THE 12TH HIGHWAY AFRICA CONFERENCE IS HERE TO COME:

A MAJOR continental conference on the new media facilities and communication issues for journalists in Africa is here to come. It’s called Highway Africa Conference which is going on its twelfth year of growth and achievement later in September this year in a small historic town of Grahamstown in South Africa. The place has been a traditional venue of this important African journalists’ gathering since its first conference held in 1997. The conference facilitates the move in bridging African media communication gap and African journalism and ICTs. The maiden conference started with only 67 delegates who participated and now, as per the last year’s gathering, this number has increased over ten times almost to 701 delegates. This shows that, its vision has given rise to the development concept of the forum. This year’s slogan “Citizen Journalism, journalism for citizens” will focus on the emergence of citizen journalism. Through formal presentations, participants will address the goals of journalism in society and how citizen journalism fits within those goals. Stakeholders will discuss issues related to the problems affecting the development of modern communication and new media facilities such as the internet, mobile phones, radios, TVs and their uses as they are applied in the African media industry. The occasion is to comprehensively inform and educate African journalists about pivotal issues and how the media practice is a major factor in finding innovative ways to bridge the digital divide plus the growing gap between countries that have access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

The administration block of Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. The department of Journalism and Media Studies at the University has been hosting an annual ICT meeting for African journalists across African continent in every September since 1997.

This is an annual event that is organized by the department of Journalism and Media Studies of Rhodes University located in Grahamstown and co-hosted by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). Its main objective is to shape an African information society within the global economy. The conference offers training on how to better cover issues related to technology, and also how to better use technology in their reporting. The event also helps African journalists’ network with their colleagues from across the continent share experiences. Apart from training, there are also a number of side events that takes place alongside such as book launches, exhibitions, presenting annual awards to news media, individuals and companies that use technology in creative and innovative ways. Since its inception, the growth of new media facilities among African journalists has more than doubled. Communication between journalists on the continent has increased substantially and each country in Africa is now online. The conference has been adopting various themes in a bid to highlight the importance of the ICTs use and other developmental aspects of it especially for the rural community development as a whole, particularly with regards to harnessing new technologies as well as the crucial role that new media has played in democracy and development. One of the focal points to note on the conference’s strategies is the plan to strengthen the communication technology revolution to all humanity by connecting developing countries with technology boosting internet security. Being an annual conference, it has been promoting awareness within the African media context through seminars and workshops over the use of the ICTs. Its roles in the last twelve years has proved valuable to the furtherance of communication on the continent’s information society. Today the new media in Africa stands at the foothills of an exciting new era. With a great demand for the innovation and advancement of information technologies and telecommunications throughout the world, it has an exciting future to look forward to.

A cross section of delegates during the official opening of the past meeting session of the Highway Africa Conference, this is at Eden Grove Red conference hall.

In 2003, the conference with the help of the Dept of Journalism and Media studies of the Rhodes University formed a news agency which to a greater extent has played a significant role in mainstreaming the media in terms of information giving though its website www.highwayafrica.ac.za/hana In practice, the agency has helped to develop the requisite knowledge attitudes and practices in the African media. It has clarified and highlighted issues faced by African journalists and the role it plays in extreme coverage of the events for a range of ICTs for the media and for the African audience. In recent years, the agency actively participated in the two phase of the global information summit in Geneva (2003) and in Tunis (2005) respectively. It has drawn a number of African journalists who makes a significant contribution of the ICT stories to the African audience. Professor Guy Berger who is the principal architect of the Highway Africa forum, is also the head of the School of Journalism & Media Studies at Rhodes University. He founded the new media lab in 1996, which in turn gave rise to Highway Africa project.

Professor Guy Berger, Head of the dept of Journalism and Media Studies of Rhodes University.

