22 October 2003
‘Journalism is about more than just creating awareness’
Whether they report on a corruption scandal or a soccer match, journalists in southern Africa have got a vital part to play. Their work, in the view of the Southern Africa Media Trust (NSJ), should support democratisation. Since its inception, ten years ago, NSJ has trained no less than two thousand journalists.
22 October 2003
Internet: Blessing or Curse?
Internet: curse or blessing? This was the question highlighted in a debate on the role of the Internet in southern Africa, held in Felix Meritis, Amsterdam, on 26 September 2003 as part of NiZA’s Living Yearbook Southern Africa. For lack of disagreement among the speakers a sparkling debate failed to arise.
22 October 2003
"Fighting against AIDS is fighting against bureaucracy"
‘Actually, life is a beautiful thing’. This is the motto of South African filmmaker Don Edkins, initiator of Steps for the Future, a large collection of video films on HIV/AIDS in southern Africa. Last September Edkins was NiZA’s guest at the Living Yearbook.
22 October 2003
Angolan media and civil society eye to eye
Angola is presently facing a transition. Several of the issues that will be of fundamental relevance in the country’s future are presently being defined and decided upon without the public opinion being aware or part of it. Last month NIZA, the Peace Research Centre (Madrid) and the Peace Studies Group (University of Coimbra) held a training seminar for journalists and NGO’s officials in Luanda.
22 October 2003
ALL RISE! The people of Zimbabwe are standing to speak
"The analogy is that if you were sentenced to death, you would have to hang first and then appeal to the court afterwards". This was the response of Gugulethu Moyo, the legal advisor of the Daily News, after the High Court in Zimbabwe ruled that the newspaper could not challenge the constitutional validity of one of its notorious media laws, before obeying the law first.
22 October 2003
Community traditions in peace building
The function of music as a message vehicle is ancient in Africa. The example of drums communicating from village to village in the past is one of the most known in the West. Today, the musical traditions in the rural areas are an element of unity in torn Angola. They convey messages of tolerance and represent a potential for developing a media model at grass roots level. An introduction to Tsikaya.
22 October 2003
Daily News interim editor Saidi: No fear
"Democracy in Zimbabwe has been dealt a heavy blow," observed William Saidi. The Daily News is the country’s largest independent newspaper, and Saidi is its editor ad interim – or, he was. He is out of work since the police raided the newspaper’s head office in Harare and sealed the editorial office on 12 September. Nevertheless Saidi has kept his good spirits.
22 October 2003
Zapiro: Quiet Diplomacy
1 October 2003
