaque année les lauréats du Prix Norbert Zongo.

Article 14 : Les membres du jury proviennent des milieux des professionnels de la communication, des enseignants, des militants de défense de la liberté de la presse. Toute autre personne présentant de telles garanties peut être désignée pour siéger au sein de ce jury.

Article 15 : Les membres du jury sont choisis selon la périodicité du prix. Les membres du jury sortant peuvent être reconduits.

Article 16 : Le jury élit en son sein un président et un rapporteur.

Article 17 : Les modalités pratiques d'organisation et de fonctionnement du jury font l'objet d'un règlement intérieur s'inspirant de l'esprit général du présent Règlement.

Article 18 : La fonction de membre du jury est gratuite. Toutefois les charges de fonctionnement du jury sont à la charge du CNP-NZ.

Article 19 : Les délibérations du jury sont sans appel.

TITRE IV : DES PRIX

Article 20 : Le prix Norbert Zongo du journalisme d'investigation est d'un montant de Cinq cent mille francs CFA (500 000 F) en espèce (au cours légal officiel) par catégorie. Chaque prix est assorti d'un trophée et d'un diplôme.

Article 21 : Le premier prix toute catégorie : le « SEBGO » 2006 est doté d'un montant de Cinq cent mille francs CFA (500 000 F), d'un diplôme et d'un trophée.

Article 22 : Un candidat ne peut être lauréat deux années consécutives. Le jury peut décerner des mentions spéciales.

Article 23 : La remise du prix se fait lors du Festival International de la liberté de la presse au cours d'une cérémonie officielle.

TITRE V : DISPOSITIONS TRANSITOIRES ET FINALES

Article 24 : L'organisation pratique du prix Norbert Zongo du journalisme d'investigation est assurée par le Centre National de Presse Norbert Zongo. Mais le CNP-NZ peut s'appuyer sur les maisons et Centres de presse de la sous-région pour la collecte des candidatures.

Article 25 : Le comité de pilotage du CNP-NZ peut modifier le présent règlement intérieur, mais il est tenu de porter les modifications à la connaissance du public.

Article 26 : Le prix sera lancé chaque 3 mai, Journée mondiale de la liberté de la presse.

POUR PLUS D'INFOS

Centre National de Presse Norbert Zongo, 04 BP 8524 0uagadougou 04 / Secteur 08 - Gounghin Petit Paris,
Rue : 8-29, Immeuble N° 203, Porte N° 058
Contactez nous par Tél : (226) 50 34 37 45 - (226) 50 34 41 89 Fax : (226) 50 34 37 45
E.mail : cnpress@cnpress-zongo.net
Site Web : www.cnpress-zongo.net / www.mediaburkina.org

African Elections Project - Namibia, Mozambique and Botswana

2009-09-17T14:39:00.001-07:00

African Elections Project

Elections are crucial bedrock for democracies and enabling a free and open society. The role of the media in ensuring successful election is very crucial. All over the world the media is playing this important role of ensuring free and fair elections by working with all stakeholders across board.The media can strengthen the electoral process by providing independent information through impartial coverage. Three important elements come into play: access to information on the political process, ability to undertake investigate journalism and document lessons and experiences from the electioneering process.

There are a lot of challenges and problems facing the media in the area of election coverage. Key among them is lack of access to real-time information, lack of capacity to undertake investigative journalism surrounding elections, use of ICTs in coverage, inability to produce balanced reports and to incorporate user content are some of the challenges and problems facing the media during elections coverage. In order to address some of these problems, African Elections Project was launched in September 2000 with the following key activity areas :

v Training for senior editors, journalists and reporters

v SMS application in coverage and monitoring

v Election Guide for the Media

v Information and Knowledge Online Portal

v Knowledge products for the media

v Media Content Monitoring

With funding from OSISA - The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa www.osisa.org working with key partners, African Elections Project is providing coverage for the following countries in the Southern Africa region :

1. Mozambique http://www.africanelections.org/mozambique/

http://twitter.com/mozambiquevotos

2. Namibia http://www.africanelections.org/namibia/

http://twitter.com/namibiaelection

3. Botswana http://www.africanelections.org/botswana/

http://twitter.com/botswanaelects

If you are in the region or any of the above countries and want to get involve with this exciting project send a mail to

info@africanelections.org

Hope to hear from you soon

Editor

www.africanelections.org

Countries Covered so far :

Ghana www.africanelections.org/ghana
Mauritania www.africanelections.org/mauritania
Malawi www.africanelections.org/malawi

Pending Elections :

Cote d'Ivoire www.africanelections.org/cotedivoire,

Niger www.africanelections.org/niger

and Guinea www.africanelctions.org/guinea

Statement by Journalism Online Co-Founders in Response to American Press Institute Findings

2009-09-16T01:41:00.001-07:00

Statement by Journalism Online Co-Founders in Response to American Press Institute Findings

Institute Report Comes as Journalism Online Passes 1,000 Affiliate Milestone

New York, September 14, 2009—Journalism Online, LLC, co-founder Steven Brill said that the results of a study released today by the American Press Institute (API) reporting that nearly 60% of American newspapers are "actively considering" initiating some form of paid access for their online content "is absolutely consistent with what we are finding in the United States and around the world." Brill added, "In fact, we think the proportion is already higher and that it's growing literally every day."

