{"id":3276,"date":"2004-10-07T06:55:14","date_gmt":"2004-10-07T06:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/?p=3276"},"modified":"2014-11-14T07:10:52","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T07:10:52","slug":"communicating-africa-new-challenges-for-african-broadcasters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/southern-african-news-features\/communicating-africa-new-challenges-for-african-broadcasters\/","title":{"rendered":"Communicating Africa: New challenges for African broadcasters"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Bayano Valy – SANF 04 no 90<\/em><\/b>
\nAfrican public broadcasters have vowed to reinvigorate the Union of National Radio and Television Organizations of Africa (URTNA), despite recent setbacks.<\/p>\n

Created in September 1962, a year before the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), URTNA gave voice to liberation movements that were fighting against colonialism. Over the years, the union has gradually lost its initial clout and visibility owing to a number of problems including members defaulting on subscriptions and dwindling membership.<\/p>\n

\u201cProblems are part of the road,\u201d said Mozambican Foreign Affairs Minister Leonardo Sim\u00e3o, at the opening of the 42nd General Assembly of URTNA in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, in early October.<\/p>\n

He said it is true that most African democracies face serious economic, financial and structural difficulties, making it difficult for governments, but there has to prevail a spirit of solidarity and cooperation among governments and media professionals.<\/p>\n

Sim\u00e3o encouraged URTNA members to look to the African Union (AU) and its New Partnership for Africa\u2019s Development (NEPAD) for lessons on how to transform the union into a powerful media organisation that stands for the continent\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve the sentiment that the African reality is not well projected at the international level by the international media,\u201d said the Mozambican minister, adding that there is a need to counter this perception.<\/p>\n

But central to this is the acquisition of a satellite that can beam information across the continent and the world in real time, he said.<\/p>\n

URTNA has for the past two years been doing some groundwork towards the envisaged restructuring. Arlindo Lopes, the outgoing president of URTNA and chairperson of Television Mozambique (TVM), said that during his tenure, the union had redeemed a sense of respect and seriousness.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I can say is that I feel I\u2019ve done my part, I accomplished my duty,\u201d said Lopes, describing the poor state of affairs the organisation was in when he took over.<\/p>\n

He explained that an ad hoc commission had been established and \u201cwe worked hard so that we could reach this stage with serious and well-structured recommendations, as well as creating conditions for us to comply with our obligations to our members, namely creating conditions for them to feel the need and essence of this organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ad hoc commission brought back credibility of the union. Member broadcasters who had quit have come back. It outlined proposals and a draft plan of action for the future of the union.<\/p>\n

The returning members were Angola, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Swaziland. \u201cI\u2019m certain that as they [returning members] hear and see fruits and results of this meeting, they\u2019ll approach us and together we\u2019ll seek solutions. People have more trust in us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopes said URTNA needs to move away from handouts and over-reliance on state funding and instead move towards financial sustainability through activities such as selling services as well as a complete change of mentality.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody ever lives on handouts,\u201d said Lopes, who favours an organisation made up of regional blocs, modelled on the AU and NEPAD.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the AU or NEPAD model, there\u2019s an emphasis on regional organisations,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cwe don\u2019t need to have a big organisation that has the pretension of being in charge of everything. But we want to promote the creation of regional organisations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Southern African broadcasters have already followed this example through the Southern African Broadcasting Association (SABA). Lopes hoped that the experience could be replicated throughout all regional blocs in Africa.<\/p>\n

Fundamental to URTNA\u2019s success is the establishment of an African channel, a project that requires a satellite. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough to have a channel without a satellite,\u201d said Lopes.<\/p>\n

The project for the acquisition of a satellite has already been submitted to the NEPAD secretariat for fund-raising.<\/p>\n

The incoming chairperson, Eddie Iroh, chief executive of Radio Nigeria, agreed that the organisation needed a complete overhaul to start doing things differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve not maximised our opportunities and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll seek to do in the next two years,\u201d said the Nigerian broadcaster.<\/p>\n

He said he is going to utilise the Nigerian presidency of the AU. \u201cAt least I can walk over to our president [Olusegun Obasanjo] and make an appointment and say, listen, this is URTNA, this is our programme, this is our objective, \u2026 this is our vision. How can we be on the agenda of the AU?\u201d<\/p>\n

Iroh warned that there is no development without information, since \u201cdevelopment is not development unless the people know how it can touch their lives. You mobilise their enthusiasm, you can only do that through the media, through public information.\u201d (SARDC)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Bayano Valy – SANF 04 no 90 African public broadcasters have vowed to reinvigorate the Union of National Radio and Television Organizations of Africa (URTNA), despite recent setbacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-southern-african-news-features"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sanf.gif?fit=147%2C144&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4h5b0-QQ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3298,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions\/3298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}