By Oliver Modi
The World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) in collaboration with Women in News (WIN-IFRA) and Aga Khan University organized a three days conference in Nairobi.
Focusing on accelerating digital transformation for African News Publishers, securing and growing digital revenue, the conference on September 17-19 aimed at addressing challenges and opportunities in digital revenue generation. It also explored the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in African newsrooms to improve effective media productions and publications using the new digital technology.
The conference further covered strategies for engaging young audience, building public trust through inclusive leadership and navigating the involving advertising landscape.
In his closing remarks, the President of African Editors’ Forum in Kenya, Churchill Otieno appreciated the efforts of WAN-IFRA and partners to make a successful DMA Conference 2024 in Nairobi.
He encouraged participants to be effective and contribute their experiences and lessons learned from their individual institutions, sharing it with colleagues from other African States.
“The struggles of media businesses today are not just a concern for those of us in the profession, these struggles are a societal problem. When we as media professionals falter, people’s lives are impacted, trust is eroded, and the cohesion of our communities begins to unravel. Said Otieno. He Continue to say, at the Africa Editors Forum (TAEF), they are acutely aware of the challenges that come with running news businesses in this era.
Otieno noted that disruptions that journalists face are deep and unprecedented, but they also know that standing still is not an option and that they must plot an innovative path forward which will be defined in four ways: That journalists need to recalibrate how media is regulated; address the challenge of media sustainability; must stop the theft of our intellectual property and that news organizations must invest in research and development (R&D).
The Strategic Advisor and Author, Member of WAN-IFRA Expert Panel, Lyndsey Jones said “innovative solutions for today’s media” is the theme for the conference this year 2024.
She said the conference was designed in a way that through this theme, it will address journalists and media issues in Africa from various angles that include: the organization of media groups, the adoption of new technology, the evolution of revenue models, as well and the need to support the fundamental missions of news media.
The Deputy Executive Director and Director Africa Region, Jane Gordia explained that the purpose conference is to help media institutions operate with professionalism as the newsroom system and operations are changing to digital where AI is taking an elephant shape in production of news, ads and programs in the newsrooms.
“This event comes at a particular challenging moment for the continent’s newspapers publishers,” Gordia said
Director of Media Council of Kenya, media Training and Development, Victor Bwire said they are aware of the challenges journalists are facing in today’s changing digital world.
According to him, introduction of AI system in the newsrooms has reduced the workload of journalists and editors for a quick production and publication.
Bwire said that as this technology is adopted in the newsrooms, the Media houses management and journalists must not move away from their principles of journalism.
“This technology is just supplementing what is supposed to be done in two hours, it can be done in minutes”. Said Bwire.
He argued journalists and editors not to take this opportunity of the new technology to promote plagiarism but to keep in their traditional way of getting news from the sources.
Bwire said the KMC is working out some guiding rules of how journalists can safely work in the digital era.
He therefore, advice journalists to take the knowledge from the DMA Conference serious and put it in practices in their individual newsrooms.