According to him, the mission and vision of this important conference is to have a vibrant and growing network of African journalists empowered to advance democracy and development through their understanding and use of appropriate technologies. The main functions of the conference are to sensitize African journalists about the role of information and communications technology in society and the media, to train journalists and journalism teachers in understanding and using technology to access, generate and distribute information. To build a network of journalists, and to link this with key stakeholders (academics, policy makers, civil society etc). Advocacy for a media and technology environment which enables journalists to play their full role in democracy and development. To research the use and impact of the ICTs in Africa with particular reference to the media, and lastly to publish and disseminate research and information across a range of platforms. Highway Africa in 1997 had a two fold objectives to show African journalism what is possible on the internet and secondly to empower delegates with skills to make the most of the new medium. The conference has been adopting various slogans since it started with the fist slogan “New media 2000” reflected what new technology the new millennium would bring through the year 2000 by then seemed too far away. In 1998, the slogan “Bringing the Highway South” was a forerunner to the need to bridge the digital divide. The main focus of the conference was on using the internet as a research tool and as a means of empowering. “Internet Media and Democracy” the slogan for 1999 suggested that new media has a responsibility beyond bedazzling users with clever tricks. There was broad agreement that technology has a role to play in promoting and safeguarding democracy. At the Highway Africa conference in 2000, the years was hailed as the dawn of “Africa’s new media century” as delegates debated the role of African media in the global information society, online African content and community media online. In that year, journalists and students put together a newsroom of the future as an experimental exercise in covering the conference itself. The year 2000 also saw the first live broadcast of the conference’s awards for the innovative use of new media technology. In 2001, Highway Africa was about “Digital Renaissance” where participants aimed to go beyond the wired internet and to explore content on wireless devices such as cell phones. Day five of the conference was described as on the move. African journalism in the cellular age. The conference coincided with the September 11th terrorist attacks on the USA twin towers trade centers, the incident claimed lives of more than 5,000 innocent people. But the tragic events of New York and Washington did not detract from the success of the conference.

A photograph depicting a thick black smoke billowing over the skies from a twin tower building of the World Trade Center after a terrorist attack that involved a plane crash in New York city. The two buildings were completely destroyed and reduced to ashes killing an estimated 5,000 innocent people that morning of the 11th September 2001.

Highway Africa moved out of its traditional home of Grahamstown for the first time in 2002 to coincide with the hosting of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, even the slogan “Wiring journalism for sustainable development” was designed to mesh with the aims and objectives of the high profile summit. Preparing African journalism for the world summit on the information society (WSIS) was the principal focus of the conference in 2003 with the slogan “Mainstreaming media in the information society”. Delegates in Grahamstown meeting understood that Africans would learn about this vital important conference through the eyes and ears of first world journalists. All stories about the regulation and structuring of information and communication technologies would be interpreted from European and American perspectives. It was out of this concern that Highway Africa News Agency (HANA) was conceived and a new force covering ICTs for Africans made its mark. The agency covered the final prepcom for the first phase of the summit in Geneva and eventually the summit itself in December of that year. HANA has since reported on several conferences in Europe, Asia and Africa during the second phase of WSIS in Tunis, Tunisia. In 2004 the conference slogan was “Media making the Information Society” a notion that resonated with the objectives of news organizations throughout the continent. Having reached a degree of maturity, it was then possible for Highway Africa Director, Mr. Chris Kabwato to say “ it has now been confirmed beyond doubt that Highway Africa is the undisputed premier annual gathering at the continent’s journalists”.

Mr. Chris Kabwato, the Director of Highway Africa Conference.

In 2005 was the ninth edition of Highway Africa focused delegates on “Reinforcing journalism in the information society”. The trend continued within the conference to place an emphasis on journalism and give less importance to the technology as delegates debated the meaning of African journalism. The tenth Highway Africa conference in 2006 with the slogan “Celebrations, Reflections and future Directions” had much to celebrate and even more to reflect on as its various stakeholders took decisions on future directions Generally speaking, the conference is the best example of great hope for Africa and the media in a bid to highlight the importance of the ICTs use and other developmental aspects of it especially for the rural community development as a whole, particularly with regards to harnessing new technologies as well as the crucial role that new media has played in democracy and development.