"In August, we announced that more than 500 newspapers, magazines and online-based news sites in the United States and around the world had signed Letters of Intent with us," said co-founder Gordon Crovitz. "Just one month later, we have passed 1,000, reaching more than 100 million online users, and the pace is accelerating." A key factor, Crovitz added, is that publishers have concluded that this is not an either/or choice between advertising revenue and circulation revenue. He said, "Publishers are focused on the revenue potential of a mix of free and paid access to their sites, with the 'freemium' approach increasingly popular."

The API's findings indicated publishers were "seriously considering 11 of 15 different options of which pay models to implement," Brill added. "That flexibility and diversity is also consistent with our view, which is why our Reader Revenue Platform™ has 16 different options for publishers."

"Publishers are crafting their strategies, from charging based on usage, to identifying content just for subscribers, to launching entirely new products," Crovitz said. "Affiliates will adjust our platform's 16 dials as they learn what works best for each site."

Journalism Online also recently announced that it will serve non-profit publishers by allowing readers to use their Journalism Online accounts to donate to their favorite organizations.

About Journalism Online, LLC

Founded in April 2009 by experienced media executives Steven Brill, Gordon Crovitz, and Leo Hindery, Jr., Journalism Online, which has more than 1,000 affiliate newspapers, magazines and news sites, will enable news publishers to generate new revenues from readers and distributors for their digital content and to restore the optimal mix of circulation and advertising revenue necessary to finance original reporting and editing. Journalism Online, whose services launch this fall, is pioneering the effort to make the transition to a paid online model successful for publishers while giving readers easy access to the news they want, when they want it, on the web and through other forms of digital distribution. For more information: www.journalismonline.com.

Position Announcement—Radio/Television Chair

2009-09-15T05:13:00.001-07:00

Position Announcement—Radio/Television Chair:

Position: Chair—Department of Radio-Television

Rank: Professor or Associate Professor, rank and salary commensurate with credentials.

Effective Date: 1 July 2010, or until filled

Qualifications: Normally candidates possess a Ph.D. or M.F.A. degree in communications or related field, although candidates with exceptionally distinguished qualifications for leading a high-performance department will be considered. These qualifications should include as many as possible of the following: record of effective teaching, significant research/creative activity, relevant administrative experience, international recognition.

Duties: The Chair is responsible for the development and coordination of teaching, research, and service programs of the Department. These duties include, but are not limited to: intellectual and creative leadership of the Department; active engagement in teaching and research/creative activity; recruitment, development, and evaluation of faculty and staff; commitment to building a climate of departmental diversity in all aspects; academic program development; representing the Department's programs and faculty to various constituencies; coordinating and enhancing the Department's grant activities, alumni relations, fiscal management and administration.

The Department: The Department of Radio-Television housed in the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, offers innovative programs in radio, television, and associated media, and features an interdisciplinary approach to media education that emphasizes both theory and practice in such areas as media studies, electronic media management, electronic journalism, media production, international and comparative media, and political economy of the media. The undergraduate program is annually recognized for its outstanding record of award-winning radio and television productions. The faculty participate actively in the MA, MS, MA/MBA, MFA, and Doctoral programs housed at the College level. The Department is closely associated with the Global Media Research Center and WSIU Public Broadcasting, which operates PBS-affiliated television stations and NPR-affiliated FM stations from the College.

The College: The College of Mass Communication and Media Arts has three academic units, the Departments of Cinema and Photography and Radio-Television and the School of Journalism, as well as WSIU Public Broadcasting and the Global Media Research Center. The College enrolls approximately 1000 undergraduate and 140 graduate students.

The University: SIUC is a Carnegie Doctoral Research University, enrolls approximately 21,000 and annually ranks among the top institutions in the nation for producing minority graduates. It is located 90 miles southeast of St. Louis in Carbondale, Illinois, a city of 25,000. The Shawnee National Forest, which is famous for its rugged, hilly terrain and natural beauty, is immediately to the south of campus. Additional information can be found at <http://rtv.siu.edu <http://rtv.siu.edu/> >.

Screening of completed applications will commence October 16, 2009 and continue until the position is filled.

To apply: Send letter of application, curriculum vitae/resume, and names and contact information for three references to:

Search Committee Chair
Department Chairperson
Department of Radio-Television
Mail Code 6609
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
1100 Lincoln Drive
Carbondale, IL 62901

Phone: 618-536-7555; Fax: 618-453-6982

SIUC is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer that strives to enhance its ability to develop a diverse faculty and staff and to increase its potential to serve a diverse student population. All applications are welcomed and encouraged and will receive consideration.

