Thursday, February 03, 2005
Highway Africa News Agency comes to Accra
By Gervais J. Henrie
ICT issues are not just for the elites or new audiences from the First World, according to Highway Africa News Agency’s (HANA) editor Steve Lang.
It was this simple realisation that led to the creation of Africa’s first multi-media news agency specialising in information and communication technology issues (ICTs).
‘There was a need to build a core group of IT journalists, to promote awareness of IT issues in Africa,’ says Lang.
In the first sixteen months of its existence HANA has been present at all major international ICT conferences dealing with issues affecting Africa.
‘This is one of HANA’s failings,’ admitted Lang. ‘We have been a predominantly conference-based reporting agency.’
Born during the World Summit of Information Society (WSIS) process, HANA has covered major conferences in Geneva, Tunis, Cairo, Marrakech, Cape Town and now Accra, continuing the agency’s focus on ICT issues for Africa.
‘We have the responsibility of highlighting the African perspectives to this global debate,’ says Brenda Zulu, a freelance journalist from Zambia, who is here with HANA.
Since its formation in Grahamstown, South Africa in 2003, HANA has been primarily an East and Southern African based news agency.
To HANA’s editor, the way forward now is to break new ground by looking at issues on a wider stage.
The HANA team at Accra 2005 is made up of fifteen journalists from the Seychelles to Senegal and from Ethiopia to Mali. ‘This is compared to only two during our first assignment in Geneva in 2003. More nationalities means different backgrounds to the issues,’ remarks Lang.
Breaking new ground also means publishing French articles in the conference newspaper, giving HANA a broader legitimacy, amongst the Franco-africain.
HANA’s director Chris Kabwato explains that although there are no ICT specialists in the news team, the members are enthusiastic about reporting technical issues to mainstream African audiences.
‘This way Africa is actively involved and benefiting from the information society process,’ he says.
ICT issues are not just for the elites or new audiences from the First World, according to Highway Africa News Agency’s (HANA) editor Steve Lang.
It was this simple realisation that led to the creation of Africa’s first multi-media news agency specialising in information and communication technology issues (ICTs).
‘There was a need to build a core group of IT journalists, to promote awareness of IT issues in Africa,’ says Lang.
In the first sixteen months of its existence HANA has been present at all major international ICT conferences dealing with issues affecting Africa.
‘This is one of HANA’s failings,’ admitted Lang. ‘We have been a predominantly conference-based reporting agency.’
Born during the World Summit of Information Society (WSIS) process, HANA has covered major conferences in Geneva, Tunis, Cairo, Marrakech, Cape Town and now Accra, continuing the agency’s focus on ICT issues for Africa.
‘We have the responsibility of highlighting the African perspectives to this global debate,’ says Brenda Zulu, a freelance journalist from Zambia, who is here with HANA.
Since its formation in Grahamstown, South Africa in 2003, HANA has been primarily an East and Southern African based news agency.
To HANA’s editor, the way forward now is to break new ground by looking at issues on a wider stage.
The HANA team at Accra 2005 is made up of fifteen journalists from the Seychelles to Senegal and from Ethiopia to Mali. ‘This is compared to only two during our first assignment in Geneva in 2003. More nationalities means different backgrounds to the issues,’ remarks Lang.
Breaking new ground also means publishing French articles in the conference newspaper, giving HANA a broader legitimacy, amongst the Franco-africain.
HANA’s director Chris Kabwato explains that although there are no ICT specialists in the news team, the members are enthusiastic about reporting technical issues to mainstream African audiences.
‘This way Africa is actively involved and benefiting from the information society process,’ he says.
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