Reflections on Highway Africa

We have just come out of the 20th edition of the Highway Africa conference where 315 delegates from 28 countries assembled in Grahamstown to discuss the past, present and the future of journalism and the media.

Our theme was appropriately titled The Internet and the Media – celebrations, reflections and the future. We, of course, sought to celebrate the fact that the internet as a central organising technology of our societies had enabled several positive developments. One such result is the sheer plethora of information online – all available at a click of the button – a boon for journalists and citizens alike.

The other result has been the ability of people who would not ordinarily call themselves journalists committing acts of journalism – think of those who have captured on video certain moments that have made us all reflect on social issues in our society.

If on one hand we celebrated the birth and wider adoption of the internet, we also paused to reflect. If in 1997 the internet was a stranger to journalists, in 2016 this technology has moved to the centre of our journalism. It has caused havoc to our media business models as readers and advertisers move online and we struggle to find the Holy Grail of the models that will sustain our production of good journalism and also ensure our media organisations survive and thrive.

To complete the theme, we also looked at the future and wondered what internetrelated developments we needed to watch out for. For media publishers and journal- ists it was the realisation that journalism remained relevant and needed to be rescued from business imperatives. For many the argument was that journalism is a public good located in a media business. Journalism still needed to play the “activism” role and not be reduced to generating “eyeballs” only. Moreover, journalists still played a key role in terms of provision of news and information that citizens required to exercise their rights – whether this is related to voting in an election or holding those in power accountable.

Whilst grappling with the sustainability issue, media professionals and activists also acknowledged the threats posed by governments across Africa as they seek to regulate access and conversations on the internet.

A recent phenomenon in countries like Uganda and Zimbabwe is the closing of social media platforms like Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook during elections and protests. So where we had imagined the cyberspace as a sphere that expands freedom of expression, state and private actors are beginning to use the new tools to censor alternative opinions.

Our 20th edition of the Highway Africa conference was then a veritable feast of keynote addresses, panel discussions, training workshops and networking events. The presence of South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) via both radio and television meant that our deliberations were part of a national conversation.

Rhodes University and the School of Journalism and Media Studies should justifiably be proud to be hosts of Africa’s largest annual gathering of journalists.

• Chris Kabwato is the Director of Highway Africa, School of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University