By Rachel Kakraba
Regional Director, Office of Commission on Human Rights, OHCHR, East Africa, Marcel Akpovo, says practicing journalism remains a dangerous venture in Africa. For this reason, he has asked African governments to create an environment that is safe for journalists to practice.
“Being a journalist is still a very dangerous business in Africa, is extremely dangerous”
Speaking at the African Media Convention, hosted in Accra, from May 15th to 17th, he said, to tell the African story, Africa must have the means for content production that reflects the African story.
He encouraged states to invest in content creation and capacity building in the media industry both at the private and public levels.
This he said will enable the African media to produce content that reflects the African story better for repositioning on global platforms. Mr. Akpovo, encouraged countries that are yet to decriminalize laws that stifle media development such as the Criminal Libel law to do so.
He added the African Strategy for content production should be revisited to ensure that states take the primary responsibility of media structure.
A Member of the Local Organizing Committee of Ghana and Public Affairs Officer-Ghana Journalists Association, Madam Rebecca Ekpe, said it is important for Africa to understand the role of the media in shaping perceptions of Africa, promote accurate and diverse storytelling that holds government and corporations accountable.
She challenged Africa to embrace innovation to tell their stories adding collaboration and coordination are critical to resist and overcome challenges of attacks of disinformation and misinformation and excessive censorship from political factors.
