Yesterday, media practitioners from Rwanda and elsewhere on the continent, together with different stakeholders, met in an event to celebrate the African Information Day. Among the activities that took place included the National Media Dialogue, the launch of the Media Barometer, the Development Journalism Awards and the presentation of Imihigo (performance contracts) setting out the role by media practitioners in the socio-economic development of the country. During the dialogue, different speakers stressed the need for African media practitioners to rise to the occasion and own the Africa story and give it the right perspective. For decades now, Africa has had to contend with the unfair coverage at the hands of the global media outlets, mainly from the Western countries. Because of this dominance of the continental affairs by Western media practitioners, African countries have themselves at times turned to these western practitioners to validate the African story. This has disempowered the indigenous practitioners in many ways while at the same time it has left the continent at the mercy of the Western media which has ended up distorting the African story. Of times this has been perpetuated by design whereby the Western media have been used by political actors to pitch a certain story to fit a narrative that serves the interests of certain actors. But Africa has also been misrepresented by omission, whereby the western media, due to lack of contextual orientation, end up getting the story wrong, often with disastrous consequences. It is, therefore, time for Africans to look from within for solutions on how best to tell our own story, other than looking elsewhere for solutions. And this should start with the practitioners themselves, the need to gain the confidence to champion this noble cause.
