A well-funded media and a properly developed arts and creative industry can go a long way in helping reshape Africa’s narrative, experts at the ongoing National Security Symposium, in Musanze District, on Thursday, May 13, noted.

This was during a session that discussed the media perspective in reshaping Africa’s narrative. The general consensus was that the continent should expect neither fairness nor accuracy when "our story" is told by others.

According to Frederick Golooba Mutebi, a political scientist who researches and comments widely in the media about regional issues, Western media organisations are telling the world about Africa simply because they are well funded.

"Foreign media are well funded and so, they tell us what happens in Africa. They invest great resources and have a great reach in Africa where African media don't reach," he said.

"The same happens with foreign academics. Our universities are not well funded and so, we don't have a great reach on our continent. We don’t have enough money to study about countries other than our own. What I know about Namibia or South Africa comes from external sources. How accurate are these external sources?"

His main take was that "we will never be able to tell our own good story until we have" a media that is well catered for financially.

Arthur Asiimwe, Director General of Rwanda Broadcasting Agency, acknowledged that media is a business that consumes a lot of money.

"If we are to tell the African story best, we need to rethink how we invest money in this. If you don't think of investing heavily, and strategically, it won't work," he said.

Nonetheless, Asiimwe observed that in all its means and modesty there are numerous good examples of African media doing a good job.

Arts and creative industry

Asiimwe, however, put emphasis on something else - not the traditional media perspective - he deems pretty much critical in reshaping the African narrative. That is the need to best use the arts and creative industry.

Asiimwe, as an example, noted how Hollywood picked interest in the false story of terror suspect Paul Rusesabagina as a hero who saved lives and created a movie "to represent an African story."

The "sad bit of it", he said, is that "we have failed to look at the arts and creative industry" as a big source and resource when telling the African story.

"The African narrative shouldn't only be seen in the eyes of mainstream media. We need to rethink how best we tell the African story," Asiimwe said, also emphasising that the propaganda and misinformation war being fought today "is out there in the new media."

"This is a serious national security threat...when a story is turned around to serve a different propaganda interest but rural folks in Musanze take it as the truth."

Micheal Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, among others, shared insights on how to best counter negative propaganda and how to get the African perspective better heard in the West.

"Attack ideas but don't attack people because some very good people have bad ideas," said Rubin who is also Senior Editor at the Middle East Quarterly.

The ongoing National Security Symposium, the eighth of its kind, is themed: "Contemporary security challenges: the African perspective."

It is organised by Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) Command and Staff College Nyakinama, running from May 12 to 14, at Classic Hotel, in Musanze District.

Its primary purpose is to deliberate on matters of national, regional and continental security interest. Day two also featured a discussion on Africa’s technological gap in the context of growing cyber threats.