The state-controlled Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) has come under severe censure from the democracy monitors from the Electoral Commission Of Kenya (ECK) and the Kenya Domestic Observation Programme (K-DOP). K-DOP Chairman, Archbishop John Njenga, accused the State-owned media giant of denying Kenyans a chance to make informed decisions on which candidate to support and vote for.

If you are a mid-level or senior programme manager, social worker, senior government officer or planner, a health care professional, or have an interest in ageing issues, then this course is for you. Topics to be covered include: Demographic situation and socio-economic implications for Africa; HIV/AIDS and its impact on older people; Gender dimension of ageing; Poverty and Research and Policies on ageing.

The International Federation of Journalists, the world's largest journalists' group has condemned rioters who attacked the daily newspaper This Day in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna. The IFJ also condemned a bomb attack on the weekly newspaper National Pilot in a separate incident.

OneWorld Radio is to offer radio stations around the world an opportunity to broadcast HIV/Aids awareness programming from the MTV Staying Alive campaign. This includes the 1 December 2002, World Aids Day, concerts from Cape Town, South Africa and Seattle, USA.

Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has reserved judgment in a case in which the Independent Journalists Association of Zimbabwe is challenging certain clauses of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The victims of Sunday night's Kiambu dam floods have received Sh1million, food and building materials from two Presidential candidates. Kanu candidate Uhuru Kenyatta donated Sh500,000, which was presented to the chairman of the Kiambu Disaster Committee and District Commissioner, Chelimo Cheboi by former Kiambaa legislator Njenga Karume.

More than 250 senior citizens marched to the Prime Minister's office this week to voice their grievances on their evictions from their houses, after they failing to pay municipal bills.

The Internet is different things to different people. E-mail is by far the most popular use of the Internet, and set to remain so for the foreseeable future. According to the research firm, IDC, the number of person-to-person e-mail messages will grow at a compound rate of 138% to reach 1.2 billion in 2005. Despite the impressive growth in the use of e-mail, there are other important uses of the Internet in traditional areas such as e-commerce and education. According to the research firm Edventures, the e-education market will increase from $4.5 billion last year to $11 billion by 2005. Online education represents the marriage of the Internet to age-old distance (sometimes called “correspondence”) education. Thus, online education offers the benefits of distance education, and more. Perhaps the greatest advantages of distance education include increased access of education, and reduced costs of providing it. While traditional distance education relies on regular (or “snail”) mail to deliver course materials and examinations, online education provides for much faster and cheaper e-mail- and Web-based instruction, communication, and evaluation. In the same vein, the fact that Web-based courses can be accessed by more people in far-flung places (in contrast to radio and TV-programs) makes them even more attractive.

Angered by perceived biased reporting of the ethno-religious crises buffeting Plateau State, North-Central Nigeria, the governor, Joshua Dariye, has threatened to declare "persona non grata," journalists who write "negative reports" on the State.

A Daily News crew of reporter Henry Makiwa, Photographer Gally Kambeu and
driver Trust Maswela was arrested on 19 November 2002 when they were
covering a demonstration by parents and students who were protesting against the
alleged rape of a girl by a deputy school head in the suburb of Marimba in Harare.

Changes in ownership within South African media has placed many challenges on up-coming broadcasting companies and authorities.

Join the "Africans without borders" online discussion group - a forum to explore the practical ways in which the African diaspora can contribute to Africa's development. Send an email to Africans_Without_Borders-
[email protected]

Professor Jonathan Moyo, the minister of State for Information and Publicity has attacked the private media for what he called its "anti-nation" and "anti government" reporting. Moyo, who was addressing army officers in Harare on 18 November, said that the private media, especially The Daily News, was being used by Western powers to attack the government, the country's values and traditions.

High Court Judge Justice Makoni has dismissed a Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) urgent High Court application intended to allow its members to fill in accreditation forms without supplying certain information about their lives. ZUJ is arguing that the forms which require journalists to supply the Media and Information Commission with their residential addresses, mobile phone numbers, passports and drivers numbers and E mail addresses is too intrusive and violates their privacy. ZUJ was therefore seeking a provisional order for the forms to be declared an invasion of their privacy.

Since the beginning of the Internet era, the web has continued to be the favoured link between expatriated communities. Through forums, chat rooms and specialised web sites, many Internet communities have been formed based on different affinities. We would like to invite you to be a part of the Weavers human network.

African NGOs are increasingly getting themselves on to the web. However not always for the right reasons. Bev Clark of Kubatana.net outlines the questions you should first ask yourself.

HIV/AIDS treatment activists in Nigeria have expressed serious concern about a meeting in Abuja this week that threatens access to treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS in the country. The activists met on Saturday in Lagos under the auspices of the Treatment Action Movement (TAM), a coalition of civil society groups working in the area of HIV/AIDS treatment and care. The activists say that the meeting, sponsored by the United States Department of Commerce, could erode access to cheap and affordable medicines, especially antiretrovirals (ARV) that are currently being enjoyed by people living with HIV/AIDS.

The Supreme Court has dismissed an application made by President Levy Mwanawasa's lawyer, Michael Mundashi, who was seeking the citation of Arthur Simuchoba, editor of the privately-owned newspaper "The Monitor", and Chali Nondo, his chief reporter, for "contempt of court", for commenting on an ongoing election petition against Mwanawasa's election in December 2001.

The Zimbabwe government has vowed to arrest Zimbabwe citizens working for SW Radio Africa in Britain, if ever they set foot in Zimbabwe.

These are the words that began one of the most vibrant and challenging discussions about civil society's engagement in ICT policy-making in Africa to date. Organised by the Association for Progressive Communications, and hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa with the support of Article 19, the workshop on ICT Policy and Civil Society sparked the formation of a network of ICT policy mobilizers. This is dedicated towards building an inclusive information society in Africa.