Opportunity - Wanted: African Freelance Reporters

2009-09-15T04:42:00.001-07:00

To serve our fast growing portfolio of international clients like KLM, Heineken, Starbucks, Nestlé and Nike Africa Interactive is urgently looking for Freelance African reporters to do paid assignments.

We are looking for: African cameramen/women, African journalists, and African photographers in all African countries If you would like to sign up, please send your cv to: bas@africanews.com

If you want to see who are in our reporter database now, please follow this link: www.africanews.com/site/page/reporters

If you like to read more about becoming a reporter for Africa Interactive, please follow this link: www.africa-interactive.net

To read the whole blog post and comments please visit: http://africamedianetwork.ning.com/profiles/blogs/wanted-african-freelance

Post on the African Media Network blog by Seb Vlugt

African media better prepared to cover the 2010 Soccer World Cup

2009-09-12T12:05:00.001-07:00

African media is better prepared to cover the 2010 World Cup and this is a direct result of the 2009 Highway Africa Conference, says the head of Rhodes University's School of Journalism and Media Studies, Professor Guy Berger.

Prof Berger's statement highlighted the significance of Highway Africa, a three-day African media conference hosted by Rhodes University.

The importance of the conference was also accentuated by Rhodes' Vice-Chancellor, Saleem Badat, who said: "Over the years, the conference has become a key event of Rhodes University, and its Pan-African nature gels well with our aspiration to be an outstanding African university which proudly affirms its African identity…"

Highway Africa Director, Chris Kabwato, said the conference, attended by 500 Journalists and held from 6 to 8 September, has developed into a premium annual event for African journalists.

With major sponsors such as Telkom, who have recommitted themselves to the conference, and new sponsors such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, next year's edition of Highway Africa is expected to be even bigger. The 2010 conference will take place during the Fifa World Cup month.

This year's conference ran with the theme: Reporting Africa - 2010, Development and Democracy.

The robust debates, training and loads of information issued during the conference have prepared African media for the World Cup, says Berger.

"Indeed the deliberations were rich, deep and educating. The need for critical journalistic engagement featured prominently during the conference deliberations," he said.

"This should ensure that media coverage is not only focused on the glitz and glamour aspect of the World Cup, but must be extended to critical evaluation of socioeconomic consequences."

Badat was the first to caution African journalists, in his opening address, against uncritical and blunt reporting. "It seems to me that if journalists and the media seek to report on development and democracy effectively, then they need to have a good understanding of development and democracy," he said.

This view was echoed by a number of other speakers. A general concern was expressed that African media is dominated by politics at the expense of development coverage.

Two things are suppressing coverage of development issues, said Paula Fray from Inter Press Service. The media environment encourages journalists to focus on sexy subjects and there is also lack of skills.

Acting head of SABC news, Phil Molefe, said that development coverage does not necessarily equate to sunshine journalism.

The 2010 World Cup will be a media bonanza but the question is will the media cover the event properly, cautioned Badat.
Thousands of journalists and the world's media will descend on South Africa, said Badat. "Many of these will simply cover the beautiful game and the happenings on and off the pitch," he said.

Others, he added, will delve into the history, geography, economics, sociology and politics of the tournament. "As a supposedly African event, it remains to be seen how, in what ways, and to what extent the media coverage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup will differ from that of previous World Cups".

http://www.ru.ac.za/modules/blog_include/blog_content.php?blog_id=663

New partnership for Al Jazeera Network and A24 Media

2009-09-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

African online news agency A24 Media will now feature and sell Al Jazeera content via its site, as part of a new partnership with the international television network.

A24 Media, which launched at the end of 2008, sells African video content around the world, with its contributors receiving a 60 per cent cut and retaining copyright. Its editorial board includes Reuters' head of global multimedia and a former head of ABC News in Australia.

With the new deal, A24media.com/aljazeera will feature African documentaries from Al Jazeera that can be bought via the site. Al Jazeera can also use A24 material for programmes on the channel.

"This partnership with A24 Media is important for us as it enables us to extend the reach of our African content from both Al Jazeera English and the Al Jazeera Arabic Channel to new audiences throughout and beyond the continent," said Phil Lawrie, director of global distribution at Al Jazeera Network, in a press release.

"This partnership with an organisation of the calibre of Al Jazeera represents a powerful endorsement of our vision to make A24 Media the continent's leading online multimedia news and programmes service and a trusted source for people seeking quality African output produced by local journalists," added the CEO of A24 Media, Asif Sheikh.

A24, is 'an agency but with a bit of a twist' said founder Salim Amin at the time of its launch in September 2008: "We try to ensure that the African journalist keeps copyright and continues to make revenue."

Amin, who is also A24 Media's chairman and son of famous photojournalist Mohamed, or Mo, Amin, will speak at the Frontline Club in London on September 28 after a screening of a film about his father's life.

http://www.journalism.co.uk/2/articles/535792.php

Journalism Online’s charging clients a 20% commission

2009-09-12T11:46:00.001-07:00

If you've been following our coverage of Journalism Online, the pay-for-news venture founded by Steve Brill, Gordon Crovitz, and Leo Hindery, you know how they plan to generate revenue for news sites. What hasn't been clear is how the firm itself will make money.

