CRI听力: Pan-Africa Media Conference Discusses the Africa Promise

The media in Africa is tasked with telling the rest of the world the story of the continent. For a period of at least 50 years, during which many African countries attained independence, the media has been at the forefront of reporting on the economic, political and social progress of Africa.

A Pan-Africa Media Conference is currently underway in Nairobi with the theme of "Media and the Africa Promise." Our Nairobi correspondent Wei Tong has the report.

The Pan-Africa Media Conference is hosted by the Africa Media Initiative and the local media organization Nation Media Group, which reflects on the African media's past, present and future against the challenges of a dynamic globalizing environment.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki officially opened the conference with broad acknowledgement of its theme, saying African media serve as communication channels for the general public.

"The growth of the media is a good positive indicator for our nation. It calls for the need for objectivity to remain a key pillar of journalism. The media must always be guided by the notion of public good for in many ways you hold the communication channels as custodians of the general public. It is to this public that you owe the need to pass on information that will help shape societies of informed and responsible individuals capable of making rational decisions."

The number of radio and TV stations has grown greatly in many African countries, leading to an expanded responsibility for communicating with the rest of the world. In 1964 there were 120 newspapers in Africa, and that number has grown to the current 386.

Amadou Mahtar, the chief executive officer of the Africa Media Initiative, is calling on the media to help Africa claim the 21st century.

"We all know that Africa can claim the 21st century, but Africa will do that if only its children reflect on the past to learn from it and be guided by today's realities with the firm desire to buld a common vision on how to chart the course for a successful tomorrow. The African media have to be at the vanguard of this process."

As African economies continue to grow, the fruitful cooperation between Africa and China is worth noting. Tanzania's retired president, Benjamin Mkapa, says the time has come for the African media to report on the productive achievements of the cooperation between China and Africa, and avoid negative reports about the friendship between the two sides.

"Tell the proper parameters and areas of cooperation and commerce between China and China. Secondly, disabuse our people of the fragrantly biased propaganda of the Western media about the intentions of China in Africa. If you do these things, you will have done a lot to salvage Africa's positions."

Leaders attending this conference are calling upon African media to avoid the temptation to be Afro-pessimists who think nothing good can come out of Africa, and instead report more about agricultural and social progress.

The Nation Media Group founder Aga Khan says the media should guard against partisan agendas and perform their roles so as to nurture young democracies on the continent.

"Information flows more quickly over longer distances at low cost than ever before, but sometimes more information can also mean more misinformation, more confusion, more manipulation, more superficial snapshots of events lacking news, lacking context or hiding agendas. Tribalism, gangsterism, corruption and religious intolerance are horrible forces with which the media in Africa must sometimes face. We should be increasingly vigilant about protecting and improving our media environment."

Aga Khan says Africa has the capacity to utilize the new technologies for the good of the continent.

Wei Tong, CRI News, Nairobi, Kenya.