In an unprecedented move a few dozen bloggers lead by Sipho Hlongwane have posted a message condemning Floyd Shivambu’s alleged intimidation of journalists. Here’s the rolling blog: Last week, shocking revelations concerning the activities of the ANC Youth League spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu came to the fore. According to a letter published in various news outlets, a complaint was laid by 19 political journalists with the Secretary General of the ANC, against Shivambu. This complaint letter detailed attempts by Shivambu to leak a dossier to certain journalists, purporting to expose the money laundering practices of Dumisani Lubisi, a journalist at the City Press. The letter also detailed the intimidation that followed when these journalists refused to publish these revelations.[ Read more http://fesmedia.org/african-media-news/detail/datum/2010/03/24/-651043ccb3/ ]

Media freedom is not only a fundamental right but also a basic necessity for a multi-party democracy to thrive and blossom. President Robert Mugabe was dead right last Thursday when he told editors from various stables of the need for an open media if the inalienable right to a free press is to be upheld. Mugabe’s words on the media should now be put into action as a matter of urgency to exhibit his government’s sincerity on reforms and to build a nation whose foundation is copper-bottomed in an unfettered press.

The first step is for the newly constituted Zimbabwe Media Commission to immediately set up shop. It needs to have a secretariat and start issuing newspaper licences to applicants who have waited patiently to launch new media houses. The country’s electronic media has been dominated by the publicly-owned, but state-controlled, ZBC since Independence and it’s now time that the monopoly came to an end.   [read more]

On March 19 and 20, the Nation Media Group and the Africa Media Initiative will hold easily the most high profile African media conference ever witnessed on this fair continent (http://panafricamedia2010kenya.com). The conference will be one of the events to mark Nation Media Group’s 50th anniversary.What interests us is the conference theme: “Media And The Africa Promise: Reflections On The Past, Present, And Prospects For The Future”. How will the media in Kenya, or the wider Africa, look like by 2020?

One place to begin finding answers is the Internet edition of the Daily Nation (www.nation.co.ke). The Nation website is the most read news and current affairs site in eastern Africa, and when I last checked, the seventh highest ranked in that category in Africa.

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Only 24% of persons seen, heard, or read about in the news are female. This is one of the key findings of the 2010 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP). The preliminary report is being released on 2 March 2010 at a panel discussion and debate on the occasion of the 54th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. 10 November 2009 was an ordinary day at work for newsroom staff around the world. It was, however, a special day for volunteer groups in 130 countries across the world who were poring over their national newspapers, listening intently to radio newscasts and closely watching local television. Pencils and coding grids in hand, their objective was to observe, analyze and record their findings on selected indicators of gender in the news for the Global Media Monitoring Project - the world's largest research and action initiative on gender in the news media. The project's overarching purpose is to bring about fair and balanced gender representation in and through the news media.   [Read more  on fesmedia.org/statements-and-reports/detail/datum/2010/03/02/who-makes-the-news-2010-global-media-monitoring-project-preliminary-report-2/]