But in a document submitted to the Newspaper Association of America, which was just made public, Journalism Online reveals its business model: They're asking for a 20-percent cut of subscription revenue (after credit card fees).

I checked with Cindy Rosenthal, the firm's spokeswoman, who confirmed the information and said they weren't charging clients anything beyond the commission. Journalism Online says it has signed letters of intent with media companies representing 176 dailies but won't disclose their names. Guardian News and Media and The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel are the only known clients, and most major newspaper companies have said they aren't on board.

[UPDATE: 10:36 a.m.: In a brief chat with Brill as I waited for the bus this morning, he said, "What we tell publishers is, we only do well if you do well."]

Journalism Online had been the highest-profile of several firms known to be shopping paid-content solutions to news sites. But yesterday we revealed that Google is also making a play in that area, and much of the ensuing coverage suggested a new, if wildly imbalanced, rivalry between Google and Journalism Online. That will depend on how serious Google's intentions are.

The basic pitch from Journalism Online involves news sites signing up 10 percent of their monthly visitors for some kind of subscription plan. (That figure has been floating between 5 and 15 percent.) But lots of content would remain free so news sites could continue to reap advertising revenue from non-paying visitors. Net profit, in Journalism Online's models, emerges from subscription revenue, a slight increase in print circulation, and cost savings.

We've been through those models before, but the new document that Brill and his colleagues submitted to the NAA includes, for the first time, a model with all of their math in one place, including their commission and an abbreviated balance sheet. So for those following this really closely, here you go:

Below is an excerpt from the business models we have presented to five different-sized newspapers in five different markets based on assumption related to the options outlined above.

Print circulation of 1,000,000.
Total home delivery paper subscribers of 800,000.
Monthly online unique visitors of 20 million.
Annual online subscription price of $75.00 and month-to-month price of $7.50.
Micropayments per article of $0.25 with a total of 6 per subscriber per month.
Online advertising revenue of $175 million per year.
Print circulation revenue of $600 million per year.
Print subscriber retention and acquisition cost of $75 million per year.

Bottom Line Benefit:
$33.6 million in Year One; $86.0 million in Year Two

Assumptions:

Assumes a significant amount of continued free access, but with selected content offered to the most engaged online users on a paid basis. This approach optimizes advertising inventory alongside high-margin subscription revenues.
10% of monthly uniques subscribe within two years.
Subscriber conversion breakdown assumes 47.5% annual, 47.5% month-to-month and 5.0% micro payment.
Total online subscribers of 2.2 million subscribers in year 2, counting people who buy annual or monthly subscriptions or a single article through micropayment.
Assumes a 90% subscription renewal rate.
Overall page views decrease by 12% at the end of year 2.
A 15% decrease in non-subscriber page views is offset by paying subscribers having 25% more page views per user than non-paying users.
A 30% higher CPM for pages viewed by subscribers produces overall online advertising decline of 9%.
Cost of sales for advertising is 20%.

Journalism Online commission of 20% of subscription revenues net of credit card fees of 3%.
Adding a paid strategy for selected online access, then bundling online and print subscriptions (offering a "discount" for those who buy both) yields a 3% increase over two years in print subscription circulation revenue.

Highway Africa opens to a flying start at MTN reception

2009-09-05T08:09:00.001-07:00

Danny Jordaan says Y'ello to 400 African journalists at Highway Africa reception

The 2009 edition of the annual Highway Africa conference will kick off to a euphoric start this Sunday when the media delegates from across the continent are addressed by 2010 Organising Committee CEO Dr Danny Jordaan.

The MTN-sponsored reception will be held at the newly-built Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Over 400 journalists from more than 43 countries in Africa are expected to attend the event which will see the beginning of the three-day conference organized by Rhodes University's School of Journalism and Media Studies and supported by sponsors such as MTN.

In line with the 2009 Highway Africa theme, Reporting Africa: 2010, development and democracy, MTN has chosen the 48 000-capacity Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium as the venue to host the reception in order to give the journalists a glimpse of what South Africa has to offer during the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. MTN is the first and only African global sponsor of the FIFA World Cup™, which will be hosted in Africa for the first time in 2010.

"The 2010 FIFA World Cup™ will be African football's crowning glory for the incredible contribution this continent's footballers have made to the global game. We as South Africans are honoured to be hosting Africa's first FIFA World Cup on behalf of the entire continent. And it's critical for us at the 2010 Organising Committee that we involve and engage our fellow Africans in the World Cup process. Highway Africa gives us a wonderful opportunity to interact with hundreds of African journalists from over 40 countries and we thank MTN for helping to arrange this great platform for us to update the continent on our progress," says Jordaan.

MTN Group Executive for Corporate Affairs and Spokesperson, Ms Nozipho January-Bardill will be the host at the opening reception. Jordaan, the Deputy Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, Councilor Biks Ndoni and the Rhodes University Vice Chancellor, Professor Saleem Badat are expected to address the delegates at the reception.

