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Networking African Journalism Educators: Bonding, Bridging, and Linking

Guy Berger

Global Media Journal - African Edition, volume 5, issue 1 (2011), 23 pp.

"Professional networking of African journalism educators is a complex matter for reasons related to the fragmentary identity and fragile resource base of this constituency. African journalism educators thus share many characteristics which ironically dilute the sense of a clear and common identity t ... more

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What it Means to Work Toward "Excellence" in African Journalism Education

Guy Berger

In: Journalism Education, Training and Employment

Bob Franklin; Donica Mensing (eds.)

New York; London: Routledge (2011), pp. 33-47

"This chapter sets out the history, process, and experience of an attempt to identify potential centers of excellence in journalism education in Africa. The methodology drew from journalism education systems in the United States, the United Kingdom and a number of French speaking countries, but also ... more

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Journalism Education, Training and Employment

Bob Franklin, Donica Mensing (eds.)

New York; London: Routledge (2011), xii, 236 pp.

"During this period of rapid and significant change in journalistic practices, journalism educators are re-examining their own profession and contributing to the invention of new models and practices. This edited volume of studies by respected international scholars describes the diverse issues jour ... more

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Challenges and Perspectives of Digital Migration for African Media

Guy Berger

Dakar: Panos West Africa (2010), 97 pp.

"This booklet sets out the issues involved in digital transformation in broadcast media from the viewpoint of African media stakeholders and, especially, community radio stations. It aims to correct widespread misconceptions that analogue radio will have to be switched off in the next five years as ... more

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Problematizing 'media Development' as a Bandwagon Gets Rolling
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Guy Berger

International Communication Gazette, volume 72, issue 7 (2010), pp. 547-565

"International initiatives have gained momentum around analysing ‘media development’ — a notion related to, but generally distinct from, media’s contribution to ‘development’. The focus on the ‘development’ of media is conventionally (although not logically) about international inter ... more

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Beyond Broadcasting: The Future of State-Owned Broadcasters in Southern Africa

Guy Berger

Fackson Banda; Jane Duncan; Rashweat Mukundu; Zenaida Machado (contrib.)

Grahamstown: Highway Africa, School of Journalism & Media Studies, Rhodes University;Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) (2009), 65 pp.

"Digital communications technology does many new things. Its spread means that it is no longer a case of a tiny minority of professionals and politicians having a monopoly on mass communication. Implicit in the observations of this report, is the recognition that - amongst other things - digitisatio ... n also disrupts old boundaries between inter-personal and mass communication. What used to be the subject of, or product of, communication between a few individuals, can increasingly be put into the public sphere. Much of this content remains personal in quality, despite it being public in availability. But there is also much that is of public interest. In some ways, this therefore threatens those institutions supposed to be specialising in public interest information. In other ways, it can help them not only reinforce this mission, but to also take a step towards expanding their role into becoming wider public interest content and commun-ications agencies. They can, in short, be the motive force that pulls personal conversations into focussing on journalism that is of common public interest. That image of leading the transformation of mass communication is, however, just one of the scenarios outlined in this report. The others point to lesser roles, even including extinction. It should be noted that scenarios are not predictions of the future, but attempts to highlight a range of possible options. They help guide action in one or other direction. The complication is that digitisation and all that comes with it can deal a surprise to even the best-considered scenario possibilities. Who would have thought that a search engine company (Google) could become such an effective player in the advertising arena? Or that newspaper newsrooms would start hiring video-capable staffers, or that some cell-phone companies would move into distributing content? Could anyone have guessed that a company like Twitter could attract and burn millions of dollars of investment without even a proper business plan about how it intends to make money? The digital revolution, if it is to succeed, needs to have top quality cadres in the newsrooms. In the face of these kinds of developments, it is tempting to throw up one’s hands and take a come-what-may approach. That’s preferable to the illusion of controlling and managing the process. At the same time, between these two extremes of paralysis and over-planning, there is a broad direction that can be identified and pursued. We may not know exactly where we are going, but - as this Report seeks to do - we can look at where we are and what’s immediately ahead. More fundamentally, however, there’s worth in remembering from whence we come. In other words, while looking at the present and near-present, and keeping an eye on what future scenarios we can imagine, we can hold onto our values. In the context of public broadcasting, these values are - in a nutshell - to focus mass communications on deepening democracy and development. These public interest values remain all the more valid in a time when the historical informational “service” model is being expanded to also function as a public interest communicational mode. Keeping these ideals aloft helps state-owned broadcasters steer a course between delivering government-interest and commercial-interest content. They help to define the meaning of universal access in the face of financial pressures and socio-economic divides. They empower people to see the big picture and to bring concerted action to bear on it. In sum, they help us reinvent “public service broadcasting” in a fashion appropriate to its contemporary possibilities. Roll on digitisation in Southern Africa - and the transformation of at least some state-owned broadcasters to become leaders in this process." ("Summing up", page 53-54) more

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How to Assess Your Media Landscape: A Toolkit Approach

Fackson Banda, Guy Berger, A. S. Panneerselvan, Lakshmi Nair, Mark Whitehouse

Brussels: Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD) (2009), 35 pp.

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Doing Digital Media in Africa: Prospects, Promises and Problems

Francis Mdlongwa (ed.)

Johannesburg: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) (2009), 117 pp.

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The Extraordinary Editor: A Handbook for South African Media Leaders
Key Guidance

Guy Berger, Elizabeth Barratt

South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) (2008), 194 pp.

