A recent conference by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) ended with a call to Southern African governments to stop furthering their political agendas through media control, according to a statement. The statement said government control stifles editorial independence and free, fair and objective reporting. The conference was held in Windhoek under the theme Media, Ethics and Professionalism: Towards an Ethical African Media.

A magistrate in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, acquitted a journalist on criminal charges of working without accreditation for the now-banned Daily News, according to his lawyer. Observers say the ruling in favor of Kelvin Jakachira could set an important precedent for several other former Daily News journalists facing the same charge. Jakachira was accused of working for the paper between January and September 2003 without the government license required by the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). The Daily News, Zimbabwe's only independent daily, was forced to close in September 2003 after the Supreme Court ruled that it was operating illegally under AIPPA.

Journalist Michaël Didama, speaking from his prison cell in the Chadian capital N'Djamena, denounced his detention as illegal and called on local and international journalists to keep up pressure for the release of all four reporters jailed by the government since July.
"This is a crackdown on the press. There is nothing legal about our arrests," Didama told the Committee to Protect Journalists in a telephone interview. Didama has been in the capital's overcrowded Central Prison since August 8. He was sentenced to six months in jail after his newspaper in May, 2005, covered rebel groups and an alleged massacre of civilians in eastern Chad.

Five years ago the idea of digital television in Africa would have seemed absurd. The continent was 'sucking information through a narrow straw'. Now two countries have announced their intention to offer digital television, reports Balancing Act News Update. Senegal seems to have been first into the game, launching a pilot at the end of last year with 200 trial subscribers. Mauritius is trialling now and will launch in 2006. South Africa is headed in that direction but is only trialling video on demand this month.

The RAPID Programme Email Update is the Overseas Development Institute's Research and Policy in Development Programme Electronic Newsletter (also available at http://www.odi.org.uk/rapid/news). ODI's Research and Policy in Development programme aims to improve the use of research in development policy and practice through improved knowledge about research-policy links; improved knowledge management and learning systems; improved communication; and improved awareness of the importance of research. This newsletter brings you regular updates of the latest additions to the RAPID Programme Website: http://www.odi.org.uk/rapid

Lissanga Infos is a newsletter providing accurate information on various subjects: ICTs, Women, HIV/AIDS, NGOs, Environment and opportunities (conferences, training, call for proposals and others). The newsletter, published by AZUR Developpement, is available in French only. Please send an email to [email protected] for free subscription.

Lissanga Infos est un bulletin d’informations qui fournit des informations récentes sur divers sujets: TIC, Femmes, VIH/SIDA, ONG, Environnement et opportunités ( conférences, formations, appels à propositions de projets et autres). L ebulletin d’informations est disponible en langue française uniquement. Envoyez un email à [email protected] pour s’abonner gratuitement. Ce bulletin est publié par AZUR Développement.

With some 170 heads of State and government expected in New York in less than a month for the United Nations 2005 World Summit on September 14-16, civil society groups working with the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) have launched a website to voice their views on how to strengthen the world body as it confronts the challenges of extreme poverty and global security. The Website, at http://www.undpingoconference.org, features an interactive discussion area to debate issues that will be addressed at the 58th Annual DPI/NGO (non-governmental organisation) Conference, "Our Challenge: Voices for Peace, Partnerships and Renewal," scheduled to take place at UN Headquarters in New York from September 7-9.

Uganda has launched Africa's first 'e-school' as part of a continent-wide initiative to bring information and communication technologies (ICTs) to rural African schools. The initiative is led by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). It is designed to teach African schoolchildren modern technological skills so they can participate in today's communication-based society.

The SABC has apologised for not showing Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka being booed at a rally in Utrecht in KwaZulu-Natal on Women's Day, reports South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper. "The SABC apologises unreservedly to the public for not airing the footage," the public broadcaster said. The SABC "further wishes to assure viewers that its editorial autonomy and integrity does not prevent it from airing negative footage even when it involves senior government officials," it said in a statement.

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is inviting individual journalists and media institutions based in Africa to participate in the 2005 African Information Society Initiative (AISI) Media Awards. The awards aim to encourage informed coverage of the information society and Information Communications Technology (ICT) for development issues in Africa as part of ECA's Information Society Outreach and Communication Programme.

Ethiopia, one of Africa's poorest countries, is spending one-tenth of its GDP every year on IT. Over the next five years the government plans to invest more than $100m in public-sector computers. It aims to equip hundreds of government offices and schools with broadband internet connections. And by 2007, according to the plan, none of Ethiopia's 74 million people will live more than a few kilometres from a broadband access point.

Mozambique has finally put together a draft Freedom of Information Bill, which media experts hope will pave the way towards greater transparency and government accountability. After five years of broad consultations, an agreement on the content of the proposed law was finally reached at a recently held media seminar in the capital, Maputo.

Joining a Human Rights Watch list will give you the opportunity to receive the latest press releases and learn about new reports, photo galleries and other human rights news on-line. Subscription to these read-only mailing lists is free for anyone with electronic mail.

Panos and GKP are pleased to invite submissions for the 2005 “Reporting on the Information Society” awards. The topic for this year is “Where is the money for bridging the digital divide?” Four awards of $1,000 each will be made for the best journalism on this topic produced by journalists in developing and transition countries. The winners will also be invited to participate in the World Summit on the Information Society, in Tunis, in November 2005.

This site aims to help teachers and educators to Break the Silence that continues to surround the story of the enslavement of Africa that began over 500 years ago. It is designed to provide teachers with a variety of resources and ideas about how to teach the subject holistically, accurately and truthfully. It aims to represent the voices that are not usually heard.

Evictions in Johannesburg have sparked protests from civil rights groups, who accuse South Africa of copying Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's controversial urban clearance programme, in which hundreds of thousands of homes have been demolished by government officials. Johannesburg is accused of relying on apartheid-era laws to evict people to make room for inner-city regeneration plans ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Mbita Point, on the eastern shores of Lake Victoria, hosts a small rural community. A few minutes walk from the main town lies the local primary school, housed on the campus of a renowned research institute. In Class Five, fifty-four 11-year-old students are willing guinea pigs in an extraordinary experiment aimed at using technology to deliver education across the continent.

A new journalists’ group founded in Egypt is calling for the freedom of newspapers from government control. Journalists for Change began June 7 at a Cairo meeting attended by more than 40 journalists from national, private and party newspapers. The group called on their colleagues to unite and join a movement toward reviving a spirit of journalism appropriate for a free, independent and democratic Egypt.

A High Court in Accra on July 28, 2005 ordered the independent weekly, "National Democrat ", to pay Ghana's Minister of State for Defence, Kwame Addo- Kufuor, 400 million Cedis (approximately US$ 44,000) in damages for publishing an article that the minister considered to be defamatory. The court also awarded 10 million Cedis (approximately US$ 1,100) in cost against the D.D.D Publications, publishers of the "National Democrat" newspaper and Ebenezer Josiah, a former editor. The newspaper had in its October 4-6, 2004 edition of the paper published an article allegedly implicating Addo- Kufuor in a serial murder of over 30 Ghanaian women in 1999 and 2000.

Two weeks after Ivorian authorities suspended Radio France Internationale's local FM broadcasts over its handling of local news, Reporters Without Borders condemned an "unacceptable deterioration" in the safety of journalists in Abidjan as a result of a "reign of terror" imposed by a pro-government militia known as the Young Patriots. The press freedom organisation urged the government to adopt a series of "energetic measures" so that journalists can work without fearing punitive raids by this militia in the run-up to presidential elections scheduled for October.