This year's edition of Highway Africa runs from 6-9 September. MTN, which has been the exclusive mobile partner of Highway Africa for the past eight years, will participate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup State of Readiness panel discussion that will be chaired by Mathatha Tsedu. MTN, whose sponsorship of the 2010 FIFA World Cup secured the company exclusive mobile content right for Africa and the Middle East, will also lead a parallel workshop on Mobile Television.

The guests at the reception will be given a tour of the host city as well as a tour of the world-class facility that will host some of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ games.

Says January-Bardill: "As a global company with its roots firmly in Africa and as sponsor of the world's biggest football spectacular, MTN believes that the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ is not a South African affair, but an African event. It requires all of us to collectively put hands on the deck to ensure that the event is a roaring success."

She continued: "A successful 2010 FIFA World Cup™ will be the necessary antidote to dispel the lingering pessimism about Africa and about the continent's ability to host a tournament of this magnitude."

Speaking about MTN's eight-year sponsorship of Highway Africa, January-Bardill said the sponsorship gives MTN an opportunity to contribute to the development of journalism, particularly reportage on Information Communication Technology sector.

"It is in our best interests to have a vigilant, knowledgeable and probing media. The Highway Africa conference does not only demonstrate the value of partnering to achieve specific objectives, but over the years it has also offered us a rare opportunity to touch base with one of our most important stakeholders – the media," concludes January-Bardill.

ENDS

-Issued by MTN Group Corporate Affairs

ABOUT THE 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 at 30 June 2009, MTN recorded 103,2 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. The MTN Group is a global sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ and has exclusive mobile content rights for Africa and the Middle East. Visit www.mtn.com and www.mtnfootball.com.

ABOUT HIGHWAY AFRICA

Highway Africa is a partnership between Rhodes University (School of Journalism and Media Studies) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), with the support of several partners, development agencies and sponsors. 2009 sees the 13th edition being hosted in Grahamstown with a record attendance of 735 persons in 2008 and offers a journalists reflection on 2010 in the New Media environment. The Highway Africa annual Awards expand to over five categories in their ninth year, continuing to recognise excellence in ICT journalism in Africa.

For more information contact:

Pearl Majola

MTN Group Communications

Mobile: +27 83 212 2459

Email: Majola_p@mtn.co.za

Knight News Challenge 2010 Opens; Up to $5 million in Awards

2009-09-02T11:58:00.001-07:00

Knight News Challenge Competition Offers
Up to $5 million for Community News Innovation

Contest now allows private applications -- deadline is Oct. 15

MIAMI – The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is accepting applications for the 2010 Knight News Challenge, a contest awarding as much as $5 million for innovative ideas using digital experiments to transform community news. The deadline for applications is Oct. 15.

Do you have a big idea for informing and inspiring a geographic community? Does it include innovative use of new digital tools or processes such as social media, mash-ups or wikis? How about new ways to exchange information via hand-held devices like cell phones? Knight Foundation wants to know. "You invent it. We fund it!" is the 2010 contest slogan.

Open to community-minded innovators worldwide, the contest has just three rules. Projects must use digital, open-source technology, distribute news in the public interest and be tested in a local community.

"We want entries to push the bounds of the imagination," said Gary Kebbel, Knight Foundation's journalism program director. "But they don't always have to involve the invention of something completely new. We're also searching for innovative twists on familiar tools."

This is the fourth year of the Knight News Challenge competition. So far, 300,000 people have visited the project web site, at newschallenge.org, a total of 7,000 people have entered and the foundation has picked 35 winners.

This year, applicants can enter in one of two categories. In the "open" category, submissions are available to the public for viewing and commenting. These entries can use others' comments to revise and submit their application or proposals. In a separate "closed" category, solely Knight Foundation staff and contest reviewers will see applications. Applicants who aren't ready to share their ideas publically can use this category.

"We wanted to have an application process that is broad enough to accommodate people's preferences," Kebbel said.

Want an insider's edge to the application process? The newly launched News Challenge blog features lessons from past winners and a behind-the-scenes looks at the contest judging. Also, Knight staff will answer questions during a live chat at 2 p.m. Sept. 9 and Oct. 8. Read the blog and participate in the chat at www.newschallenge.org.

In its first three years, the contest produced individual, private and public winners ranging from 20-something journalism innovators to the inventor of the World Wide Web.

One project, hyper-local news experiment Everyblock.com, was recently purchased by MSNBC.com – highlighting the market potential for innovative community information projects. Before it was purchased, Everyblock.com's code was published as open source, a challenge requirement that allows the public to benefit from the experiments.

The News Challenge is part of Knight Foundation's $100 million plus Media Innovation Initiative, which strives to help meet community information needs by, in part, seeding experiments that the market will ultimately sustain. Other projects address media innovation on various levels, including national media policy, broadband access and the evolution of the World Wide Web.