"The extraordinary editor” provides media leaders with the skills to run their news organisations by learning about the mistakes and successes of other experienced editors. The presented examples are mainly derived from South African newspapers, but the issues tackled may apply to other media anyw ... more

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Criteria and Indicators for Quality Journalism Training Institutions and Identifying Potential Centres of Exellence in Journalism Training in Africa
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Guy Berger, Corinne Matras

Paris: UNESCO (2007), 51 pp.

"Seeking to map the African journalism schools landscape, create a system to assess excellence, and identify the top 15-20 schools, the report revealed an in-depth picture of the current state of journalism education on the continent. With 34 schools visited and 96 mapped, 19 met the criteria define ... d by UNESCO for centers of excellence, and 30 completed checklists hoping to become eligible. According to the report, four in ten schools have no web presence, three in ten only a parent site, two in ten have some basics online, and one in ten has a deeper presence. In total, 15 percent of journalism schools in Africa have a cyber presence in 2007. Such absence presents challenges to necessary collaboration between institutes as well as media outlets. Commissioned by UNESCO to Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies in Grahamstown, South Africa, and the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme (ESJ) in Lille, France, the report was presented at the Highway Africa conference, an annual ICT conference hosted by Rhodes University. Professor Guy Berger, acting head of the School of Journalism & Media Studies at Rhodes University who presented the report at the event, spoke to RAP 21 about the issues faced in journalism education today. “Educators are too isolated from each other and schools are not pumping on three cylinders of educating entry level, training working journalists, and acting as a public intellectual promoting media freedom, law reform, media literacy, and media skilling in the communities,” Berger told RAP 21. The report gathered general information on the journalism schools such as status of schools, primary language taught in, courses offered, graduate level, conditions for acceptance, time spent on practical media production, and specialisations in practical journalistic production areas. Going further, self-perception on standing and reputation of institutions, links with national media, and the approximate percentage of learners who are employed in journalism at the end of their studies/courses was assessed. In relation to international connections, the study identified areas for improvement. “Several journalism schools have good connections with non-African institutions, but there is no easy central resource like a website or online social network that would help for a deeper and wider network within Africa,” said Berger. According to the report, the reputation of African schools has also remained uneven. “Often the industry criticizes the schools, but some schools correctly point to serious problems in the industry, such as newspapers and broadcasters that present government propaganda rather than independent journalism,” said Berger. Berger added however, that most Centers of excellence cited in the report had cool relations with their national industry, which may include a critical independence at times. The second part of the report identified Centers of Excellence and also Centers of Reference across the continent. Bringing greater networking between such institutions and others was something Berger stressed. “There has been ad hoc support for diverse schools by diverse agencies, and it has not been sustained nor has it been geared toward networking,” said Berger. Nonetheless, he said professionals could gain from building relationships with journalism schools across Africa. “Media professionals can contribute a lot and gain a lot. Journalism and media models are in flux, and young minds are needed to invent new solutions in the context of the experience of the extant,” Berger said. While the report identified areas in need of improvement, Berger said schools in Africa have been working to achieve success. “The greatest surprise was achievement in the face of enormous obstacles. Despite lack of resources (including human), there exist schools that continue teaching students who successfully get jobs in the industry,” he concluded." (African Press Network for the 21st Century Newsletter No 21/2007) more

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Media Legislation in Africa: A Comparative Legal Survey
Top Insights

Guy Berger

Grahamstown: Rhodes University, School of Journalism and Media Studies;UNESCO (2007), vii, 180 pp.

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50 Years of Journalism: African Media Since Ghana's Independence

Elizabeth Barratt, Guy Berger (eds.)

Johannesburg: African Editor's Forum (2007), 195 pp.

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50 ans de journalism: Les médias africains depuis l'independance du Ghana

Elizabeth Barratt, Guy Berger (eds.)

Johannesburg: African Editor's Forum (2007), 209 pp.

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Money Matters: How Independent Media Manage to Survive. 15-16 September 2006

A. Sofie Jannusch (ed.)

Aachen: Catholic Media Council (CAMECO);Forum Medien und Entwicklung (fome) (2007), 77 pp.

"Discussions on how to support sustainability of independent media generally focus on the political conditions, the legal framework and – especially in German development cooperation – on the quality of journalistic coverage. Nevertheless, economic factors are of equal importance, not only for p ... more

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What the Newsroom Knows: Managing Knowledge within African Newspapers

Guy Berger, Fortune Mgwili Sibanda (eds.)

Grahamstown: Highway Africa (2006), 129 pp.

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From the Margins to Mainstream: African ICT Reporting Comes of Ages

Guy Berger

Grahamstown: Highway Africa (2006), 110 pp.

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Anonymous Sources

Johannesburg: Institute for the Advancement of Journalism (IAJ) (2006), 61 pp.

Problematizing 'media Development' as a Bandwagon Gets Rolling Top Insights

The Extraordinary Editor: A Handbook for South African Media Leaders Key Guidance

Criteria and Indicators for Quality Journalism Training Institutions and Identifying Potential Centres of Exellence in Journalism Training in Africa Top Insights

Media Legislation in Africa: A Comparative Legal Survey Top Insights

Problematizing 'media Development' as a Bandwagon Gets Rolling
Top Insights

The Extraordinary Editor: A Handbook for South African Media Leaders
Key Guidance

Criteria and Indicators for Quality Journalism Training Institutions and Identifying Potential Centres of Exellence in Journalism Training in Africa
Top Insights

Media Legislation in Africa: A Comparative Legal Survey
Top Insights