Just a quick note, you can refer to this post as we have discussed this specific topic previously Media in East Africa: Past and Present,
His Highness the Aga Khan addresses the Pan-Africa Media Conference. The Aga Khan is the 49th Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. He is the founder of the Aga Khan Development Network which is a non-profit organization that seeks to help those in the poorest parts of Asia and Africa. This conference was held in March 2010 in Nairobi, Kenya.
The Aga Khan poses a lot of questions on the role of media and what it can do for the future of Africa. He speaks of media ownership and how media can help support and preserve traditional languages. He questions what are the aims and the intentions of these enterprises? Are they religious, political, what are their agendas? How are African leaders responding to this? And do we recognize the efforts that have been made thus far?
The Aga Khan states, “In my view, the time has come when a sometimes dysfunctional relationship born out of government inexperience or media shallowness can be replaced by a new level of constructive intellectual empathy. I am convinced that an improved relationship is now possible. No! It is essential – if African development is to progress at the pace African peoples need and want.”
Interesting. I was hoping you guys would post the speech, because your last post on the media conference in Nairobi didn’t link us to the video.
These are some huge observations made by the Aga Khan. In my opinion, to some degree, “shallowness” certainly does exist in the media, but as people on the ground, I don’t think we can just bandwagon with his observations. We are in the thick of it. So we need to take such observations and try to figure out why this is how the media scene is percieved.
This brings into question the type of content that is being put out there. Are we as newspaper publishers, TV show producers, and radio channel broadcasters not looking deep enough for content that is not only engaging (obviously our content is engaging because we wouldn’t have a followership otherwise), but also educational?
And if we need to be putting stuff out that is educational, we need to realise that this is a heavy, heavy task, primarily relating to the question of accountability: How do you measure how someone has learned through a media piece?
Here is the link to the speech if you want to read it instead: [click]
i like it.thanks for sharing