For more on the News Challenge, visit www.NewsChallenge.org

For more on Knight Foundation's Media Innovation Initiative, visit www.mediainnovation.org.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950, the foundation has granted more than $400 million to advance quality journalism and freedom of expression. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote community engagement and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

Media Contact:

Marc Fest, Vice President of Communications, 305-908-2677, fest@knightfoundation.org

News Release

Finalists announced for 2009 Online Journalism Awards

2009-08-31T13:29:00.001-07:00

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 31, 2009 - Finalists for the 2009 Online Journalism Awards, many pushing the envelope of innovation in digital storytelling and information sharing, were announced today by the Online News Association and its partner, the School of Communication at the University of Miami.

A team of 12 journalists representing a diverse cross-section of the industry met Aug. 27 and 28 at the university's Coral Gables, Fla., campus to select the finalists, which range from independent and nonprofit news and community sites to major media and international organizations. The winners will be announced at the 2009 ONA Conference and Online Journalism Awards Banquet on Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Hilton San Francisco.

"We were regularly awed, inspired and delighted by the quality and innovation evident online today," said Anthony Moor, Deputy Managing Editor of The Dallas Morning News, who, along with AP Digital's Director of Online Services Ruth Gersh, co-chairs the Online Journalism Awards Committee.

This year, changes were introduced to acknowledge the important role of emerging technology, the influence of the independent digital journalist and the growth of community reporting efforts. Six awards now come with a total of $30,000 in prize money, courtesy of the Gannett Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the General Excellence in Online Journalism Award was expanded to include "micro sites."

The finalists are:

Knight Award for Public Service

The Chauncey Bailey Project
Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong, The Seattle Times, Culture of Resistance
Toronto Star, Crime and Punishment
Wisconsin State Journal, Down to a Whisper: State's Native Languages Threatened with Loss

Gannett Foundation Award for Technical Innovation in the Service of Digital Journalism

Associated Press, AP Mobile
Attributor
Medill School, Northwestern University, News Mixer
Publish2

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Micro Site

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Small Site

MediaStorm
PolitiFact, Staff of the St. Petersburg Times
ProPublica

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Medium Site

The Daily Beast
LasVegasSun.com
NewsOK.com, from the OPUBCO Communications Group Staff
spokesman.com, The Spokesman-Review

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Large Site

bbcnews.com, BBC News
nytimes.com, The New York Times
Wired.com
washingtonpost.com, Washington Post Digital

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Non-English, Small Site

Radio Azattyq, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Kazakh Service (Kazakhstan)
Il Centro, Quotidiano dell'Abruzzo (Italy)
lainformacion.com (Spain)

General Excellence in Online Journalism, Non-English, Large Site

SOITU.ES (Spain)
Lanacion.com (Argentina)
Rue89 (France)

Breaking News, Small Site

Pressconnects.com/Press & Sun-Bulletin, Massacre on Front Street
The Daily Astorian, Gearhart Plane Crash
The Desert Sun, Desert Hot Springs Gang Sweep

Breaking News, Medium Site

Knoxnews.com, Church Shooting
LasVegasSun.com, Snow
NewsOK.com, from the OPUBCO Communications Group Staff, Ice Storm
The Dallas Morning News, Stadium Collapse

Breaking News, Large Site

BBC News, Mumbai Attacks
The New York Times, Plane Crash in the Hudson
Houston Chronicle/chron.com, Hurricane Ike

Specialty Site Journalism, Small Site

Design Observer
Forward.com, Forward
PolitiFact, Staff of the St. Petersburg Times
Yale Environment 360

Specialty Site Journalism, Large Site

FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center
Military Times, Army Times Publishing Company,

Investigative Journalism, Small Site

The Center for Public Integrity, Tobacco Underground: The Booming Global Trade in Smuggled Cigarettes
The Chauncey Bailey Project
Kelly Bennett and Will Carless, voiceofsandiego.org, A Staggering Swindle

Investigative Journalism, Large Site

Tom Lasseter and Matt Schofield, McClatchy, Guantanamo: Beyond the Law
Michael J. Berens and Ken Armstrong, The Seattle Times, Culture of Resistance
Washington Post Digital, Who Killed Chandra Levy?

Multimedia Feature Presentation, Small Site

National Film Board of Canada/JAM3MEDIA/Primitive Entertainment, Waterlife
Ottawa Citizen, The Karsh Generation
Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Women.Children.Crisis.

