The Newsroom

A24

Doing what Al Jazeera did to the Middle East for Africa (November 2007)

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SN
SN2005
The following article is taken from media Guardian and is by Cris Cramer.

Quote:
The growth of 24-hour news channels across the world is accelerating at a staggering rate when you consider that only a few years ago the genre was dominated by CNN and the BBC. Russia, France and the Arabic world, through al-Jazeera, now have their own take on the world. If you add news and social networking websites then there is no shortage of global information out there.

But there is one yawning gap in this scenario - Africa. A continent of 53 nations and 10% of the world's population, yet it has no television news service to call its own. It relies on others to tell its story and that is frequently dictated by the latest outbreak of war, natural disaster or government strife, all helping to reinforce the notion that Africa is nothing but a basket case.

A new channel, A24, plans to change all that, mostly through the efforts of Salim Amin, the son of the late Mohamed Amin, a Kenyan cameraman best known for his coverage of the 1984 famine in Ethiopia, when he teamed up with the BBC's Michael Buerk to show the world the extent of that country's suffering, which lead to Live Aid and a huge global charity appeal.

Amin has been working with a handful of other journalists to raise the funds for Africa's first independent news channel. For years, a news channel has been beyond the reach of any media organisation in Africa. Now, however, satellite and coverage costs, through new technology and the internet, make A24 a dream within reach. An announcement that the venture is ready to start is expected shortly.

The channel will offer breaking news, analysis and a platform for sharing ideas between Africans from across the continent and beyond. It will use a range of distribution methods including streaming on the internet and mobile phones. Africa is enjoying an explosion of mobile usage and the channel bosses plan to encourage its audience to send user-generated content to its Nairobi headquarters.

Eventually, A24 will run 46 news bureaux across the continent. As well as reporting the big stories, they will focus on areas that all too often fail to make the news elsewhere. Subjects such as business and economic growth, politics and governance, and healthcare and culture. A24 will cover both the uplifting as well as the depressing news from Africa.

The channel will be editorially independent and plans to train its own journalists through the A24 Foundation with the help of Norway's Gimlekollen School of Journalism. The foundation will coordinate this training in cooperation with universities and institutes in South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya as well as major TV news agencies.

A24 is in discussion with a wide range of international broadcasters and partners about content-sharing, distribution and support, and the channel's two founders, Amin and managing director Daniel Rivkin, plan to roll the channel out both online and on television during next year. "A24 will make a difference because it will create a new kind of voice," says Amin. "It will be truly African, beyond local politics and beyond prejudices."

· The writer is editorial advisory board chairman of A24 and a former managing director of CNN International


So what do you think of that then?
CL
cldsleyon
SN2005 posted:
The following article is taken from media Guardian and is by Cris Cramer.

Quote:
The growth of 24-hour news channels across the world is accelerating at a staggering rate when you consider that only a few years ago the genre was dominated by CNN and the BBC. Russia, France and the Arabic world, through al-Jazeera, now have their own take on the world. If you add news and social networking websites then there is no shortage of global information out there.

But there is one yawning gap in this scenario - Africa. A continent of 53 nations and 10% of the world's population, yet it has no television news service to call its own. It relies on others to tell its story and that is frequently dictated by the latest outbreak of war, natural disaster or government strife, all helping to reinforce the notion that Africa is nothing but a basket case.

A new channel, A24, plans to change all that, mostly through the efforts of Salim Amin, the son of the late Mohamed Amin, a Kenyan cameraman best known for his coverage of the 1984 famine in Ethiopia, when he teamed up with the BBC's Michael Buerk to show the world the extent of that country's suffering, which lead to Live Aid and a huge global charity appeal.

Amin has been working with a handful of other journalists to raise the funds for Africa's first independent news channel. For years, a news channel has been beyond the reach of any media organisation in Africa. Now, however, satellite and coverage costs, through new technology and the internet, make A24 a dream within reach. An announcement that the venture is ready to start is expected shortly.

The channel will offer breaking news, analysis and a platform for sharing ideas between Africans from across the continent and beyond. It will use a range of distribution methods including streaming on the internet and mobile phones. Africa is enjoying an explosion of mobile usage and the channel bosses plan to encourage its audience to send user-generated content to its Nairobi headquarters.

Eventually, A24 will run 46 news bureaux across the continent. As well as reporting the big stories, they will focus on areas that all too often fail to make the news elsewhere. Subjects such as business and economic growth, politics and governance, and healthcare and culture. A24 will cover both the uplifting as well as the depressing news from Africa.

The channel will be editorially independent and plans to train its own journalists through the A24 Foundation with the help of Norway's Gimlekollen School of Journalism. The foundation will coordinate this training in cooperation with universities and institutes in South Africa, Ethiopia and Kenya as well as major TV news agencies.

A24 is in discussion with a wide range of international broadcasters and partners about content-sharing, distribution and support, and the channel's two founders, Amin and managing director Daniel Rivkin, plan to roll the channel out both online and on television during next year. "A24 will make a difference because it will create a new kind of voice," says Amin. "It will be truly African, beyond local politics and beyond prejudices."