Multimedia Feature Presentation, Medium Site

The Courier-Journal/courier-journal.com, Tragedy on the Track
LasVegasSun.com, Quenching Las Vegas' Thirst
The Oregonian/OregonLive.com, Pregnant with Cancer
Lane DeGregory, Melissa Lyttle, Desiree Perry, Jack Rowland & Ted McLaren, Tampabay.com, The Girl in the Window

Multimedia Feature Presentation, Large Site

The Boston Globe/Boston.com, Ted Kennedy.
Los Angeles Times, Mexico Under Siege: The Drug War at Our Doorstep
Washington Post Digital, Sacred Ground: The Building of the Pentagon Memorial

Online Topical Reporting/Blogging, Small Site

Gotham Gazette, Searchlight on City Hall
The Flame Trench, Florida Today's Space Team Blog
The Vancouver Sun, Kim Bolan's The Real Scoop

Online Topical Reporting/Blogging, Large Site

The New York Times, The Lede - Iran
The New York Times, The Well Blog
NPR.org, Planet Money
Wired.com, Danger Room

Online Commentary/Blogging, Small Site
No Award

Online Commentary/Blogging, Medium Site

What Would Bing Do?, BNET
Christopher Buckley, The Daily Beast
The Daily Juggle, MinnMoms.com/St. Paul Pioneer Press/TwinCities.com

Online Commentary/Blogging, Large Site

Hero Complex, Los Angeles Times
Mark Easton's UK, Mark Easton, BBC News
Mazz, Tony Massarotti, The Boston Globe/Boston.com

Outstanding Use of Digital Technologies, Small Site

Outstanding Use of Digital Technologies, Large Site

msnbc.com, Politics Dashboard
The New York Times, Interactive Graphics
Wired.com, Global iPhone Study

Online Video Journalism, Small Site

AARP Bulletin Today, Journey to Remember
AARP Bulletin Today, What Will Happen to Andy?
Danny Wilcox Frazier, Produced by MediaStorm, Driftless: Stories from Iowa
Hank Wilson, No Snitching, No Suspects

Online Video Journalism, Large Site

ESPN.com, You Tube Baby
Slate V, The Power Recap
Washington Post Digital, Fashion Week in New York City
Washington Post Digital, Seeds of Peace

Community Collaboration

Los Angeles Times, Mapping L.A.
The Miami Herald, Operation Pedro Pan Network
Next Door Media, MyBallard

Student Journalism, Small Team

Joy Lewis, Western Kentucky University, Sister Wife
Lisa Pickoff-White, University of California, Berkeley, It Happens at Midnight

Student Journalism, Large Team

University of Miami School of Communication, Special Olympics Live
NYCity News Service/City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, Election 2008: A Date with History
UNC-Chapel Hill, Andaman Rising
Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, South Africa: At the Crossroads of Hate and Hope

The judges of this year's awards were:

Rosental Alves, Professor and Knight Chair in Journalism, University of Texas
Rich Beckman, Knight Chair of Visual Journalism, School of Communication, University of Miami
Paul Brannan, Editor, Emerging Platforms, BBC News
Alberto Cairo, James H. Shumaker Assistant Professor, School of Journalism, UNC-Chapel Hill
Stephen Engelberg, Managing Editor, ProPublica
Rich Jaroslovsky, Technology/Digital Media Columnist, Bloomberg News
Keith W. Jenkins, Supervising Senior Producer for Multimedia, NPR.org
Tom Kennedy, Multimedia Journalism Consultant
Katie King, Creative and Development Editor, MSN UK
Solana Larsen, Managing Editor, Global Voices
Suzanne Levinson, Director of Site Operations, Miami Herald Media Co.
Michelle Nicolosi, Executive Producer, seattlepi.com
Eric Scherer, Director of Strategic Planning, Agence-France Presse
Tenny Tatusian, Associate Editor, latimes.com
Matt Thompson, Interim Online Community Manager, Knight Foundation
Molly Wood, Executive Editor, CNETTV.com

Judges were recused from discussing categories in which their own organization or organizations they are associated with were entered.

This year is the first in a partnership with the University of Miami's School of Communication, which utilized its state-of-the-art resources to facilitate the judging process. Under Beckman's direction, the school will highlight the work of winners during the awards presentation and continue to share best practices throughout the industry.

"Our partnership with ONA confirms our commitment to cutting-edge journalism education and our support for the online journalism industry," Beckman said. "It was a great beginning to a partnership that benefits everyone and further helps us all define standards for journalism excellence."

Launched in May 2000, the OJAs are administered by the Online News Association, in partnership with the University of Miami's School of Communication. This year's honorees will be announced on Oct. 3, the final night of ONA09, the Online News Association Conference and Awards Banquet, held Oct. 1-3 in San Francisco.

For more information, contact:
Jane McDonnell
Executive Director
646-290-7900
director@journalists.org

Sherry Skalko
Editor, Journalists.org
312-881-6477
sskalko@journalists.org

Mobilizing for mobile: Are news organizations lagging?

2009-08-27T00:36:00.001-07:00

The mobile computing revolution is clearly upon us, thanks to the growth of Web-friendly smartphones. It's an area rich with opportunity for news organizations, but one that's also vastly more complicated than the Web. Figuring out how and where to get started can quickly get overwhelming.

So let's break down some of the issues involved and look at some ways to get started:

1. Optimize the current site. It's amazing how many news sites are unnecessarily slow to load, or look broken or clunky. To look at two sites that have done this well, grab a standard smartphone and visit The New York Times or The Washington Post on the phone's browser.

The Post just launched their re-designed site in early August. The new site was designed specifically for mobile platforms, around five basic content categories, and with more simple navigation. This last point is particularly important, because people will consume news and information on the phone in ways that are different than the Web. I use my BlackBerry to get quick updates during those in-between moments, like standing in a line. So clicking right into content is critical.

According to MediaPost, the company is also assigning two full-time editors to managing mobile Web content. The new site also was built in-house, according to MediaPost. But there are third-parties, such as MobileTech of Norway (which is working with some Cox Newspapers).

2. Buttons and Bookmarks. Several news organizations, including the Washington Post and The New York Times, have created buttons that I can put right on my BlackBerry. They are just links that open up the phone's browser. But it's still ultra-convenient.

3. Applications. This is the next step up the ladder, and where things start to get quite a bit more complex. There are six major mobile platforms for smartphones:

- Apple's iPhone
- Google's Android
- BlackBerry
- Nokia's Symbian
- Windows Mobile
- Palm Pre

Except for the iPhone and Pre, each system appears on numerous different devices. Each platform requires separate development, and the gadgets it runs on may require further tweaks. So, already your head is pounding.

The best advice is to pick one and get started. Of course, for most folks, the starting point lately is the iPhone, given all the buzz. Don't kid yourself that there will be huge bucks in selling an iPhone app. The App store already has more than 40,000 apps and counting.

But despite the complexity, the advantages of building an app on any platform are huge, in terms of creating additional features, functionality and engagement.

Let me point to one example that's become my favorite mobile news application: The Wall Street Journal's BlackBerry application. I have a BlackBerry Curve. The Journal's application continuously downloads summaries of every article being published. When I'm ready to read, all the headlines are there are my phone where I can scan them quickly. When I click in the headline, a summary opens. At that point, I can click to read the full article, which takes a moment to read. But by then, I know that really want to read it. The beauty of this is that when I'm ready to consume the Journal, it's ready for me. In the mobile news experience, these few seconds I save on every click make a huge difference.

Different news organizations are also taking different approaches to developing these. The New York Times has an in-house team that built their iPhone app. The Toronto Globe and Mail worked with a Toronto-based firm Spreed to develop its iPhone app.

4. Location-based applications. As mobile is evolving, the real opportunity is to leverage the power of knowing where the consumer is located. More and more phones have some kind of location-aware capability, either through GPS, through accessing the cell phone towers, or using wi-fi networks (the iPhone uses all three). For users of these devices, the issue of "where" they are is crucial to the questions they are asking, the news they're seeking, and the information they need.

I haven't found too many news organizations that have explored this yet, with the exception of the Associated Press. When I was using the AP's iPhone app, it would recognize my location and then served up stories from the closest publications.

But hunt around the iTunes app store and check out location-based apps from folks like Yelp. When I searched for a coffee shop, it gave me a list of results ranked by distance from where I stood.

That sort of things remains far down the road for most news organizations. But that should be a sign of how badly we're lagging, and why every newsroom should be getting started today.

http://www.knightdigitalmediacenter.org/leadership_blog/comments/mobilizing_for_mobile_are_news_organizations_lagging/

PenPlusBytes

One year of ghanabusinessnews.com

African Elections Project to Cover Namibia Elections 2009

Legal aid scheme for online journalists launched in US

How Demand Media's Business Model Can be Applied to Niche Sites

EXPERTS GATHER IN GHANA TO DEVELOP IMPROVED STANDARDS FOR AFRICAN ELECTIONS

COLLOQUIUM ON AFRICAN ELECTIONS: BEST PRACTICES AND CROSS SECTORAL COLLABORATION

African Media Leaders Meet in Lagos

African Media Leaders Meet in Lagos

Africa Media Leaders Forum(AMLF) Lagos, Nigeria 4-6 November 2009

2009 AMLF Agenda

Africa Media Leaders Forum(AMLF) Lagos, Nigeria 4-6 November 2009, http://www.amlf2009.org

Introduction and Objectives

Wednesday, November 4th

Thursday, November 5th

Friday, November 6th

Using ICTs To Cover Mozambique Elections 2009 - African Elections Project leads the way

Namibia Elections 2009 : Introducing Namibia election bloggers

Botswana Elections 2009 : Monitoring Elections Using Blogs, SMS and Twitter

African Elections Project to Cover Botswana Elections 2009

African Elections Project launched in Namibia

Prix Norbert zongo du Journalisme d'investigation

African Elections Project - Namibia, Mozambique and Botswana

Statement by Journalism Online Co-Founders in Response to American Press Institute Findings

Position Announcement—Radio/Television Chair

Opportunity - Wanted: African Freelance Reporters

African media better prepared to cover the 2010 Soccer World Cup

New partnership for Al Jazeera Network and A24 Media

Journalism Online’s charging clients a 20% commission

Highway Africa opens to a flying start at MTN reception

Knight News Challenge 2010 Opens; Up to $5 million in Awards

Finalists announced for 2009 Online Journalism Awards

Mobilizing for mobile: Are news organizations lagging?