· The writer is editorial advisory board chairman of A24 and a former managing director of CNN International


So what do you think of that then?


I am so glad they are doing it. As an African, I applaud the courage, and the vision to start something that is about Africa, coming form Africa, and intended for Africans around the world, that wants unbaised news from their homelands without it being approved by london, and Atlanta editors. Technology and access have improved so much over the years. It doesn't hurt that it is private.
There is so much more to Africa. with culture, arts, entertianment and diversity that the Western media refuses to covered. When I was in Liberia(my country) we lived a comfortable life and most of those that could afford sattelite, a lot of people do own satelites. They will watch the big name channels and people will say another story again. People are very loyal to the big name channels in Africa and when This A24 comes along people will find a new medium other then the big international news channel. I hope it will do for Africa what Al J azzera did for the Middle East without being controversal but independent.
JO
Joe
I heard about this on the Media Talk podcast, and I think, as they said, it will be to get African coverage on African issues.
IS
Inspector Sands
cldsleyon posted:
I hope it will do for Africa what Al J azzera did for the Middle East without being controversal but independent.


Independence often causes controversy though. As happened with the original Al Jazeera, the main reason it shook so many feathers is because it was independent in a part of the world where the media wasn't. A24 will only make an impact if it takes the sort of line that AJ did, and if Salim is anything like his father it might well do!

Incidently Al Jazeera English's coverage of Africa has been far superior to any other international news channel, IIRC they are one of the few broadcasters to have access to Zimbabwe

(as far as I can see) It doesn't mention in the article which language the channel will be in, I wonder how they'll deal with that
TI
timgraham
[quote="Inspector Sands"]
cldsleyon posted:
Incidently Al Jazeera English's coverage of Africa has been far superior to any other international news channel, IIRC they are one of the few broadcasters to have access to Zimbabwe
Mugabe has banned access for all Western media organisations which makes it quite handy for them

A24 I can only see as being a good thing, especially if they can make it available in lots of places.
CO
cortomaltese
Should we expect a multi-language channel rather than an English speaking one? I think French, Portuguese and some local languages should be vital for the channel to be understood by the majority of the African people.
IS
Inspector Sands
timgraham posted:

A24 I can only see as being a good thing, especially if they can make it available in lots of places.


Hopefully it will be available in the UK, sounds like it might be a while till it launches though

55 days later

SN
SN2005
Sorry to bump this ol' girl but new details...

- Was supposed to launch in 2007. It didn't.
- Majority of funding has now been secured. Alliance with a Nigerian broadcaster could secure the remainder.
- 50 small bureaus around the continent equipment with locally trained journos.
- 6hrs of live news a day to begin.
- Programs in english and in french.
MA
themagicmonkey
Whilst it sounds like a fascinating project it's not as if Africa's as ignored as it's made out to be. Those of us who are interested/have a connected or both have places to go already - the BBC has a surprising range of correspondents across the continent which the WS uses.
NG
noggin Founding member
themagicmonkey posted:
Whilst it sounds like a fascinating project it's not as if Africa's as ignored as it's made out to be. Those of us who are interested/have a connected or both have places to go already - the BBC has a surprising range of correspondents across the continent which the WS uses.


Yes - and I believe that the BBC World Service Africa service now has studios from which it broadcasts in Abuja? Full studios that are used to make programmes from within the region it is broadcasting to.
NG
noggin Founding member
Inspector Sands posted:
cldsleyon posted:
I hope it will do for Africa what Al J azzera did for the Middle East without being controversal but independent.


Independence often causes controversy though. As happened with the original Al Jazeera, the main reason it shook so many feathers is because it was independent in a part of the world where the media wasn't.

Yes - totally agree. Many people have an unfairly slanted view of Al Jazeera (particularly in the US) - where they see it as some broadcast arm of Al Qaeda, whereas in fact it was one of the first independent broadcasters in the region and shook up a previously very controlled media landscape.

(No coincidence that a lot of the launch journalists were refugees from the axed BBC World Arabic TV service that was forced to close when the broadcast platform it was on started to try and exert editorial control over the BBC, though some argue this was itself caused by mistakes at the BBC)

Quote:

A24 will only make an impact if it takes the sort of line that AJ did, and if Salim is anything like his father it might well do!

Incidently Al Jazeera English's coverage of Africa has been far superior to any other international news channel, IIRC they are one of the few broadcasters to have access to Zimbabwe

Yes - AJE has done some refreshingly in depth coverage from Africa, and often headlines stories from the continent that don't make it onto other bulletins.

However I don't think being one of the few broadcasters authorised to report from within Zimbabwe is a particular badge of honour - Mugabe has chucked out all Western broadcast media AIUI. The BBC do their best to cover Zimbabwe from South Africa - and must be annoying Mugabe by continuing to report on the situation and get pictures and reporting out of the country...

The BBC have also done pretty well in their coverage of Kenya - in comparison to other UK broadcasters.

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